Autoeurope and World Mastercard for Ireland car rental

Check out this link:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/questions-for-those-whove-used-autoeurope-and-world-mc-in-ireland.cfm

Bob

I don't have the paper version, just the electronic version of the letter. From the link you sent above, it should say something like this:

"In general, coverage applies world-wide, but there are exceptions:

You may be unable to receive benefits in Australia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, and New Zealand. Please contact your vehicle rental agency before you travel.
Coverage is not available where prohibited by law."


However, in the electronic version they sent me, there is just blank space after exceptions:

I'm worried that the car rental agency might not accept it. I will bring the Master card phone number, but like the other poster said, I am worried they will refuse to call and speak with them.

The electronic version I received was like yours in that it said, "In general, coverage applies worldwide, but there are exceptions: " and it was blank after "exceptions". We rented from Hertz and I offered to show the document to the clerk, but he said all was fine and that he didn't need to see it. I imagine the rental car agencies are very familiar with the World MasterCard by now and that you shouldn't have any problems. (But, of course, take your documentation with you just in case.)

Below is the letter I was sent (I deleted my name/account number for obvious reasons):
You can see it states that it DOES provide coverage in Ireland. I asked specifically for the letter to state this. They also sent the MasterRental Guide which outlines everything it covers...which is everything you need.
If you have World MasterCard that begins with 5466 - you ARE covered for car rental insurance in Ireland (in spite of what some on this board attempt to lead you to believe)

Copy/paste of letter:

RE: MasterCard World Card
Acct # 5466-XXXX-XXXX-XXX

Dear Ms. XXXXXX,

Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding the MasterRental coverage associated with your MasterCard World Card.

This letter confirms that your U.S. issued World MasterCard card does in fact provide MasterRental coverage. Therefore, vehicles rented with your World MasterCard card are eligible for coverage world wide (Israel, Ireland, Germany & Italy). Please note that coverage is subject to the terms and conditions of the MasterRental program.

Please refer to the MasterRental Guide to Benefits for a complete listing of the terms
And conditions associated with this program. This letter is in effect for 31 days from the date of issuance.

If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me directly at 1-800-622-7747 or collect at 1-636-722-7111.

We just returned from our trip to Ireland and had a wonderful time. I went through American Airlines and rented an economy car with Thrifty. We picked up car @ Dublin airport @ 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday, returned it on that Fri @ 1 p.m. Total charge to my World MC card was $369.37 which included additional charge for a driver over 70 which was me, a female. Drivers under 25 are not allowed to rent cars in Ireland and grandson was 23 so I did the driving with grandson as navigator. You need an excellent navigator which he was. Nearly first words out of Thrifty airport agent's mouth was to ask for my Letter of Coverage which I showed her. She was satisfied w/it. Several people on other threads had said that no one would ask for letter which in my case wasn't true. In my letter, it says the same as mentioned above except after "...but there are exceptions:" the following is added "Coverage is not available where prohibited by law." If you take your letter, I wouldn't think you would have a problem because the agent won't have time to read the entire letter. He/she might be looking for one particular statement though. I also bought Insurance4Car Hire policy for 22.50 GBP which thankfully we didn't need.

I contacted many other car rental agencies including Thrifty direct and all were much more expensive than what I paid. Only thing is I have a charge of $6.29 on my credit card statement which was added after I turned car in. Agent told me all was o.k. and I didn't owe more. Paid tolls in Kilkenny at Happy Times for round trip which I showed to agent. He responded that yes the tolls were paid. I have contested the $6.29 charge (even though it is a nominal amt). Keep all your receipts.

Thrifty shuttle driver took us to Clarion airport hotel to drop off one suitcase which was extremely nice, then we took Clarion's free shuttle downtown. We were staying at Best Western Academy Plaze hotel and our last night was at Clarion airport. We only had two days in Dublin which wasn't enough time and we were disappointed in this.

