Rental Car Insurance

In the US I don't bother with additional insurance and let my US insurance cover. In Europe I pay extra and take their insurance. If there is a problem I want to be able to walk away and not deal with third parties. I pay more but it is peace of mind that is important.

Here's a good place to start - info here on the Rick Steves website:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/car-rental-cdw

I agree with Frank, the extra money is well worth it to just walk away. Tons of horror stories about "damage" charged weeks and months after people return to the US.

Thanks to all of you for your replies; did forget to say "in Ireland" I think I might add on to travel policy as well...

Recently rented in Ireland and drove hundreds of miles. Used the Chase United Airlines card for insurance. Inside your chase.com account there is a way to print a letter from them with your name and credit card number on it that states your insurance coverage. It has a line in it specifically calling out coverage in Ireland. Guess what, just walked away after the rental, and $160 richer for forgoing additional insurance.

BTW: The rental company did not ask to see any proof of insurance, they took my word for it.

I typically decline the car rental CDW and use my travel credit car insurance. However since both Visa Infinite (Capital One Venture X) and American Express explicitly don't cover in Ireland, I had to look for other options.

After looking at a lot of different choices, I ended up with New Way: https://www.newway.ie. When I picked up at the desk at the Dublin Airport, they told me the only things not covered were 1) Losing the keys 2) Filling the tank with the wrong type of gas.

We got a very small compact Toyota automatic. I recommend a similar car for Ireland due to very narrow roads and not wanting to think about shifting with the left hand while keeping on the correct side of the road.

I scratched the front bumper while navigating the parking spot in our AirBnb in Kinsale (tricky spot on a very steep road), and was happy not to have to worry about it for the rest of the trip and how my insurance might cover it.

The trouble with using any third party insurance is that it is great, wonderful, and save money. Best of all worlds until you have a claim especially if it is enhanced a bit by the rental company. That is the test. With a third party you have the wonderful, triangular. finger pointing. By that time you are home it because very hard to communicate. The third party insurance company will often demand very specific documentation that is difficult to obtain. And remember the car rental company has complete access to your credit card. There are some prior horrid stories that have been reported here. Saving a hundred dollars on car insurance is not high on my list. There are many other places to save that hundred.

One about travel is it brings out the worrywarts. Don’t worry about crime or car damage, at home or on the road. There are parking scrapes people report but I’ve found getting a passenger out to watch the parking operation works just fine. And there are not “tons” of bad stories reported about using credit card insurance, pretty much there are none. Also it’s never just $100.