Looking for an auto rental insurer... that actually has decent coverage

We use the special coverage from Am Express but you need the Am Express card.

Maybe others have some advice, but our experience was to just take the rental agencies CDW, The exclusion of Ireland from your Credit Cards coverage is typical for Ireland (almost all cards exclude them), same for Italy if you are thinking of going there next. You could shop around for cars again, considering total cost, but in general, renting a car in Ireland is not cheap.

Frank, you might want to read the fine print. I have the American Express Premium coverage as well...not good in Ireland.

In doing my research, the best option was to take the renters CDW

So, the coverage sold by Dooley covers "jack", and the Travel Guard plans are "crap". What is it that you require? Are you looking for higher limits, or what? The full cover, zero deductible coverage we got from the rental company covered everything except tires, if I recall correctly. I'm not sure what you expect to find available? Ireland can certainly be tough on cars, but lots of people come through it unscathed.

Re: the posts about American Express rental coverage--as of 9/01/17 Ireland is now covered under this card benefit on some if not all Amex cards. Italy, Australia and New Zealand are still excluded.

https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/us/credit-cards/features-benefits/policies/pdf/CRLDI_Benefit_Guide_Tier_1_Rev_09-17.pdf

I'm following this too....Do all companies place a huge hold on your credit card? We are debt free, and only have one visa account with a low limit. We are not looking to get another card or raise the limit just for a car rental. What does CDW cover when renting with Dooley's?

Dave, from what I understand from their fine print, it only covers collision to a certain amount. It doesn't cover tires, windshield, or theft. If this were not my first time in Europe, nevermind in Ireland, and also a trip I'm taking all by myself, I wouldn't be too worried. I just want to have some peace of mind that a theft is not going to bankrupt me.

Katheryne, well I already paid with my visa and am not going to open another credit card just for this.

I went on autoeurope.com and put in for a rental from Dublin Airport, it comes back with 3 choices for coverage, all of which show theft protection, with a deductible. The most expensive option shows cover for Liability, Fire, CDW with refundable deductible, Theft Protection with refundable deductible, and Roadside Assistance. This may just be the way it is-if you want coverage, or good coverage, there will be a hold placed on a card.

Autoeurope has very good phone support here in the U.S., it may be worth a call to them to see if there's a way to cut through some of the noise and red tape. They are a consolidator and work with several companies in Ireland.

I'm an ExPat living here in Ireland. I rent cars 3 weeks out of the month. I've interviewed many companies to help others with opinions and information. I just wrote a LONG comment on the New York Times travel page as they had an article this past week on rental cars (that was lacking in my humble opinion). That comment (2 actually) has more info than I have time to put here but do know this:

• many rental car companies will offer a "tire and windscreen" package cheaper than the big insurance. It was 6 euros a day last week (it changes). But you'd still have the 2k deposit on the credit card.

• most rental car companies WILL STILL TAKE THE DEPOSIT ON YOUR CREDIT CARD IF YOU HAVE THIRD PARTY INSURANCE! Look at it from their perspective. They don't know the insurance you have; they don't know how fast that company will pay; they don't know anything about them. They will make you put down that deposit because if you have an accident YOU have to deal with the third party insurance, not them. So I'd suggest either get full insurance each day from the rental car company (and pay), or don't get a car. If that 2,000 euros cuts into your trip too much, maybe a car just isn't the best choice, anyway? Why not pick less cities to see, and explore more on foot or local bus? And know that BusEireann is just the main public bus - there are hundreds of smaller, regional Local Link buses to take, as well.

Also - to give you an idea how crazy pricing is:
I've justed returned a car to Europcar yesterday. Three weeks, 327 euros.

I'm reserving a car in a few weeks for Dec 20 - Jan 3rd. Less time. It's 970 euros. YES!!!
That's Ireland!!

Susan In Waterville,

I insure with www.insuremyrentalcar.com.
They give me a proof of insurance, and a full policy to take with me. There was no hold on my card with Europcar (in France) with 2 recent rentals beyond the anticipated cost of a tank of gas, in the event that I did not return the car full. Same in Scotland with Hertz.
When I chose my policy, they allowed me to compare choices between several different insurers, so that I could get one that fit my needs. I didn't go with the cheapest plan, but instead made sure that I went with a reputable company that has a high rating with the insurance commission as to paying claims.
I've been happy--particularly with not having to shell out the outrageous amounts for policies. My annual policy (yes, annual) covers me for unlimited rentals and costs less than I'd pay on a single rental from the rental car agencies.

@Susan - could you please add the hyperlink for the NY Times article? I searched for it and couldn't find any comments from you on a recent (Nov 10) article about foreign car rentals. Couldn't find anything else recent on car rentals. I'm very interested in this as I have a rental booked in Republic of Ireland for next summer with the "refundable deductible" and want to learn all I can before then.

Insuremyrentalcar.com "policies are not currently available in the states of Massachusetts / New York / North Carolina / South Carolina / Rhode Island / Virginia / Washington at this time."

Nelly - Do You Really Need Rental Car Insurance? 8 Things to Know from The Frugal Traveller in the NYTimes. It was March of 2016!! I just looked. For some reason it came up just a few weeks ago when I was reading the NYT..... not sure why! As you read it, take the time to read the comments on the article, too. There is a ton of info in the various comments, let me tell you!

Susan
Expat in Ireland

For what it's worth, I have just reserved a rental car for 3 weeks in Ireland. I did a lot of researching and price comparing. I finally reserved a car thru Costco Travel. My rental includes an additional driver. I will be picking the car up at the Enterprise office at Dublin Airport and dropping it off at the same location. The price thru Costco was almost half of the cost of comparable cars at Enterprise and Europcar. (I even called Costco to make sure there was no mistake.) I do pay for a membership at Costco, however, the savings on this rental car alone has more than covered that cost. I will be using the coverage that comes with the credit card and we will have two drivers. I do understand that you do not want another credit card, however, when I travel I ALWAYS take two credit cards (and neither card charges a foreign transaction fee).

Thank you for this, ntimid. I might consider Costco for next time. Everything went just fine with Dooley, however I ended up having to pay for super coverage to avoid the $2000 hold. I did end up bringing 2 cards (I only have 2 cards) and didn't want one to be useless. I was initially quoted at about $180 for 9 days plus GPS rental and ended up having to pay about $250-$300 extra for the 'super' coverage. Still, $430-$480 for 9 days plus GPS, is still not that bad compared to how expensive it is in the US. I can't complain.

I just rented a car through AutoEurope for 12 days and paid $487 for an intermediate car. That included the all the insurance they offered. Nice to see what others are paying. Gas will be expensive though!