I'm sorry, but I need to do this one more time. I've read tons of threads on car rentals. I've even posted about it before. Sometimes I think the more I read, the more confused I become! But I still need some clarity on the insurance issue. I feel like I'm getting conflicting information.

We're going with family who have already rented their car from Dan Dooley. We feel that it would probably be easier to rent from the same company as we'll all be dropping off at the same time. My brother rented online and didn't waive the CDW as he doesn't have a platinum MC. He also chose the excess waiver. He is of the opinion that he has no deductable. I haven't been able to get a hold of anyone at Dan Dooley to ask whether that is, indeed, the case.

There is a notice on the website that, if you choose to waive the CDW, they will put a 2000Euro hold on your credit card.

I've gotten the impression both here and on Frommer's that Dan Dooley is quite popular. Can anyone fill me in on the insurance situation with them? What's been your experience with either waiving or not waiving the CDW? Did you have a deductable? And has anyone returned a car to them with scratches or sideview mirror damage? If so, how was it handled?

One other thing while I'm at it...My brother rented a class G vehicle which supposedly seats 5. There will be four of us in our car. But we're used to long road trips in our Toyota Camry. Obviously, we all want to be able to sit fairly comfortably and put in our luggage (we're each taking one carry on and checking only one piece as "overflow" for all four of us, we're only going to be there 5 days).But, because of the narrow roads, we'd like to get by with as small of a car as possible. Any suggestions?

As soon as I posted I realized that nowhere did I mention Ireland. Other than highlighting Ireland on the subject thingy. Sorry!

When I was on the Dan Dooley website, before posting this, I kept clicking on the excess waiver thing and couldn't get it to come up. When I signed off, after posting this, it was on my desktop!

This is what it said:

"If you choose a rate inclusive of CDW insurance (Collision Damage Waiver - Comprehensive Insurance), a CDW Insurance Excess will apply in the event of an accident. All car rentals are subject to a liability excess which vary depending on the vehicle group rented. This figure can range from €750 to €1000 for which you are responsible in the event of damage to the car rental company vehicle during the rental period.

This liability can be waived and reduced to zero by taking out optional excess reduction insurance costing from €9.00 to €12.00 per day depending on car class. We strongly recommend that customers purchase this insurance to provide them with peace of mind"

It sure sounds to me like there is no deductable if you purchase the excess waiver. Am I reading it correctly?

You really should re-post your question (do a cut and paste) with "insurance" in the title so people know what your question involves. It's a complicated issue, and you'll want to get responses from the most knowledgeable people.

Hi CAPH, don't feel bad being confused. I owned an insurance agency for years and the situation with rental cars confuses the heck out of me nowadays, LOL.

Patrick rented a car in Ireland. He had an accident. His CC ended up paying for whatever he Patrick was responsible for..but it was rather a long drawn out period of time before everything was taken care. Think the main reason was that he was in Europe for a few more months before returning home.

Here is my thinking for what it is worth. To not have any responsibility at all according to the statements from Dan Dooley that you posted here the additional fee would be $9.00 to $12.00 per day. You will not have the car more than 5 days. After all you have been through lately I would just pay the extra charge rather than drive myself crazy and losing lots of time trying to get to the bottom of all of this. I perhaps sometimes think differently than a lot of people but "time is money" and sometimes trying to save some money ends up causing more stress than it is worth.

Anyway that is my thoughts..and know many will disagree with me.

Best wishes to you.

I have rented from Dan Dooley twice and have purchased the CDW both times. The cost was never too prohibitive. On our first trip, we returned the car with damage to the front bumper and nothing was ever said. The rental agent just shook their head, smiled while we explained that the road had a deep ditch beside it and off we went. Enjoy your trip- you deserve it!

Thanks, LoveItaly and edhodge! You've both pretty much confirmed what I was already thinking. I think it's well worth it to pay a few extra bucks for peace of mind.

My main concern was with trying to avoid a deductable. I don't at all mind paying for insurance. I just don't want to have to pay for the insurance AND a deductable. At least not if I could avoid the deductable with the CC waiver. But it sounds like your reading of the info from Dan Dooley, LoveItaly, also gave you the impression that there would be no deductable with the excess waiver. And, edhodge, your bumper story sounds like you didn't have to pay one.

I also don't want to have to worry about the Euro2000 hold on my credit card. And, LoveItaly, your story about Patrick is not the first I've heard about hassles with clearing up credit card charges as a result of an accident. Really don't want to have to bother with that!

CAPH, please understand, I am not giving you insurance advice as it has been awhile since I have been in the insurance business. But I reread what you posted from Dan Dooley again and that is certainly what they state.

Do print out two copies of what they sent you (two in case you lose one) and take them with you. And yes CAPH, edhodge's experience certainly validates it.

I would imagine if a person were renting the car for a lot longer than your family would be that not paying the extra premium would be advisable IF their credit card covered any uninsuranble damage. But think we both agree for 5 days your peace of mind, which you sure will want, is worth more than what the extra premium would be. I am so excited that you are getting your trip to Ireland!!!

Thanks again, LoveItaly! And I sure am excited too! We just made the final decision today. I think my husband is still a little wary as he's so mentally exhausted. But he agrees that we all need the break.

If we could push it back a couple of weeks, we would. But, besides the fact that the tickets are purchased, that's the week that my son and I have off from school.

I just got a call back from Dan Dooley. It turns out that the info on the website is incorrect. There IS still a 100Euro deductable even with the excess waiver. She said there's a deductable if you use your credit card and waive the CDW, but she also said that we may be able to get it back from the credit card company. I'm back to thinking maybe we need to use the CC insurance. Why pay both the insurance and a deductable?

