Renting a car in Ireland

Check CAREFULLY with your credit card company to verify IN WRITING that they do not exclude Ireland on the rental car coverage.....many exclude Ireland (and I think Portugal, but not certain re: Portugal). You might also want to upgrade to include optional coverage on the tires (or tyres, as written in Ireland).

You have to read the terms and conditions very carefully on any travel arrangements these days, but I have rented through AutoEurope around eight times with great success. You do pay in advance but you can cancel without charge. I used to use AMEX premium coverage, but it always felt risky. Many cards explicitly exclude Ireland, AMEX premium coverage does. I went with the super CDW in Ireland on our 2016 trip and it was a good decision. An unexplained scratch showed up on the underside of the bumper, maybe I just missed it upon initial inspection and maybe it happened on my watch.

My familiy’s new catch phase is “Don’t worry we have full coverage”. This happened after spending 3 weeks driving around Ireland. My credit card offers full coverage in Ireland (chase sapphire) and we still paid for all the insurance coverage we could. Why? Peace of mind. Especially after they declared “ oh you are getting one of the new cars” at the rental counter. Oh gee thanks. And I would recommend renting Directly through the car rental company to avoid any unwelcome surprise charges when you pick up the car.

Thank you for your suggestions!

Please be careful. Our credit card covers almost every country, but Ireland.

Would suggest strongly, that you sleep in on the first day, before you attempt to drive. The jet lag is hard on us.

Also, recommend an automatic and an up to date GPS.
Buying a new GPS, might be cheaper than renting.

You will love Ireland.

Any rental car companies recommendations.

We have always used Hertz. Everything worked out well.
We took 100% of the insurance.

Just expensive

I have to ask...why is Ireland excluded from most credit card insurances?

I've used multiple car companies (autoeurope, Hertz and Thrifty among others). I've been reasonably happy with most. You just have to read the entire agreement carefully before deciding.

Like you, I want to compare the total cost for my rental. Lately, it seems to be getting harder to compare.
There are plenty of small print items to read. I've been seeing too many rental agreements with language such as "drop charge may apply". Does the fee apply? How much is it? Last time I picked up a Thrifty car in Toulouse and dropped it in Bordeaux. I wasn't expecting a drop charge of 125 euro.

Many cards have some rental insurance. I've been pretty happy with AmericanExpress full CDW insurance for rentals. They charge me $25 per rental (up to 40 days) rather than per day, which is a big cost savings. They don't offer it on all cards (used to be my Costco card, now on an Everyday Cash card), all US states or for every country. I still need to figure out whether their program includes Ireland for my upcoming May trip. The time I used autoeurope, the card didn't automatically pick it up as a rental. I had to call AmEx and ask them to manually charge the premium. If they hadn't charged me, I wouldn't have been insured. Also if you don't decline any optional insurance with the car, it voids the AmEx insurance - even if you paid the $25 premium.

@tonjag I don't know the official reason why ireland is excluded, but if you ever drive the roads(other than highways) you can see why they want to. Narrow roads only wide enough for one car, brick walls on either side, sheep in the road.

Ireland and Italy seem to be exceptions to "normal" when it comes to coverage through credit card. And I heartily second the post recommending Autoeurope, which will be happy to help you with the insurance and other questions.!

Worldwide Insure offer car rental insurance that replaces the extra insurance, and excess that the rental companies offer. There are a number of companies offering car rental insurance in the UK that offer annual, multi trip coverage for as little as £40 however this is not something that is offered in the US that I can find. Worldwide Insure are UK based but appear to be the only company that offer coverage to US citizens. A dummy application for 14 day coverage in Ireland came in at £77, this is expensive in comparison to the offers provided to UK and EU citizens but it's still cheaper than the rental company add ons.

Appreciate all of your feedback! Just for piece of mind we decided to go through Auto Europe and purchase the no deductible insurance. Thanks again.