In Kilkenny, we visited castle and walked around town. Next day we went to Rock of Cashel. During stay in Killarney, we drove to Dingle and drove the Slea Head drive. To us Dingle was too touristy and personally we were glad we didn't have a reservation there (others feel differently). Spent a couple nights at a beautiful hotel near Killarney. Upon leaving here, we drove to ferry at Tarbert, went to Cliffs of Moher and The Burren. This is just a hurried report of our trip; I only intended to comment on car rental - sorry.

Thanks to all who helped me in planning our trip although I could have easily driven to Galway first day (which we didn't). We cancelled Galway because of time limitations; now I wish we had cancelled something else and went there.

Also after walking for over 2 hrs to find an American Express office in Dublin, we find there is not one in Ireland - left 6-7 years ago. No one there except man at Western Union seems to know this. We were sent from one place to another trying to find AE. American Express is listed on internet w/address and shown in phone directory. We did have credit cards to use but I wanted to cash my traveler's checks. After being sent to Bank of Ireland by Western Union man, that bank said they don't do this so sent us to Permenter and we got a good exchange rate there.

I didn't intend to summarize our Ireland trip on this thread so apologize.

Have a wonderful trip!!!

shturner, when you were researching your trip, were you advised not to use traveler's checks? Most travelers on Fodor's will tell people to use ATM cards and credit cards rather than traveler's checks exactly for the reason you cited. It's difficult to find anybody that accepts them anymore.

bettyk: I never asked about traveler's checks. In the past when my husband and I traveled overseas, we always got traveler's checks. We couldn't find an American Express office in Amsterdam, Netherlands two years ago and he thought I shouldn't take them this time because of that. However, when I looked up the American Express office in Dublin, found the address & location, had no idea it was nonexistant. This was the factor in taking them. I didn't plan on cashing them at places of business/restaurants, etc., since I knew most places won't accept them. I planned on going to Dublin's American Express office to cash them.

We had credit cards but when I checked with Chase Bank re using my ATM card, the fees were high so I decided against this although I had it w/me. Last time we used traveler's checks successfully was in London at an American Express office but the office might be gone from there too. I won't take them on another overseas trip. Thanks for your input.

We also use Chase Bank and I think we only paid $3 each time we used our ATM card. Of course, that was a couple of years ago so maybe their fees have increased.

Sorry you had so much trouble, but I guess that's how we learn.

We are still in Ireland, but we have returned the car since we are in Dublin. I had rented through Autoeurope which sent us to Murray's at the Shannon Airport. The car is actually from the car rental agency Sixth. The lady at the counter at Murray's did not even ask to look at the letter of coverage. She did not pressure me to buy CDW. Just had me sign off that I declined the coverage. We had the car for nearly 3 weeks and I was glad there were no problems. I was terrified of driving on such narrow roads, especially when tour buses that took up part of my lane came from the opposite directiona and I had a stone wall to my left. Make sure you check the car thoroughly before leaving the airport. Our car had a lot of dings and dents and not all of them were recorded by the agent.

I specifically got a capital one credit card so that I wouldn't have to pay the foreign transaction fees. Seems to work well.

I think I will take digital pictures with a date/time stamp of the car this year.

I always take multiple photos of the car when I pick up and return the car after an unfortunate incident with Enterprise in Massachusetts. We had returned the rental after hours and flew back home. They called us and said that we had damaged the bottom of the front end of the car when we parked the car in their lot (the parking concrete slabs were all crooked and high). Neither one of us heard any unusual noises that would have indicated that we had driven over the concrete barrier. They wanted our insurance info. I think they were trying to take advantage of us. My father in law went to the office and asked to see the car and damage, but they said it was already at the bodyshop. Anyway, we refused to give them the insurance info and asked them to provide documentation of the damage and other stuff (I did extensive research on what to ask for, things I don't remember anymore). There are a lot of people in forums who complain of similar problems with enterprise. They eventually decided to drop the claim (they did not notify us of this, I eventually had to call to find out the status). so, ever since this happened, I do what I can to protect myself, although I think it's silly to check the bottom of the car for damages.