We're renting a car for 2 weeks for our upcoming Ireland trip in early April, so I began by looking at the traditional rental companies (Avis, Enterprise, Hertz, etc). However, I recently became aware of two companies in Ireland that offer rental cars with full coverage and zero deductible: NewWay and My Irish Cousin. On first examination, the coverages offered by these two companies is identical, but NewWay appears to operate their own fleet, with MIC using Enterprise as the source of their cars. There are a few other differences (NewWay charges for an extra driver, MIC does not), but overall they seem to be the same, EXCEPT on price: quotes from both companies are substantially different in cost, about a €450 difference for our 13 day rental, with MIC being the higher price. I have read the coverage terms for both companies and have not found any clear differences other than the inclusion of the second driver and the fact that NewWay has fewer pickup/dropoff locations than MIC, so I wondered if anyone here was aware of any other "undisclosed" differences that could account for the difference (the cost delta is about half the cost of the NewWay quote, which is what got my attention). Thanks for any comments or input.
Posted by
Mountains of S. Oregon
1111 posts
search the forum for "newway" and you'll get a lot of reviews/discussions.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
7917 posts
I just priced out NewWay and My Irish Cousin as well as checked with Costco and Autoeurope. Both NewWay and My Irish Cousin were about twice my other bids. Now, its not "apples" and "apples". Newway and My Irish Cousin are much more comprehensive. But, I don't need a 2nd driver, or the insurance, as I plan to use my credit card insurance (already checked, it DOES include Ireland)
Posted by
OP
SoCal
180 posts
Thanks for the replies. I usually charge our rentals with my Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which has primary rental car insurance (vs secondary for most other credit cards), but after using the card's travel insurance for a flight cancellation, I decided I would rather pay the extra money to avoid the months long claim process. I use Costco for most of my domestic car rentals but they only offer manual transmission options for Ireland and no easy way to add extra coverage as part of the original reservation, so I abandoned them early on. AutoEurope did not offer a full coverage option when I priced them (which is different than when I used them in the past, so wonder what has changed there), so they were dropped as well. Enterprise, my preferred rental company, does offer damage waiver, excess coverage (still end up with a €100 deductible even with their excess) and roadside assistance (which includes full coverage for tire and windscreen damage) which all can be included in the online reservation, and the total cost with all of those added is slightly less than NewWay but substantially less than MIC.
Regarding NewWay and My Irish Cousin: I have had extensive email correspondence with MIC, but I have yet to hear back on my original email to NewWay, which was the first difference I saw (still radio silence from NewWay after over a week). After my numerous emails with MIC and a customer review search I did in parallel, I am now convinced that their involvement with the rental (they contract with Enterprise for all their rentals) is, at least for me, worth the extra cost for the improved customer service and the predictability of the final cost to me-if I have any issues on pickup or return, particularly with regard to attemptes to sell us more coverage or trying to give us the incorrect vehicle type, they assured me that I simply have to call them and they will intervene (ie, if I am given a 9 passenger manual trans van after booking an economy automatic). Their service is the closest to a "walk away" return as I have found to date, and this seems to be borne out by the numerous reviews I have found, all of which back up their assurances. They even gave me a list of items they do not cover (lost keys/fobs, putting the wrong fuel in the car, and burning out the clutch on a manual transmission car) and told me that everything else is covered, plus they will arrange for replacement vehicle if the original vehicle rented is not driveable or unrepairable in time to support our travel plans.
So bottom line, we chose My Irish Cousin despite the higher cost for the reasons I outlined above.
Posted by
Mountains of S. Oregon
1111 posts
My Costco (via Alamo) experience last year was "walk away". There was a short queue at the start of the trip. I enjoy driving a manual and I don't recall what I got - some sort of compact SUV comfortable for four adults.
Ten years ago I had an oopsie with a car (Enterprise) - big scratch from a protruding gate latch and the $4000 claim (hugely inflated!) was settled by my Costco Visa in just under 30 days. That's just how long it took for the insurance carrier to contact and negotiate with Enterprise - no time on my part after the initial email to Visa. So I did have a lien on my card for 30 days. Having saved about $500 in CDW charges, it was well worth it.
Posted by
123 posts
I went to Ireland in 2024 and purchased insurance from a company called Rentalcoverage.com. it was a pretty good deal. Unfortunately I had to use them because I hit a one-lane bridge leaving the car rental office. Not only did I damage the tire but when I replaced it with the spare I did damage with the jack. It was a great start for the trip. So I had to return the car because I wasn't going to drive on a doughnut spare for three weeks.
When I returned it they gave me another car but charged my credit card $2000 for the estimated damage and then gave me another card.
I forgot to tell you the deal I got on the rental included a fine print cost of $5000 for damages if you don't buy their insurance that can cost $70 a day. So I understood that cost and that I would have to make a claim with the cheap insurance company I found online. So that was a great start. Then three days later going around a roundabout I hear a thump but I didn't think it was anything, maybe a pot hole or something. I guess I hit something because I found the left front hub cap gone and damage to the fender.
Oh great now another damage report and another over charge by the rental car company.
So I return the car two weeks later. I know they are going to see the damage and change me some outrages amount for the damage. But the guy checking me in saw I was already charged $2000 for the other car. So he looks at me and says your good I'm not going to change you on this one. Wow, never thought that would happen.
So now I need to make a claim with the on-line insurance company. You won't believe it but it was seamless. They asked for a damage report form the rental car company and an invoice on what they charged me. I sent it to them and I got a check or direct deposit in a week. It was the easiest insurance interaction I've ever had.
Here is something that happened after they paid me. The rental car company sends me an email and the real cost of the repairs was only $1600 and they were going to refund me $400 which is more then the insurance cost me. I actually made money. LOL.
Now this insurance I bought was very cheap because it did not cover liability. So if I did damage to another car or property I knew I would be personally liable so my way won't work for many people which I acknowledge.
So I would look at the fine print on any car rental company before picking one just because of the cost.