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Ireland rental car insurance

Posted by (Franklin, WI, usa) on

We rented with Hertz and got a flat tire and a rock hit our car. We assumed AmEx covered car insurance, but they do NOT. Ireland is an excluded country. We paid the CDW ($90eu/week) for our $94eu/week vehicle, which basically means you pay the deducible, and ours was $2500eu ($3,171usd), and that's what they charged us when we checked the car in.

My husband did great driving with the stick shift, but with the narrow road, there was a huge rock in our lane, and with an oncoming car, he could not avoid it. it hit our tire and 2 doors. Urgh.

We'll try working with Hertz to reduce it, but we are on the hook. We still had an awesome trip and probably won't do it any different, but I'm just sick about paying for what amounts to another trip to Ireland.

Posted by
2262 posts

Deb, sorry to hear of this. Our story was on the other end of the spectrum:
We rented for 4 days last year, with Budget. At the desk on pickup in Dublin, they asked if I'd like to buy the deductible down to zero, which would cost about another $20 per day for the 4 days. I took it.
Two days later I was sideswiped in Tralee, and the other car did not stop. I had just saved what would have been the 1350 euro deductible had I not taken the full boat. We turned in the car a couple days later, a couple of questions to answer but nothing more.
Perhaps our experience (yours and ours) will help someone else-thanks for sharing.

Dave

Posted by
9110 posts

In the countries where AmExp doesn't cover the insurance, you buy super cdw or choke a potential bill. It's that simple.

There's no relief coming from Hertz. You have to live with the decision you made.

Posted by
507 posts

When husband (DH) and I rented a car in London we took the extra coverage as neither of us was used to driving on the left.

Long story short I swerved to avoid a head-on collision after cresting a hill, & sideswiped a parked car after seeing a car coming towards me in my lane. The other driver was passing on a hill.

The only comment made at the rental when we returned the car was, "We are used to you Yanks banging up our cars . ." The blue Audi was returned w/an orange streak down the driver's side.

Am glad the both of you did not incur injuries.

Bon-Dia!

Posted by
983 posts

The only way this relates to the the posts above is that it involves Ireland and a rental car, but it was memorable. On our first trip to Ireland in the late 80's we picked up our rental car at Shannon and headed over a mountain pass toward Kinsale in what turned into pea soup fog. We must have bumped the mountainside a few times because we soon had a flat left rear tire. Don't remember the rental agency, but we were in some little village and they weren't, and we needed a new tire. We bought a tire from a local dealer and headed on our way.
Three weeks later at the car rental counter in Shannon again, returning our car, my husband handed over the receipt for the tire we had bought. Their immediate reaction, "We're not paying that. You didn't buy it from an approved dealer." Without missing a beat, my husband (one of the original road warriors) calmly replied, "Fine. Take it off the car. I'll take it with me." Now flustered agent, "You can't do that!" Hubby, "It's mine. I paid for it."
End of story: they credited the amount of the tire back to our rental, and we flew home with no extra checked baggage.
Love Ireland. Many wonderful trips back there. Hate that AmEx doesn't cover the car insurance there, but in Ireland and Italy we've learned to just suck it up and buy the zero-deductible CDW.

Posted by
8309 posts

At least in Italy, the mandatory CDW coverage is reasonably priced. Hertz' CDW terms in Ireland are terrible. Thanks for letting us know.

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