current rental/insurance questions

OR flyfisher · Member

current rental/insurance questions

tony2phones · Guru

If using a Credit Card or 3rd party for your Insurance waiver then you will be charged between 0 & 50 Euro for the paperwork involved. A Hold will be placed on your credit Card of up to I believe 5000 Euro. Always better to get this information directly from the people who are going to hand you the car keys rather than an agency/broker/consolidator/forum. (or even the US branch of a franchise, email the Irish office for Avis/Herts/Budget/Enterprise/etc etc etc Dooleys have a US office with specific Irish Know how).

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

As usual, Tony is 'spot on'.

In 2013 Hertz charged me a 5000 Euro 'Deposit' when waiving the CDW and Super. Avis charged less in 2014 and I THINK the 'Going Rate' at Dooley was 3000, in 2012. NONE of the Car Hire companies recognize Third Party Cover (such as Questor) so they will charge the large deposit if you opt out of their coverage.

As noted, I've used all three companies in the past few years -- my decision based primarily on type of vehicle needed (7 Passenger people mover, mid-size or small sedan) and best price. I used to buy Annual policies from Insurance4CarHire until they stopped covering US citizens and then switched to Questor, until they also ceased covering North American drivers. Even though my Credit Card covers the rental for CDW and Excess, it doesn't cover tires, etcetera, which the Third Party usually does.

Given the state of the Irish Roads after a few years of Austerity Budgets and serious winter flooding, tire cover would still be a priority for me. In all my years of car hire, the only damage expenses I've incurred to date have been tire related, due to striking pot holes! furious furious

I've never had to file a claim on the Third Party Cover, but it's been worth the $75 a year or so -- to me -- for the peace of mind.

Was the Worldwide quote in Euros? I've only ever received quotes in GBP . . . confuse

OR flyfisher · Member

Tony...

Thanks for your thoughts/info... good point on the tire coverage as we tend to take all those side roads when we are out fly fishing... although with narrow secondary roads, I tend to be very careful knowing I may be facing a piece of farm equipment coming at me smile ... I stand corrected on the Worldwide quote--it was in GBP (not Euro's)...

One major difference from 2014, is the $ / Euro difference... in 2014 it was $1 to 1.38E vs. $1 to 1.08E... giving the dollar a much better value heading into our next trip this year in May... Still doing research but was pretty surprised at the Avis quote I just got this week which include CDW @ $518-- much lower than our final 2014 cost... which was around $650 including the Questor policy...

I am tempted to take Avis's CDW and be done with rolling the dice on "holding xxx amount of credit card $$s"... but we had no car issues in 2014 and the "hold" went away when we returned the vehicle...

Will keep watching for other comments and keep doing my research... thanks again for your ideas and sharing your own costs/experiences...

Brad

yesiree · Guru

Although I use the excess insurance available on my credit card, the big advantage to using the car hire company's insurance is that the agents generally understand the coverage... if you need to make a claim, everything is dealt with right then and there.... and you usually walk away knowing how things will play out (with third party insurance, you find yourself crossing your fingers and hoping you didn't miss anything).

That said, even with the car company's insurance it's important that you understand what's covered, not covered, and what your deductible will be. Once you have that info, you'll have great peace of mind on your travels.

At the rates you mentioned, I'd go for the car rental companies insurance. I've been lucky to never have had windscreen damage, and the few times I had tire (tyre) damage it came to 15-30 euros... which I had repaired at a shop before returning the car.

-- Edited by yesiree on Saturday 9th of January 2016 12:40:38 PM

OR flyfisher · Member

Yesiree,

Good thoughts... yes, you describe pretty close our feelings... if we were 2 or 3 times / year travelers we would have a little more confidence... yes, the company cost is pretty good and am leaning to just getting their CDW coverage (though double the 3rd party insurance), the fact they would just "take care of it" is great peace of mind--especially with euro/dollar value much better this trip... I know in 2014, we had a big sigh of relief after returning the car and heading to the terminal... using their insurance would minimize the ol' stress during the trip... yes, we had no incidents either, but you never know... I am sure the 3rd party insurance is adequate but we would probably have to "carry the expenses" ourselves until reimbursement and/or payment would happen...with car company insurance, they will deal with it...