Oh, but she also said they will put a 1500Euro hold on our account if we waive the insurance! Jeez, I hate this! Why does it have to be so complicated?!!

CAPH52, I must tackle the same question as well for our July 2006 trip to Ireland. Here is what I am wondering...we have never had any accidents in any rental cars anywhere (including driving on the rough roads in Costa Rica.) Should I assume that we are MORE likely to have an accident in Ireland? Are driving conditions that bad?

I am interested in hearing people's responses to this question. The decision about the insurance is partly a gamble, after all. We use the credit card insurance and have always waived the insurance that the rental car companies offer. But I am wondering if Ireland is a different situation and want to make the right decision.

CAPH52, good luck with your decision. If you don't take the rental car companies extra insurance, will you drive around Ireland really worried about the cost of an accident? If it is likely to ruin your trip, go ahead and pay for the extra insurance.

But if you are like my hubby, and have driven other rental cars in all types of situations and have never had a rental car accident yet, and if you can relax in the knowledge that your credit card will cover you in the event of an accident, and if you don't mind a delay in getting re-imbursed, then you would be okay with waiving the CDW. That's my advice!

CAPH, I agree with you that I have never been so confused than when it came to car rentals in Ireland. And to make it worse, there is so much conflicting information out there regarding which CC's will be covered. We have a Canadian Visa card and I had heard over and over that rental companies in Ireland won't accept Visa for CDW. Well in our case, our Visa is accepted and I have a letter from the insurance underwriter specifying the coverage and the rental company -Dollar - is fine with that. After much deliberation and contacting different rental companies, we are going with our CC mainly because there is no deductible to worry about. We had a minor mishap once using our CC and it was settled in no time so I have no misgivings about using it again. I must say as much as people rave about Dooley, I found their insurance info. a bit over the top in terms of trying to intimidate you into buying it. We have rented cars around the world and have never had such "warnings" emphasized before and you can't tell me the drivers in Ireland are worse than Italy or Costa Rica! Hope this helps a bit but I am in complete agreement with you - it is very frustrating! Good luck and I'm so happy you are still able to take the trip. Have a wonderful time!

Oh that is encouraging CAHP, the written information on their website is incorrect. How impresive!!

It's not really that the drivers are so bad or a serious accident is likely -- it's little things, like the sideview mirror hit by a wall very close to the road, or some such. Little damages add up, and can eat up a deductible.

I'm going for the third time (each time rented a car) and am planning on using my Plat MC to cover the CDW. If I worry too much about it, I will drive myself crazy

We rented last year at this time from Dan Dooley. We paid for the rental with our MC. I thought we were completely covered that way. When we got to the pickup desk, they gave us two options for the additional deductible... which was required. It was a daily fee (which I can't remember) or the flat $$ hold on your credit card in case anything should happen. After questioning this and reading through all the paperwork again, we realized we missed this detail in our planning and took the daily rate. We figured if we did the flat rate they could pick out anything and try and nail us with that huge deductible we turned the car in.

As far as the question goes about the driving in Ireland and probability of incidents... it's worth it, trust me. We, too, don't have a record of problems with rental cars. However, in Ireland, we had two minor incidents. 1.) On one very narrow road the sideview mirror hit a bush on the side of the road and was scratched on the back and the mirror knocked out. We were able to get it back in without problem, but it could have been worse. 2.) My husband accidentally backed into a rock wall... which didn't look like rock because it was covered in moss. Again... very narrow road. We were backing out of a drivway when we hit it. Only minor scratches on the rear.

FWIW, I've been told that this 100Euro deductable, even after you've paid the excess waiver (the daily rate), is fairly new. I guess that's why the website still says that it brings it down to zero.

I just called MC again. When I spoke with them earlier, the woman had told me that they recommend that we buy liability insurance. I find no mention of liability insurance on the Dan Dooley quote form. The woman I spoke with today just kept repeating the same info over and over. I have a feeling she didn't understand it either! When I asked about liability she said "That's between you and the car company. We only request that you decline the CDW." When I told her the car company told me we'd have a 100Euro deductable if we used the MC insurance, but might get it back from MC she said, "A deductable is between you and the car company." I said, "But you'd be insuring us." She said "You have to do whatever the car company says. We only ask that you decline the CDW." Not a lot of help!

Here we are, 4 days from departure, and I'm still totally confused as to which way we're least likely to get socked for it if the car gets damaged. Although the MC woman did say that they would cover all damage to the body of the vehicle, no matter how that damage occurred.

I rented from Dan Dooley in 2003 and purchased the CDW with what they called 'zero deductible'. The cost wasn't that bad for the protection. The first night on trip, I hit the wall on the left side damaging the fender. When we returned the car with the damage, we never heard anything after that.

I would use Dan Dooley again and it was really easy to pick up and return the car in Dublin.

CAPH52: I answered your earlier message with a thread of my own: MC Coverage in Ireland

The fellow I spoke with at MC was VERY knowledgable and very informative.

Has FODORS been flakey, or is the problem at my end? I keep getting "CAN'T CONNECT" and/or "WEB SITE UNAVAILABLE" messages. It took me about 15 minutes of determined effort to bring up this forum, to respond.

Bob
Bob

Thanks, Bob.

I haven't had the same problems you have, but when I read your response, I noticed that the last one I posted wasn't there! I had posted a response to WilDersh.