Meg

I'm renting through AutoEurope. My Mastercard says they will cover the CDW, but I'm still worried. Has anyone here actually had a fender bender (or worse) in Ireland and been covered by their Mastercard? I hate shelling out the extra bucks if I am covered, but I always believe in being safe than sorry.

Milo

It is not so much that mastercard will pay, but if the rental car company will accept that as a form of insurance. Some rental car companies in Ireland require that you have a form of "provable" insurance. Some companies require that you get a letter from mastercard that they insure ireland, others do not care. So you will have to check with both M/C and your car company to confirm.

Sherry

Meg: My Mastercard says "in general, coverage is available worldwide, but there are exceptions..You may experience an inability to use this service in Australia, I reland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica and New Zealand. Please contact your car rental company before you travel." When I asked them to clarify, my customer service rep from Mastercard said they will cover anywhere, but they are aware that there are some rental companies that will not allow you to use their coverage anyway. So as Milo says, double and triple check for Ireland. AutoEurope would not allow me to use my card coverage for Italy last year. Ireland may or not be the same.

steve

when travelling in Ireland last year, my friend used his Mastercard to rent the car. He had requested and received a letter from mastercard stating that coverage was applicable in Ireland. <BR> <BR>Luckily, we didn't have an accident to see how valuable it was

guy

For some reason it is seemingly more problematic to rent a car in Ireland than most other places..go figure????...I am headed to Ireland next week and have rented a "van" type car....including CDW... which is not covered by my American Express Card...I do not know what is the problem..or why it is the problem...but for some reason it seems that renting a car in Ireland is a bit more complicated and expensive ..than renting the same vehicle in other European countries...

Meg

Thanks for your responses. I actually did call Mastercard and had them fax a letter, plus I also went back and dug out the booklet sent to me when I first received the card and it states they provide up to $50,000 coverage for damage, fire & theft (no liability) including Ireland. I'm going to check with AutoEurope today to see if they'll accept it. I'll keep you posted. Maybe this will be helpful to others.

Judy

Thanks for another handy, heplful, hint, Meg and All, I will now use my MC when I go to Ireland in August! Judy

Sherry

Meg. Check out another rental company. If they list theft protection, personal liability and collision damage as OPTIONAL that means that you are not required to purchase these items from them and more than likely you will be able to use your MasterCard for CDW coverage.

Kevin

One reason renting cars in Ireland the U.K. is more expensive than in the rest of Europe is that cars are more expensive in those 2 countries (and at least 30% more expensive than cars here in the U.S.--the Ford Mondeo, which is the equivalent of a Ford Contour in the U.S. is considered an "executive" car!!).

Tom

Meg - Do not waste your time checking with Auto Europe. They are only a middle man. Check with the company that actually rents you the car as listed on your voucher. Regards - Tom

Meg

Tom, thanks I will do that. I did check with AutoEurope and they said they would accept the coverage if I brought the letter - but you are right, the rental is through Hertz so I will check with them as well.

Carol

We rented through Murray's Europcar (through AutoEurope) in June of 1999, had a letter from Mastercard stating that they covered CDW, but Murray's would not honor the letter. The rental agent placed a charge of approx $1500.00 for an insurance coverage on my credit card. Did not have an accident, so the charge was credited back to my account. This year I'm paying for the CDW up front with AutoEurope. Good Luck

Nancy

Carol: Where are you going to be driving in Europe? We have rented through Auto Europe/Europe car for an upcoming trip to France and were also told we could waive the extra insurance. Does it make a difference in the country in which you drive?

Milo

The only countries that are a problem that I know of are Ireland (all CC's except sometimes Mastercard as seen above.) and Italy (AMEX only). This is how it has been but I would check your credit card agreement to make sure.

kam

We rented from Sixt in Shannon last year. We had all the CDW insurance coverage letters from our platimum Mastercard with us, but in the end, took the CDW offered by the rental company. The reason---we did have a silly accident (involving only body damage to another car) in Wales a few years ago. American Express was wonderful and the whole thing got settled with no cost to us. However, we would never have wanted to spend the time arguing with companies about coverage while losing our vacation time. As it turned out, this minor event cost us about 4 hours. Better safe than sorry, I think. You've invested so much for airfare, hotels, clothes, entertainment--why not spend a bit more and have the peace of mind if an accident occurs. Remember the old phrase "that's why they call them accidents."

Patrick

Tom, maybe you know some trick that I haven't found yet. Yes, I know that AutoEurope is a middle man, but having rented through them about 12 times, I have always checked separately with whatever company they were using in a given city and I have only been able to get an equal or better rate once. That was for a one day rental in England, and AutoEurope had even told me that I would be able to get a better rate by going direct. In a couple of cases for two or three week rentals, the quotes I got from Europecar or Avis, the companies that AutoEurope was using, were nearly double the price by going through AutoEurope. <BR>I guess what you're also saying is never buy airline tickets or hotels through a consolidator as they are strictly middle men. Most of us have learned that you can often get better deals through those consolidators than going direct with the airline or hotel. The same thing seems to be true of AutoEurope.

Meg

Kam, that's a good point. Patrick, I don't think that Tom is saying not to use AutoEurope for a rental, but rather to check with the "real" car rental agency regarding the acceptance of MC CDW, as AutoEurope is a middleman and they may say it's okay, but Hertz (or whatever company it might be) will decline it. <BR> <BR>Thanks everyone for their opinions.

Tom

Patrick - Meg is right on. I also have used AE numerous times and have been very happy with their service. But when you have inquiries as to CDW I would not feel comfortable with answers from AE when the vehicle is rented from Hertz. My advice to Meg was to ask Hertz. I agree that AE is usually cheaper than going direct although this was not the case for my trip this summer. Received a much better quote direct from Hertz for a 14 day rental picking up in Zurich and a drop off in Rome. <BR>I also have purchased air tickets to Europe from a consolidator. Once these tickets are purchased if I have any questions or need seat assignments I do not call the consolidator, I call the airline. Bottom line these middle men provide a great service to us travelers in selling tickets or rentals at a reduced rate (some/ most) of the time but you have to be careful gathering or trying to interpret information on particulars. Kindest Regards - Tom

Patrick

Sometimes it's hard to believe I was a communications major in college -- I guess I misinterpreted again. But I'm still not sure that's true about the insurance. I had the impression that AutoEurope would "self insure" the cars that they rent via Avis or Europecar or whomever, therefore they would know better whether they will cover certain things than the actual rental car company, but perhaps I am wrong. I do know that once when I rented from Avis in Switzerland and had a billing problem after the fact it was a nightmare trying to straighten it out as Avis in the US kept saying they have nothing to do with European Avis companies and I had to deal long distance. With AutoEurope, they handle any problems for you -- and I assume it would be the same for any damage to a car that you had rented and insured via them.