In the past couple of years, a number of US issued credit card companies have 'jumped onto the Ireland Bandwagon' -- Chase, Citibank, and even, AMEX (Although many rental companies still won't ACCEPT their coverage) have added coverage for car rentals in Ireland with not only MasterCards, but also with VISA Cards.  To ME, that's a GOOD thing!    

It looks like another BIG change has recently occurred that ISN'T so pleasant.     Citi Bank has apparently decided to stop ALL of their CC provided benefits.  That's bad news for anyone who may have made a booking for a future car rental in Ireland (or anywhere, for that matter).  According to a 'Pop Up' on their account "Log In" page:

"Effective September 22, 2019, Worldwide Car Rental Insurance, Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection, Worldwide Travel Accident Insurance, Trip Delay Protection, Baggage Delay Protection, Lost Baggage Protection, Medical Evacuation, Citi® Price Rewind, 90 Day Return Protection, and Missed Event Ticket Protection will be discontinued and will no longer be provided for purchases made on or after that date. Coverage for purchases made before that date will continue to be available, and you may continue to file for benefits in accordance with the current benefit terms. Roadside Assistance Dispatch Service and Travel & Emergency Assistance will be discontinued and will not be available on or after September 22, 2019."

The only exception to the above that I have been made aware of is the COSTCO branded Citi card.

 

The only sure thing about car rentals in Ireland is they continually change.

Thanks for the update, Christy. Wouldn't it be nice to have complete transparency with car rentals? Instead they make money with hidden charges you have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out. In the process they tick off a lot of people.

I would say that the 'Rip Off' is via Hertz and that Conn has offered a somewhat veiled warning of it.  I guess that contractually, he can't out-and-out SAY that DCC is bad -- since Hertz is the one who profits from it .

Still, his 'warning' should probably be a bit clearer with its wording.

In that case, I'll say it for him -- "DCC is BAD -- VERY bad.  Always charge purchases in the currency of the country where the purchase takes place.  You will get the best exchange rate via your Credit Card in almost all cases.  Being charged a poor exchange rate is bad enough -- there is NO need to also pay a 3-4% 'Handling Fee' for the privilege of being Ripped Off!"   

Roy, Let us know what happens. You can always dispute it on your CC.

Hope you enjoy their response:

Where we offered to roll over a booking for clients we guaranteed 1. that there would be a car for them ( as its forecast there may be a shortage of available vehicles in 2021/2022) and 2. there would be no annual price increase over the original booking cost.

We also offered 2 nd driver free which is a saving of 10 -12 per day.

In total, quite a saving for those who rolled over/rescheduled.

Many clients took up this offer and rolled over their bookings to fixed dates or open dates till end 2021/22

If they were to subsequently cancel, we would at that stage, have had staff involved in two sets of booking administration, a situation which has never happened before for obvious reasons.

We have costs involved in handling these subsequent bookings and this, in a climate where we have not had a rental car business or income from same since March 2021.

Where we explained that to clients who had to cancel after rolling over our position, everyone, with the exception of yourself, has graciously accepted the charge as a contribution towards the costs and over heads, a token charge in comparison to the actual cost of the administration involved.

This only arose where we had the 2nd booking subsequently cancelled and not in any case where the original booking was cancelled outright.

While they would have benefitted financially by rolling over, (it was a very good offer), they accepted there was additional work in further handling their reservation, and were very understanding of our situation.

Its clear you do not see things this way and thats fine. In your case I will refund you the full amount.

I have to say that I am unhappy at your contention and charge that we are, in any way, being dishonest.

You will not find evidence of any situation where we have ever been dishonest with any client over the years we have been in business.

We pride ourselves on customer service and satisfaction and we have a particularly good reputation in this area.

I have been called many things in my time, but have never been called dishonest and I dont believe its justified.

I will put forward the papers for your refund tomorrow .

Currently refunds are taking in the region of 14 - 18 days to work through the system.

My wife Rita got a good laugh from the intended Irish guilt trip imbedded throughout the email!

The old days getting a car with Dan Dooley were easy and everything was presented in clear detail. I miss renting from them, as I had nothing but great experience with this group when they were privately owned. Now it's such a challenge to get to the bottom of what the policy and charges are.

It looks like Irish car rental is INSANELY expensive right now! Anyone have any tips/tricks? I've got the added challenge of landing in Belfast and flying out of Shannon. 19 day rentals are looking like $3000! At least I finally have a credit card that will cover Ireland CDW - but that doesn't help much, since the base cost is so high. (8/19-9/7)

The best I've found are Autoeurope at $1929.

Conn's is clocking in at $3000, as is Europcar and Expedia.

 

And yes, this is for manual.

-- Edited by Green Dragon on Wednesday 15th of June 2022 03:08:06 PM

We went through Expedia and got a reservation with Easirent. I can only drive the automatic, so it took a little longer to find one, but we did. We did get the insurance and i have the car 10-21Sep2022. Cost was $922 +$132 for Collision with a total of $1087.35. The only problem is that it may be an electric car, a nice looking one, but electric. Already contacted by B&B's on where it could be charged if that is what i do end up with.

Hi Michele, Thank you for all your efforts to keep us the Public/Tourist/ informed on this intriguing topic. 

I would like to ask you have you had any clients inquiring about CarJet?. I have just booked my CarHire from them ((which I believe is the Budget Desk at the Airport).

I go a quote of 270.25 for 14 days. I opted for Platinum Excess waver, which added to 83 onto my quote, I paid a deposit of 113.94 balance  they say to pay on arrival 247.94..final quote 361.88.

My question is why do I have to give my C.C & pin with 2.000 hold! when I have taken out full insurance. Where do I stand if I did not pay the 83 & took their CWD offer. Thanks for your reply.