World MC proof of CDW coverage
 

I am running the "rental car gauntlet". I have obtained a World MasterCard and confirmed that CDW is covered in Ireland. In reading fine print at rental car web sites - I find that "written proof" of coverage also is required. Can anyone out there advise what type of "written proof" is accepted by these rental companies? (Currently, Thrifty/Dollar are most competitive for me - but all want written proof)
Your advice or experience with this will be helpful

It should be in the written T's and C's which came with your MC. Wouldn't this be sufficient.

Telephone MasterCard Assistance Center at 1-800-622-7747 and inquire about getting a copy of the "MasterRental Insurance" for World MasterCard cardholders. I printed my copy off the internet after speaking with the center. I will take this with me to Ireland. It's a comprehensive printout of the rental coverage, and should be accepted by all rental agencies, I was told.

Hi H,

Ditto CR.

You should have that anyway, to see what is not covered.

((I))

PS,

You are running a gAntlet, not a gAUntlet.

I rented my car from Avis through Auto Europe in Ireland using a World Mastercard and had no trouble at all. They didn't even ask to see that "written proof."

By the way, when I was looking for info on this board about this very thing, a poster said that the World MC should begin with the numbers 5466. Sure enough, when my card came, it began with those numbers.

I highly recommend Avis. We had lost hubcaps and scurried around to find hubcaps that would fit our car because we figured they'd charge us an arm and a leg to replace them. It turned out that they would have charged about $50, which was a little less than we had paid at an auto parts store.

The fact that they didn't try to rip us off was refreshing.

We actually had a terrible experience with Avis in Ireland as they tried to scam us for some damage after we were just about to get on the plane. I told them that I needed to see pictures of the damage but they told me that the repairs had already been done. I was very confident there had not been the damage they desribed. I don't think so. That said, rental car nightmares exist with probably every company.

I've tried irishcarentals.com and always gotten a good price from them. As far as written proof, I have'nt been asked for it in 10 trips. There used to be a letter that they sent out as verification, but I don't believe they do that anymore. I've brought it most times, but recently, I've been given a 24 hour international number that they could call.

Bill

"You are running a gAntlet, not a gAUntlet"

Maybe a language thing, but running the gAUntlet was a common punishment in the Royal Navy to punish pilfering.

The Mastercard conditions are pretty general, as they don't usually have a date on them and don't refer to a specific card, but maybe should work. I think it's because all Mastercards are the same, it's a MC coverage, not your certain bank, and refers to a specific kind of card (gold, platinum or whatever, the booklet should say). It's kind of hard to keep track of those things after many years, though, and I think you often don't even get it without asking, even with a new card.

Gantlet is just a variant spelling of gauntlet. There are two meanings, but neither spelling refers to only one sense.

Hi W,

Check that again.

A gauntlet is an armored glove.

A gantlet is a line of people swatting you.

If you insist on misusing the word, you will be keelhauled.

((I))

Dictionary.com offers both meaning for that spelling and also offers this word history:

Word History: The spelling gauntlet is acceptable for both gauntlet meaning "glove" or "challenge" and gauntlet meaning "a form of punishment in which lines of men beat a person forced to run between them"; but this has not always been the case. The story of the gauntlet used in to throw down the gauntlet is linguistically unexciting: it comes from the Old French word gantelet, a diminutive of gant, "glove." From the time of its appearance in Middle English (in a work composed in 1449), the word has been spelled with an au as well as an a, still a possible spelling. But the gauntlet used in to run the gauntlet is an alteration of the earlier English form gantlope, which came from the Swedish word gatlopp, a compound of gata, "lane," and lopp, "course." The earliest recorded form of the English word, found in 1646, is gantelope, showing that alteration of the Swedish word had already occurred. The English word was then influenced by the spelling of the word gauntlet, "glove," and in 1676 we find the first recorded instance of the spelling gauntlet for this word, although gantelope is found as late as 1836. From then on spellings with au and a are both found, but the au seems to have won out.

Were a keelhauling to be in order, being dragged below the ship is bad enough, but to be rebuked harshly, well that is just plain mean.

Bill

I am aware that a gauntlet is an armoured glove, and in all probability the derivation was a mishearing or anglisised version of a foreign phrase.

That said, the "incorrect" form of running of the gauntlet was used and documented from at least the mid 1700's.

So we are on to a theoretical point of when does an incorrect phrase become correct through usage ?

Sorry to the OP - I seem to have moved off subject rather dramatically.

I love you people!

Thanks y'all for your input. I do have a 5466 World Mastercard and MCAssist has sent an excerpt from their terms & conditions, which I will use as my "written proof". I will run the "gauntlet/gantlet" expecting a hassle and hoping for no problems.
If nothing else, my vocabulary was expanded.

I have been in an email exchange with AutoEurope on just this question and they state that I need a letter from MC on its letterhead specifying what they will cover and up to what cost. What are my chances of ever getting such a letter.

A quick phone call secured me that letter. No problem.

W asks,

>when does an incorrect phrase become correct through usage ?

NEVER!!!
Just because the uneducated, semiliterate rabble misuses a word doesn't relieve those who are better educated of the responsibility of recognizing that words do have meanings, and for maintaining the integrity of the language.

This doesn't mean that we shouldn't introduce new words, or change the meanings of words over time, but morphing one word into another is a NO-NO, <i>irregardless</i> of what your dictionary might think of how this <i>presently impacts</i> the language.

A gauntlet is a glove.

A gantlet is a line of people used for punishment.

For really harsh punishment, one is forced to run a gantlet of gauntlets.

((I))

Practical Traveler NYT advised once again declining option CDW in europe car rentals for credit card coverage, etc. because it said often the car rental company would put a huge charge on your card to cover possible damages to the car since you did not take out CDW - because even though MC may later reimburse them for their loss they'll take it from you and let you get it from MC -- anyway the cost of the car's worth charged temporarily to your card may make its credit limit to the max so you can't use the card in Europe. Bring other cards as well i guess.

So, ira, you are disagreeing completely with what dictionary.com says?

By the way, Bartleby.com also says this:

&quot;If you are not sure whether you should throw down the gantlet or the gauntlet, don’t throw in the towel. There are two words spelled gauntlet and both have gantlet as a spelling variant, so you can’t go wrong.&quot;

I guess they haven't conferred with you ira to find out that you CAN go wrong?

Meanwhile, if anyone wants to know what our &quot;parent group&quot; Random House has to say on the matter, you might read this:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/inde...?date=19990621
According the them, the variant spelling of gantlet doesn't even exist in British English, but only in American English. I don't know, but perhaps our OP is British?

There are a number of reference sites that will tell you both words are spelling variants of each other. So I understand the confusion -- but neither spelling is INCORRECT for either use!

According to Webster's (American English) &quot;gantlet&quot; is just a variant of &quot;gauntlet.&quot; Here's the entry:

2gauntlet n (by folk entymology fr. gantelope) (1661) 1: A double file of men facing each other and armed with clubs or other weapons with which to strike at an individual who is made to run between them. 2: cross fire: also: ordeal

Words do often add, delete, and otherwise change meanings and spellings over time.