Positive Rental Car Experience - Really
 

I know no one will believe it but we seemed to have overcome the great rental car demon. First, CDW: we obtained World Master Cards and written letters from World confirming that they would cover our CDW in Ireland if we declined the CDW when renting and used the World Card. We got a very reasonable rental rate from AutoEurope for a 30 day rental of a mid-sized automatic sedan (less than $900), in actuality an Avis rental. We also got good rates from Avis.com (Avis.ie wouldn't do a 30 day rental) for a nine passenger var (auto) our of Shannon and a nine-passenger 14-day rental (stick) out of Dublin. We got written verification from Avis.ie that we could waive the CDW so we thought we were all set. Nope! While re-reading the information from World MasterCard I noticed that commercial vans were excluded. A light went on - was a 9-passenger van a "commercial" van. The answer turned out to be yes. What to do - we were scheduled to leave in a week and still didn't want to pay Avid CDW rates (which were less than some). So, I used the travel insurance site recommended on this forum (insuremytrip.com ) and got coverage (CSA Travel Protection Custom Luxe) for the 3 members of our party that would be driving the vans. The plan provided $50,000 in CDW coverage, did not exclude commercial vans and cost less than $300 total. Fortunately, we didn't need it - no damage to either van. However, we did take out the sedan's passenger side mirror the first day. Even then Avis only charged us $75. We may not even bother billing World MasterCard. All in all a really positive experience. The only thing I'd do differently is make the second van an automatic and get a smaller sedan (they ended up giving us a large instead of a mid-sized -an upgrade we could have done without). Hope this helps you future travelers. Slainte!
Barbara

Interesting, but you'll find that even when the CDW is covered by the credit card company, there is a serious deductable you have to consider, up to $900, depending on the credit card and car, vans are a lot more. You where wise in purchasing the insurance, but what was the deductable?

As far as I could tell (there's always fine print) there was no deductible for either the World card or the insurance. The only drawback was that you had to pay for the cost of the repair up-front and then file a claim.

WE always take out all the extra insurace when renting a car. Saves the hassle if anything happens to the car. You drop off the car and that is it - no questions or inspections.

In Ireland we do rent automatics - makes it easier driving on the "wrong side of the road".

First time we rented a car at the Dublin airport, we had reserved a compact car. They tried to tell us they didn't have what we wanted to rent and tried to give us a car that was a sub-compact car for the price of the compact car. I then went to AVis and asked if the car was sub-compact or compact. I went back to the car rental (forget the name) and told them Avis said it was sub-compact and I believed it was also - so we did not want to rent a car from them. Then a compact car just became available. It turned out to be almost brand new and was a great car. Were they telling the truth or trying to pull a fast one on us?

I admit to being very paranoid reading so many horror stories about rental cars and driving on the left, but in June I had no problems with Hertz and the PS system made directions/locations a total non-issue.

I'm a huge fan of Avis, which I usually rent through Auto Europe. On my most recent trip, I picked a car up in Berlin and drove it to Vienna. When I called and asked for a cheap car, they upgraded me to the next level up. Then when I went to pick up the car, they upgraded me another level, so I that I ended up driving a very nice Mercedes for the price of an economy car.

Because I picked up the car in one location and dropped it off in another, there was to be an extra substantial charge. However, when I returned the car to the Vienna airport, the attendant noticed that the car had Austrian license plates, and she said they would drop the extra charge.

If any "elders" are reading this, be aware that most auto rental agencies in Ireland will not rent to folks over 70 (maybe even 65?). But booking with enterprise.ie, we secured a rental, got an excellent, upgraded car, had wonderful service, declined CDW and used our World Card -- no damage, t.g.

In Germany, we once had some minor damage that was covered by our credit card with no deductible.

And some will rent to the over 70 crowd but will charge a premium.

Oh, and 75 is the magic number for some rental companies.