Car rental using chase preferred sapphire

Without knowing further details, I suggest you call Chase to find out.

Chase's car rental insurance is nullified if it's not primary. I have never rented in Ireland and therefore don't know the specifics.

As Tom_MN notes, regardless of whether your card provides legitimate coverage, you'll have to produce a printout of benefits and resist an incredibly hard sell. I think the agents are on commission for the extra charges, or at least they act like it. Having thick Scottish blood, I never pay for the insurance, since it's usually a huge cost (not so huge now that prices have skyrocketed). I did use the coverage once, and it was painless with the caveat that your card credit is in stasis for the amount of the car damage. I had a minor run in with a protruding gate latch, scratching the paint. They checked several boxes on their ipad and stated "$4000, please". The card (Citi) settled the entire amount in about 30 days with no questions asked.

On the subject of saving addon charges, I bought a used Garmin dash GPS for $20 and when the agent sees it, they often give me a car that already has one for no charge. I think they have a hard time controlling the inventory of cars with and without GPS. I prefer mine anyway because I can set up all my travel plans in advance with routes all ready to go and I have a record of my entire trip. Map upgrades are sometimes needed, but the internet has lots of tendrils.

I believe that Ireland is on the list of countries that CC do not cover that sort of insurance. You can still decline any coverage on the car, but your CC will not cover it.

To jjgurley.

How does the agent know about your Garmin? Do you go to the counter and plop it up there for him to see?

I’ve never gotten the hard sell for insurance, anyplace. Most of the times I’ve rented they haven’t asked at all, or only mentioned it in passing. Liability insurance is included in the rental price. For CDW we’ve used Allianz occasionally. In Ireland and Sicily we did splurge for the zero deductible insurance simply for piece of mind.

I have not had to file a claim while in Ireland, but have used Chase Sapphire Reserve insurance there on a enterprise/national rental. I had to call Chase (the benefits department not the number on the back of your card) the week before I was headed off to get them to e-mail me a letter that confirms that they cover Ireland. I brought the letter with me to Ireland and at the counter the Agent asked to have a copy of it for the file (after I told him I had the letter when he seemed a bit skeptical of my not taking the agency's insurance on the car).

I have had to file a claim on the Chase card for a rental in Denver. The process was pretty easy, just uploading some documents as required.

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I was intrigued enough by this discussion to do an online search of the Chase credit card options.
It appears that Chase offers two Sapphire cards: the Sapphire Reserve card which carries with it a $550 annual fee and the Sapphire Preferred which only charges $75 per year.
For those who have experience in this matter: do both cards cover rental car insurance in Ireland?

@Robert,

Yes both the Preferred and Reserve cover Ireland. The Reserve just has a higher insurance limit (something like up to $75,000 compared to $35,000).

Thank you all for your comments and input re using the Chase Preferred Sapphire card. I had a long chat with the Chase staff about this and booked the car rental without purchasing the CDW.. Interesting that some of you had more of a hard sale then others and that the letter was scrutinized by some car rental staff and not others. That seems to be the case with much in life.
Annemarie

Hello from Wisconsin,
I have always relied upon my CC insurance. It has been tricky at times. I only once needed the insurance. I filed the papers as necessary and the insurance company (likely CHUBB) sent us a check pronto.

Ireland, Jamaica, and Israel are different in that most CC don't cover car insurance for rentals originating there . Too many accidents I guess. But if your Chase card covers Ireland I would phone and get a letter from the company (CHUBB) saying they cover Ireland. Once upon a time...I needed that letter. The car rental agency in Germany wasn't going to let me skip the CWD until I showed them the letter. Now that was for coverage in Eastern Europe pre-Ukraine, not Ireland.

Get the letter. In the tiniest of fine print handout that you were sent with your card I think you find CHUBB as the carrier and you may have to go directly to them. It is worth the time on the phone. Insurance once was more expensive than the rental.

wayne iNWI

Can anyone clarify exactly what is needed from Chase if the car rental agency demands documentation? Information on the Chase website, documentation that came with the card, an actual letter from Chase (possibly requested through Secure Messages)?

To reply to a specific question, when the agent says "do you want a GPS", I say "No thank you, I have my own". No need to plop it on the desk...

I was at a budget/Avis rental location in Dublin recently where the agent was insisting on paper documentation of coverage. The family was having trouble getting hold of Chase due to the time in the USA. They said Chase and Budget had told them they didn't need a printout they had an email but Budget would not accept it.
I have a chase Sapphire but took the agency's zero deductible coverage for peace of mind. The car rental was so expensive that the insurance cost was a small part of it!

Hi,
We just returned from Ireland in May and used Chase Sapphire Reserve to book our car and cover our insurance. My husband called Chase 2 months before we left and asked them about tires, which they said they covered. He also had them send us an email which we printed, which stated they covered the Republic of Ireland.

We landed in Dublin, and weren't getting our car until we left Dublin, but my husband went by the Europcar desk to confirm we were set. They said we need an email only 3 weeks out which confirmed we had this coverage.

At the hotel, we talked to Chase, and they sent another email and we printed it at the Business Center. When we returned to the airport to pick up our car, Europcar said our new email did not state coverage for the Republic of Ireland. We spent about 45 minutes on the phone with a series of Chase agents who then talked to Europcar on our phone to confirm. Europcar said we did have tire coverage. We recommend getting as detailed of an email as possible, including the tire coverage. We didn't have an issue with tires, but also, didn't have it in writing.

The car was great! We highly recommend the Corolla hybrid automatic. They told us of other coverage options but there was no hard sell. The driving on some of these small roads is very stressful. Once, having to squeeze over quite a bit, we scratched the door on bushes and this was flagged when we returned the car. They wanted a deposit for $1000 until it was settled. The estimate for repairs came in at $600, Chase paid it all with no deductible. We highly recommend taking pictures when you pick up the car and of any damage that you cause.

We've used our Chase Sapphire card 3 different trips (3-4 weeks each) in Ireland without a problem. Never had a hard sell although I produce a letter from Chase to confirm coverage- we've used Enterprise, Hertz, and Sixt. We haven't had any reason to make a claim, though, so can't address how easy or difficult it is. It's saved us loads of money in coverage costs so glad I have it.

For what it's worth, I've just recently had to use mine abroad, though not in Ireland. On my most recent trip, a rock from a large truck hit the windshield of my rental car, leaving a crack. Chase's card benefits people have been consistently helpful. When I called about the damage, they verified that it should in fact be 100% covered, and told me to go ahead and open a claim (done online) before returning the car. When I dropped it off, I provided the claim number and was on my way. I've uploaded some requested information (photos of the damage, rental agreement, etc.), but after the initial contact from the rental car agency, it's been a waiting game. I've been advised that it can take months for things to get resolved but at least so far I've felt very satisfied with the experience. I'd recommend calling their Card Benefits people in advance; I've usually gotten through without too much of a wait, and they'll certainly be able to walk you through what you need to do.