car hire -any advice ??

[taytotayto]

i am thinking of hiring a car at shannon airport in ireland. i have never hired a car before so i need to know if there is anything i need to look out for. my worry is that i will have a crash and end up with a huge bill, and also do i pay extra so i can send the car back empty of petrol or do i just pay to fill up the car on return.
can anyone help.
cheers xxx

Do take out any extra insurance or insure against the excess. I put a minute scratch on a car and we were charged 250 (sorry no pound sign). Also, do fill it up with petrol when you return it. I think the petrol stations that hire cars use are much more expensive than those mere mortals find.

It depends. Both my dh and I have damaged hire cars and nobody blinked an eyelid! We do usually take out insurance excess waver in case though.

Some ask you to return it full, some ask you to pay for a tank of fuel at the time of hiring and return it empty. Depends on their policy, jsut make sure you know what they want you to do.