Also your thoughts to clearly understand the rental company's policy/coverage will be critical as well... we were pretty thorough in 2014 and expect to do the same this trip... good advice...thanks for your thoughts and perspective...

Brad

Michele Erdvig · Host

I used Avis a few years ago and would recommend them. I found that last October my Visa card covered CDW including tires, windscreen, undercarriage...everything. MasterCard did not cover some of those. Last time I used Fox Car Rental who is a Dooley affiliate and I got a Dooley car through them, saving a few hundred dollars over booking direct with Dooley.

If you decline CDW and let your credit card cover it there will be either a charge or a hold of a couple of thousand, depending on the company. Keep in mind that if you purchase CDW from the car company you need to add Super CDW also if you do not want a deductible.

You are correct that a lot of the secondary insurance companies like Questor no longer cover CDW for those outside the Euro zone.

OR flyfisher · Member

Michelle,

Thanks for your comments--good stuff!...will help us further in our decision making process... curious, about your thought about adding Super CDW to eliminate all deductibles(an additional $220 w/ Avis)...question, if a person got the Avis CDW and then purchased a 3rd party insurance with an outside vendor (e.g. Worldwide Insure @ 60 GBL) would this cover the deductible? (and do rental companies still put a hold on your credit card with no Super CDW?) this combo would be $150 cheaper than adding the Super CDW if they would cover any deductible...in your experience have any others done this?

Will also take a look at Fox Car Rental as well and see how their prices compare to Avis...

I guess our biggest worry is the large hold put on your credit card when using 3rd party insurance... we still remember the 20 minute "tug of war" discussion we had at the Avis desk in Dublin when we rented 2 years ago...it was not fun especially after a 12 hour flight and virtually no experience in dealing with issue (save for your and others warnings of what to expect)..looking at our 2014 Avis rental receipt, they put a 1365 euro hold on our credit card when all was said and done...

I will probably get on the Avis chat site and ask what they "hold" against your credit card if you have 3rd party insurance instead their coverages... will post what I find out...

Again thanks Michelle and the other posters for some current thoughts on the bloody car rental/insurance mountain we Americans face dealing with the "Irish rental industry"...as mentioned earlier, it is probably the toughest planning/cost decision we make...ugg! as we already have our flight booked (easy) and b&bs booked (all from last trip-delightful to reconnect with "friends" from our first trip)...

Appreciate any further responses you/others can offer to above questions...

Brad in Scappoose, OR

Michele Erdvig · Host

I took a look at Worldwide Insure and you can either buy a policy that covers "excess" or the Super CDW deductible or full CDW coverage up to 50,000 pounds sterling. If you bought the full CDW coverage and had an accident you would be charged by Avis for the full cost of repairs or replacement of the vehicle. Then you would deal with Worldwide Insure to get your money back from them. The question is: will Avis accept this CDW insurance or will they only accept CDW from a credit card provider? You need to find that out. You would have a charge for declining CDW with Avis and a hold on your card.

If you purchased CDW from Avis and Super CDW or Excess Reimbursement from Worldwide Insure, if you had an accident you would be responsible for whatever the "excess" or deductible amount is. Then you would contact Worldwide Insure for reimbursement of that amount.

Do you have a credit card that covers CDW in Ireland?

OR flyfisher · Member

Thanks Michelle for the additional info laying out various options...did some research on our credit card...no our card does not cover Ireland...

as we continue to zero in on our options, we are thinking of using Avis with their CDW coverage (about $620 total for 22 days/1 extra driver), then covering any potential excess with Worldwide Insure (about $80 vs. over $200 from Avis)... In 2014 we declined CDW and used our Questor policy... while we saved money, it remained a little stressful throughout the trip but we were lucky and had no auto incidents... this time with better $ to euro rates, it will be more affordable getting the CDW and reducing stresses--knowing that we are still liable for the excess deductible if needed but more confident that the 3rd party excess would cover us...

Again want to "chat" with Avis folks to clarify a few more specifics with them about excesses, CDW, etc.

