The idea of renting a car and taking a leisurely road-trip through the picturesque countryside of Ireland was, shall we say, a little bit different than the image we had created in our minds. After spending three days exploring Dublin, Nancy and I were excited about having our own car, our own schedule, and our own space, for the next eight days. This luxury would allow us the freedom to come and go as we wished – and of course the challenge of driving a vehicle on the opposite side of the road from the opposite side of the car.
I think the nervousness started when we realized that car rental companies in Ireland do not allow foreigners to use their own car insurance, which is typically accepted around the world when renting a car.
Let us elaborate, car rentals in Ireland were cheap to the point of being absurd. To rent a car for 8 days, it was only going to cost 45 €. We would soon understand that the rental companies certainly don’t earn the majority of their money through the ‘rental’, rather through the insurance that you are “allowed” to purchase, or should we say is forced upon the unknowing consumer upon their arrival in the company’s lobby. Through this technique, almost all Americans will have no other choice but to pay the exorbitant, daily, insurance premiums which cost approximately 36 € per day. We didn’t really feel like we had a lot of options, as we were sitting in their lobby with all of our bags already packed. I’m pretty sure a smirk, in the form of a smile, began to spread across the robot’s face. All of a sudden, what we believed to be a 45 € car rental had mushroomed into an almost 400 € expense ($560).
To put it mildly and succinctly, I was pissed.
When trying to inquire and use our charm to possibly bargain our way around this exorbitant fee, we were quickly informed Ireland has its own set of rules:
“I don’t understand… why can’t we just use our own car insurance?” we started asking innocently enough.
“The amount of liability paid out is too great.” the car representative recited her line.
I asked, “You mean it’s dangerous to drive around here, in Ireland?”
She quickly responded, “No, it’s just the amount of liability paid out is too great”.
I asked again, “You mean, too many foreigners are getting into car accidents in Ireland
and foreign car insurance companies don’t want to cover us?”
The robot responded mechanically, “The amount of liability paid has become too much”.
My game of ‘cat and mouse’ with the robot failed to elicit the response I desired: her admitting that everyone gets into accidents while driving in Ireland. In fact, the last bit of conversation we picked up from the family returning their car in front of us was, “A copy of the estimate will be sent to you in the mail…” Not exactly what you want to hear before embarking upon a cross-country road-trip.
I asked, re-asked and re-asked again what other options existed to avoid this ludicrous increase, until she finally mentioned that a few credit card companies exist that will still actually cover car rentals in Ireland (where all damages are put directly onto your credit card).
I stormed off to figure out how I would even begin to find out if my credit card would allow for something so specific – I didn’t like our chances since we had no cell phone or internet connection. So, there I was, calling a credit card company collect from a phone booth on the crowded streets of downtown Dublin. The next challenge would be hoping to explain that we needed a very specifically-worded letter from them, granting us auto rental coverage in Ireland. I figured it was a long shot as the phone began to ring.
Fast forward 15 minutes … And thank you MasterCard Citi Professional… Apparently, they are one of the few remaining companies to offer this auto coverage and they were even able to email me a letter, which we were hoping would be sufficient proof to show the robot if we could pull it up on our iPad.
The next step was to find internet. We scoured the streets until finally finding a café with free WiFi. It’s amazing how resourceful you become when traveling around new places with just your backpack. We quickly pulled up the email with the letter granting us coverage from MasterCard (thank you Insomnia Café of Dublin, Ireland) and walked triumphantly back into the car rental agency and showed her our form. I’m probably embellishing a bit, but her smirked quickly disappeared, along with the 300 € insurance expense she was hoping to charge. Of course, we would really have a lot to deal with if we were unfortunate enough to damage the car, but who worries about that when you’re on vacation…
Nancy says I gave her my best ‘Todd smile’ as we drove away.
Todd and Nancy – 1
“The Robot” – 0
No comments:
Post a Comment