Should someone with confirmed World Mastercard insurance consider "additional" coverage with a policy from a provider such as Insurance4Carhire for a two week rental in Ireland this June?

I heard somewhere the insurance is required in Ireland but I'm not sure if that is correct. Ask the rental agency and if it's not required, you might be interested in this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...experience.cfm

Very interesting and useful. Thanks for the link to the thread P_M !

Actually, Michele at www.irelandyes.com is the best expert I've found on Irish car insurance, CDW, and all that is required. She has a great forum and will answer any questions

Check with Mastercard... my understanding was that the World card *did* provide coverage in Ireland.

If so, you need to decline any other insurance...
if you sign for anything else not only do you pay for it but it then becomes the insurer and your card coverage does not come into play.

We rented a car last Sept in Ireland using the coverage provided by our World Mastercard but we also took out a policy with Insurance4carhire to cover the tires, mirrors and other areas on the car not insured by most policies.

Insurance4carhire is a year long policy and so it provided additional coverage for our rental last December in England and also this May for our rental in Spain.

We usually choose this coverage when we are driving on the left side of the road where mirrors and tires take the brunt of any miscalculations!! Deborah

GD,PA and DA... thanks for your posts. I will use my World Mastercard for my carhire this June in Ireland. And, I will purchase Insurance4carhire coverage as well because the WMC doesn't cover some of those things that DeborahAnn mentioned (tires, mirrors) and this is my first time driving on the left, shifting with the left etc. Our one previous trip out of the US was to Italy in 2006. we rented in Rome, drove to and stayed in Tuscany for a week and returned to Rome without incident.

The Irish carhire situation is very unsettling in many ways but I am hopeful that, after following sage advice from moreexperienced travelers, that it will all work out.

We used the World MC , rented from Hertz and declined everything. It worked out fine, but it was a frightening experience. The roads in the west are difficult, to say the least, and the left hand shift and orientation is hard to get used to.

Yes, I've hit my right hand on the door MANY times reaching for that gear shift Luckily, the pedals are the same - right for gas, middle for brake, left for clutch

Sounds like fun...51 days and counting. I wish I could practice somewhere somehow.

See my LENGTHY reply here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...car-agency.cfm

Bob

Um - driving on the "wrong" side of the road is a lot easier if you just rent an automatic. Then you're thinking about only one difference - not that as well as shifting the wrong way - and getting used to the gearing of a different car at the same time.