If more questions come up, will post them... but you and the others have really helped us to see rental/insurance options this year and helped us to narrow our choices...thanks

Michele Erdvig · Host

Happy to help with the car rental quagmire. Let us know if you have any other questions about your trip.

balinaraw · Member

Be sure you check around on the car rental offers. On my last trip I checked all the mentioned in the previous posting and found that the best deal was a Hertz rental booked through www.easytourireland.com as they have an exclusive rate deal with Hertz that includes all the insurances including the Super Cover. I got burned on using credit card coverage a few trips ago and swore I would never do that again. My past three rental experience with easytourireland.com were wonderful. I am looking at some car rental offers for this year's trip and the best one I found so far is Hertz rental through www.easytourireland.com. They sent me an email recently telling me I could get a free GPS if I booked early. Hope the above helps you.

OR flyfisher · Member

Folks,

Thought I would pass on what we finally locked in for car rental/insurance coverage today for our trip this May...we went with Avis @ 22 days in May, 2016, economy class car incl. basic CDW plus 1 additional driver @ $59.50... our total cost was $562 (512 euro) ... please note this included using an Avis Worldwide Discount # A415900--good through end of 2/16... this reduced our final price by $40...I searched online and got that code free... if the above code doesn't work, you can do your own internet search for current discount codes when you are going to rent ...

Secondly, instead of buying the Super CDW when we pick up the car, we purchased a 3rd party excess car rental policy from Worldwide Insure.com choosing the "deluxe" version again for 22 days @ $75.71(52.47 pounds)...again, I searched the web and found a discount code: FBER13 that reduced our rate 10%...the "deluxe" coverage includes tire/window damage which others below said is often wise with roads these days in Ireland...

So our total rental and insurance costs for 22 days came to about $640 which includes Avis's basic CDW ... a better price from our 2014 trip that did NOT include AVIS's CDW coverage but went with a 3rd party coverage (Questor, then) ...

A final heads up is we booked with "Avis.ie" which was about 10% cheaper than booking with Avis.com (I believe the US branch of Avis)...

Hope this helps others with their upcoming car rental/insurance "challenges" in Ireland... thanks again for all below who helped/guided us in our process... happy travels...

Brad/Lynn in Scappoose, OR, USA

Roy · Guru

balinaraw wrote:
Be sure you check around on the car rental offers. On my last trip I checked all the mentioned in the previous posting and found that the best deal was a Hertz rental booked through www.easytourireland.com as they have an exclusive rate deal with Hertz that includes all the insurances including the Super Cover. I got burned on using credit card coverage a few trips ago and swore I would never do that again. My past three rental experience with easytourireland.com were wonderful. I am looking at some car rental offers for this year's trip and the best one I found so far is Hertz rental through www.easytourireland.com. They sent me an email recently telling me I could get a free GPS if I booked early. Hope the above helps you.

I have used easytourireland.com before, in 2013. I wasn't very pleased with the quality of the car they gave me, but otherwise the rental went well.

tony2phones · Guru

Car insurance has risen by 30% http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/car-insurance-worst-offender-as-many-living-costs-soar-721224.html So that sort of explains the huge hyke in car rental overall cost

stewh · Guru

balinaraw wrote:
Be sure you check around on the car rental offers. On my last trip I checked all the mentioned in the previous posting and found that the best deal was a Hertz rental booked through www.easytourireland.com as they have an exclusive rate deal with Hertz that includes all the insurances including the Super Cover. I got burned on using credit card coverage a few trips ago and swore I would never do that again. My past three rental experience with easytourireland.com were wonderful. I am looking at some car rental offers for this year's trip and the best one I found so far is Hertz rental through www.easytourireland.com. They sent me an email recently telling me I could get a free GPS if I booked early. Hope the above helps you.

Hi

I would be interested to know how you 'got burned using credit card coverage'. I have used both Mastercard and Visa (Canadian) numerous times in Ireland and elsewhere; it can certainly be a challenge when picking up the car but I learned to be prepared with documents from CC company confirming the details of my coverage. Sometimes there has been quite a dance to sell CDW (particularly from Hertz) but the agent has always seen the light eventually. I have only ever had one small claim - parking lot damage in Scotland. I collected 100% from Visa Canada.

I have booked with Avis for our May trip - phoned Avis in U.S.A. and was able to get a better deal than either of their websites. I found them very forthcoming and helpful.

Stewart