My "World" Elite MasterCard offers free insurance so that I can decline the other insurance that's offered.

My Capital One card is the only one I'm aware of that has no foreign transaction fee -- but it does not offer the free car rental insurance coverage.

Lucky you -- getting to spend three months in Ireland!

That is a World Mastercard - some World Mastercards docover rentals in Ireland. But you need to carry a letter from them that you are covered.

However - do check that they will offer coverage for 90 days. I'm not sure about World MC, but some credit cards only cover rentals for 30 days or less.

You should look into leasing a car instead of renting - not sure if that is an option in Ireland but is the way to go in many other European countries when needing a car more than 3 or 4 weeks.

janisj is saying just what I had prepared to say. I will defer to her.

Look for a local credit union; mine offers a card with no fees except the 1% conversion fee from Visa which I get back on the 1% return the card generally offers. It does offer CDW coverage, but not in Ireland and for no more than 30 days per rental.

More discussion on the World MC for general info; like the others not sure if it is good for 3 months.

FYI, my Capital One card is a World MC.

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/renatl-cars-info-in-irelandmust-read.cfm

Many credit cards do not cover insurance for more than 30 days. When we wintered in Florida, we had to go to the rental agency every 30 days to write a new contract for the same car. We eventually found another company that would do this automatically (don't remember which).

You certainly need to check this for Ireland since it is a difficult case at best.

You really need to look into this. As far as I'm aware:

1) credit cards do not cover for more than 30 days - so you would need to do multiple rentals
2) many credit cards do not cover Ireland at all
3) not aware of any credit cards that don't charge fees for currency exchange

Have you looked into leasing a car - since you will be there for so long?

Just take the insurance offered by the rental car company.

You do not need your own insurance and in fact in some cases the rental car company will insist you use theirs.

Try www.britishcarhire.com

Regards
V

Of course there are credit cards without a foreign transaction fee. Capital One has a lot of products, none of theirs do. The main other ones I've heard of require annual fees, except for some credit union cards.

Visa, any Visa card, comes with car rental insurance for free. I used to use my Amexco card with a $25 fee for this but now use my Capital One Visa with no foreign transaction fee.

There is an excellent resource on the forums on www.irelandyes.com covering rental cars in Ireland. She details out all the aspects of this difficult transaction, including insurance coverage, extra costs, CDW, etc. Looking into a lease would definitely be helpful.

Capital one and some credit unions only charge the 2% that MC/Visa charges, with nothing additional of their own.

Thank you, everyone, for the helpful suggestions. A lease is definitely a possibility, as is buying an inexpensive used car should we decide to try and stay for a longer time.

I guess I was hoping that there was a World card with no FTF, but so far I haven't found it. I'll look at the Irelandyes.com forum and see what else I can figure out.

>I guess I was hoping that there was a World card with no FTF, but so far I haven't found it...

The Capital One World Mastercard that Indy Dad mentioned would seem to meet your requirements.

Bedar: "Visa, any Visa card, comes with car rental insurance for free. "

Nope -- not for Ireland, which is where the OP is going to be.

"The Capital One World Mastercard that Indy Dad mentioned would seem to meet your requirements."

IF it covers rentals for that long. Likely not. In that case you'd have to rent a series of cars.

Good for 15 days according to:

http://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/cardholderservices/guidetobenefits/pdf/489247_master_rental_v2.pdf

(Still a nice card to have though).

indy_dad,

quoting from the document you posted:

"Coverage is not available for vehicles rented in the following countries: Ireland, Israel and Jamaica."

<<Capital one and some credit unions only charge the 2% that MC/Visa charges, with nothing additional of their own.>>

This isn't quite right. Capital One does not charge 2%, they charge nothing, not even that network fee. And I think that network fee by Visa/MC is 1%, not 2%. The current custom is usually to add on 1 pct to that 1 pct, for a total of 3 pct. And that is why many credit unions will charge you 1%.

I do have a AAA Visa card, however, where I only pay a total of around 2 pct, which I use as a backup to my Cap One. It is the AAA Member Rewards Visa, you have to say you are interested in low foreign transaction fees on their website. That is the full extra charge, it's not in addition to the Visa network fee.

I don't think credit cards want to be in the business of providing free auto insurance to someone living in a place, that is why they limit it to make sure it is just for travelers/tourists and it is a card perk. Their risk adjustment on such benefits would be totally different for people living in a place long-term.

Capital One only has one World card, and that's their Platinum Prestige card, which is basically a card for transferring balances. I spoke with CO yesterday and the Capital One World card seems to be a one-off promotion that they don't offer anymore, at least according to the CO rep.

I'm not so worried about the length of the car rental as I am wanting a World emblem on the car, thus ensuring the car rental insurance, and no FTF. It would be great if it had the EMV chip too, but that seems to be wishful thinking.

Have you considered buying a small pre loved car with tax and test for about €2000 insuring it yourself for about €500 and at the end of the 3 months sell the car back to the garage for €1500 ?