My Irish Cousin car rental - anyone use them?

My go-to broker for car rentals in Europe is www.AutoEurope.com. They represent many of the large car rental agencies and offer discounted rates. Best of all, you can compare prices of multiple companies all on one website.

We looked at My Irish Cousin for our trip two years ago, but went with Dollar Rent a Car, whose price was much lower. My Irish Cousin’s big attribute seemed to be that they, as you said, have super coverage … if there’s any accident, you just walk away from the car, no financial responsibility whatsoever. Well, at least as far as damage to the rental car. I don’t know what happens if you damage a stone wall, building, or other vehicle, let alone injure another person. But they want to provide their customers with peace of mind, for a price.

Another difference in our case is that our Chase VISA card provides full rental damage coverage, just by using it for the rental. If we’d had an accident, we would’ve needed to obtain and submit complete documentation to support what was damaged, when and how, and what the repairs cost. At the rental desk, we also had to provide Dollar proof in writing, from the VISA card, that we were, indeed, covered, or they likely would’ve forced insurance on us, at their price.

My Irish Cousin might also provide their renters tourist advice for destinations and sights, but I’m not certain. If you don’t factor in their rental price, they may be a kinder, gentler rental company, with less stress for their clients. But you pay for that.

We rented with My Irish Cousin in August with a pick up in Shannon and drop in Kilkenny. They work with Enterprise and that was the only car where I could drop in Kilkenny. We wanted extra driver and full insurance (for peace of mind) as it was our first time driving on the other side of the road and we went on very narrow road over the passes in the Southwest. They were easy to work with. The car was new and they arranged for us to be driven back to our hotel in Kilkenny after dropping the car.

Thank you for this information. It is very tempting to rent from them just to avoid tiring negotiations at the airport after an overnight flight and 4 hr. drive ahead. Just wanted to verify that it is the real deal even though it is listed in the Rick Steves Ireland book and the Irish Cousin website promotes its Rick Steves listing. The irony is that my credit card also covers CDW in the Republic of Ireland, yet probably I would still be 'encouraged; to get the deductible discount fee, and windshield repair fee and breakdown fee, and so on....

Anyone else use them?

We used them two years ago and have booked with them for an upcoming trip starting next week. Excellent service and responded to emails the same day. They were helpful with questions about driving routes and general travel inquires as well, pleasant to work with.

We are also heading to Ireland next month, and have read good things about My Irish Cousin. I figured I'd share my research thus far:

For a small sub-compact, automatic car (given narrow roads, I'd want a small car):

MIC quoted 165 Euros a day. That included full insurance (you basically walk away no matter what happens), second driver, unlimited miles, and ability to drive outside of Ireland (ie Northen Ireland).

Checking what looks to be the equivalent car from Enterprise, the car alone was $53 a day. With Enterprise's insurance, the cost came to $115 US per day. However, the insurance had a deductible. So it's not exactly apples to apples comparison.

I also checked SIXT just to compare, similar size car with insurance came to $161 US.

From that, I'd say if you just wanted the rental covered by insurance and didn't want to worry whether your own insurance covered it, MIC has a competitive offer.

My Irish Cousin was highly recommended to me by two different travelers I trust, and after hearing about their experiences I canceled our planned rental and booked through them. (We had coverage, but it was limited, and we'd have had to claw back reimbursement after-the-fact.) Yes, it was a bit more expensive -- about $150 euros in total -- and I assumed we were unlikely to have an accident, but wanted the peace of mind. As it happened, we sideswiped a parked car while pulling around a curve on a narrow two-line street. My Irish Cousin was terrific -- answered the phone and messages instantly, proved enormously helpful and reassuring, reminding us that accidents happen, not to worry, that's why they were there. Thankfully, no one was injured and the damage was relatively minor. We returned the car, no additional charges, no questions asked.

I used My Irish Cousin this past May and was very happy with them. They are very responsive. Their "walk away" insurance worked for us. I had hit a curb and banged up one of the tires and rim, which is not covered on most insurances unless you pay an additional fee. They did call a supervisor over when we dropped off a car, but he just looked at the tire, looked at our contract and waived us away. I would use them again.

One thing, the second driver is included in the price, however, Enterprise neglected to add my daughter to the contract so I ended up doing all the driving. Not that big a deal for us. Just make sure they add the second driver before you leave the lot if you plan on more than one person driving.

We used last August as I also wanted full coverage without any hassle as my daughter in law was doing half the driving and I didn’t want her stressed at all.
They let me pick up in Shannon and drop in Kilkenny (well Enterprise that is— who they work with). We banged up a rim and tire a bit on the Beara Peninsula (not enough to hamper driving). They waived that off and drove us back to our hotel in Kilkenny.
Would definitely use again.