Car Rental and Visa

sgaglia · Member

Car Rental and Visa

Dude · Guru

Check the last sentence under "What is not covered?"

sgaglia · Member

Thank you so much and I can't stand "the fine print"!!!

Thanks again!
Stephanie

YaYa · Guru

Stephanie,

I read the fine print and in When and Where I Have the Benefit, it excludes Nothern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Once you get this car rental thing out of the way, you'll have a wonderful trip.

Joan

stewh · Guru

Hi Stephanie,
My Visa Gold Card covers CDW in Ireland but it is a Canadian Visa so as far as I know you'll have to have the correct Mastercard if you are in the U.S.A.
Stewart

KelliJo · Veteran Member

The advice I can give on this topic is don't trust what they tell you on the phone, and always, always question them.

We went through the same thing so I share your frustrations!! We were told by Mastercard (Platinum thru Chase Bank) that CDW wasn't covered in Ireland on our card, but gave us another Mastercard that included CDW in Ireland (I think it was the Capital One card? or citibank??) so we applied for that, we asked to speak to a supervisor to double check, after putting us on hold for 5 minutes to check, they said "yep, you're covered in Ireland". Great, got the card in the mail, when we read the fine print ourselves, it specifically says Ireland is NOT covered. Disappointing!! We called back after this discovery and were put on hold again, and they came back and said they'd made a mistake, Ireland is in fact, not covered. We told them they need to get their story straight!! Cancelled that card right away, they didn't understand why we wanted to cancel. weirdface

We ended up getting a Diners Club Card which states Ireland may or may not be covered, which means you have to check with both the credit card and the rental car agency (Hertz, in our case) and Hertz confirmed they do accept Diners CDW coverage and accept Diners for payment....so it all sounds like it will work out (can't blame me for still worrying though!). The only hang up we had was the car was already reserved and paid for with the MC, so we had to cancel that reservation and rebook with Diners (to get CDW benefits the transaction has to be initiated with the credit card, we'd already pre-paid on the MC). Luckily, Hertz didn't charge us any penalties for the cancellation because we did rebook.

It was all a lot of run around and certainly the most frustrating part about all of the arrangements for this trip!! At this point, we're just going with and crossing our fingers.

WCOMALLEY · Veteran Member

It is still amazing to me that the parties who could make the rental car process easier (credit card companies, rental agencies, insurance folks, etc.) won't lift a finger to help. All we, the consumer, would like to do is visit a wonderful place and spend our hard earned money (at a very disadvantgeous rate), with a little straight talk and a minimum of fuss. It would be in their best interest to help promote the process. Same with the airlines, we buy an offered product and none of the vendors has a legal or moral obligation to deliver the product purchased in good faith. If I treated my customers with the same callous disregard I would soon be out of business. WC

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

                         NEVER TAKE THE BANK'S WORD

     ABOUT WHAT MASTERCARD COVERS.

CALL 1 800 MCASSIST, and get it STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH!!!

The Banks REALLY don't know, as it is a MasterCard function.
Now, CERTAIN Canadian Issued VISA cards ARE accepted for the CDW waiver and so is Diner's Club -- IF the Rental Company CHOOSES to accept them. It is THEIR option. But, in any case, I recommend that you call VISA or Diner's Club DIRECT (not the Issuing Bank) if you want to verify.

I 'Test' selected the 'BASIC' option on the On-Line Quote form at Kemwell, using my planned dates in June, with pick up at the Cork Airport and Drop Off at the Dublin Airport. Now Kemwell is a consolidator, so the results CAN vary, depending upon WHICH Company they actually book you through, but here's what I found in the list of 'BASIC Conditions' :

" * Most credit cards in the primary driver's name do not cover for CDW in Ireland. CDW from any source other than Kemwel, our supplier locally, or some Mastercard credit card (with written proof of coverage) is not accepted. If you are choosing to use your credit card as coverage please check to be sure that they offer CDW in Ireland."

To ME, that means the ONLY CC that THEY accept is CERTAIN MasterCards (which I understand to be defined -- by MasterCard -- as the "WORLD" version.

If you check my posting history, you'll see I have DEFINITE opinions about the ENTIRE Irish Car Hire MORASS... furious

Kemwell is a Good, Reputable Company, but sadly, they are agents to a NUMBER of actual Rental Companies --and SOME of THEM, are NOT, so much. hmm

This is generally the WORST part ---

Hang In There --

Bob

cimo · Newbie

Apparently, if you get a World Master Card, you can decline the CDW and be covered in Ireland. At least that is what I was told. Unfortunately, there is still some vagueness in the Benefits and Services document of Master Card that doesn't make it precisely clear that one is covered in Ireland. Essentially, it says that coverage is generally world-wide with some exceptions, but then it doesn't list any excepted countries in the remainder of the document. I'm still making phone calls trying to clear the whole thing up before I leave for Ireland next week.

Marie · Guru

Hello, wonderful Ireland Yes! folks:

I have not been on for quite a while. I am resting at home, trying to recover from Whooping Cough!

Seeing this post, I just had to reply.
In my humble opinion, one's time and energy are worth more then the cost of the CDW insurance. I just went ahead and paid for it, and even added some additional insurance with Insurance4Carehire.com (or some such name), as even the CDW does not cover the windshield and some other parts (which I also cannot remember).
The credit card, rental car run-around is so taxing....and the peace of mind from KNOWING you're covered from soup to nuts is worth it.

Or maybe that's just me....
Have a safe, wonderful trip, 100% free of any insurance claims.

Marie

Michele Erdvig · Host

Stephanie,

I agree that renting a car in Ireland is very confusing. As mentioned above Canadian Visa cards will cover CDW in Ireland. If you reside in the USA only certain World MasterCards, some business MasterCards and Diners Club will provide coverage. And that is if the car company accepts their insurance.

Please look at my "Car Rental' page for lots more info.

A few weeks ago I spent an hour arguing with the people at Europcar in Dublin over whether my card covered CDW. In the end they discovered that the "Ireland Expert" was right and they were completely wrong. In Shannon it is a different story. Same company but they know what they are doing there. The people in Dublin don't have a clue. Europcar will be getting a letter to their top executives from me shortly about the matter. I don't think it is my job to educate their employees.

Michele

Merle · Senior Member

I agree with Marie. I paid for the CDW and got the extra insurance and didn't worry about it any more. Fortunately I didn't have to use either.

Merle