Car hire Dublin 5 days - is full insurance good idea?

P

Poc-ar-buille

Registered User
Messages
21
Hello

I'm looking to rent a car for about a week in Dublin

Seems reasonable for Ford Ka, Fiesta, Toyota Corolla : about €40

The "full insurance" option adds about €74, still reasonable

But just wondering if it's a necessary thing?

I guess it provides peace of mind and one hears stories of small scratches being expensive when handing back the car.

Overall €115 for the week is not too bad.

opinions on car hire companies?
  • Payless
  • Budget
  • "Carhire"
 
You can get car hire excess insurance for about €3/day online so a lot cheaper than with the rental company. The rental company will put a €1500 approx hold on your credit card however. If there was a claim you would have to pay the rental co and claim back from the insurer.
 
I have annual insurance with carhireexcess.com costing €60.
Last year I had two claims to do with a New Zealand hired car. My claim was submitted online with photos, scanned contracts etc, and paid out to my account very soon after. No hassles.
If you are in a position to pay the excess the car hire firm might charge you, I recommend not taking the car hire company expensive insurance.

As to which actual car hire company, they all seem to be fronting for each other. You could hire one with Budget (say) and find yourself at a different company's desk when you go to collect the vehicle.
 
RedOnion said:
Are you sure that's not 40 per day?
Click to expand...
Car hire is one of the things that has massively come down in price. You can get a car for the weekend for less than 30 euro. Via Ryanair/car trawler.

Because the excess is so large the OP should purchase the excess insurance. We purchase an annual insurance for this for about 80 euro. We had bad experiences outside Ireland. Always use the big names or their cheaper brand, Thrifty etc. Places like Portugal, be very careful. We only have had good experiences at Dublin airport. Where we rent regularly.
 
Last edited:
@Bronte
Thank you. I didn't realise prices here had come down so much. Then again, the last time I had to rent a car in Dublin was peak holiday period so I probably have a bad reference point!
 
Definitely get car excess insurance!!!
And be aware of how it works.

Basically, it is that if you have a claim, you have to pay the car hire company direct. You then have to make a subsequent claim on your excess company. The problem is purely the gap between paying out and getting a refund.

I have hired cars many many times in Ireland and I cannot think of many occasions where the guys at the desk did not try to scam me with insurance, Dublin airport being the worst. They will attempt to confuse you saying that your excess insurance will not cover you and you have to take theirs out.

In recent times I have asked if I can record my conversations with them. A manager has then stepped in and no attempt was made to tell me my insurance will not cover me.
 
We are trying Zest next week in Portugal. They are a broker/consolidator, and offer hires with either included full indemnity insurance from the hire co. or, if that isn't available, their own indemnity waiver policy for the hire period. Just running a 5 day hire in Dublin next week comes up with a Ka or VW Up at €38 - €42 all in from Payless or Budget. (This includes Zest's own indemnity waiver). They do offer an additional top up insurance for the usual exclusions (wheels, tyres, misfuelling, lost keys etc) at €22, but this is optional. In summary, c. €40 for 5 days including an excess indemnity provided by Zest, or c. €60 for 5 days to cover absolutely everything.

Zest would seem a good option if you don't wish to take out an annual excess indemnity policy.

They have a Which UK recommendation.

https://www.zestcarrental.com/blog/which-recommended-2019/
 
That zest does seem good
Best deal I was looking at was €120 with full insurance

And zest offers same car for €63


Is the zest insurance same as full insurance?

From what I can see both offer insurance where they have 1500 deposit (on the credit card)
Then if there is a claim that is paid by customer and then the insurance refunds.
 
Last edited:
Zest provide their own excess indemnity policy for the duration of the rental. It should be equivalent to the full insurance cover offered by the rental company, subject to the exclusions that I mentioned above. These exclusions can be eliminated with the €22 top up cover or you can live with the risk. If you rented with Zest and used their insurance, you would almost certainly have the full amount of excess as a hold on your credit card. In the event of an incident, the rental co. would take some/all of the excess from you and you would claim this back from Zest. (Just the same as an annual excess insurance policy). From Zest's info button regarding insurance cover for the rental: "Excess Reimbursement Insurance (Excess Protection) is included which provides a refund for any charges made in the event of collision damage or theft. Damage to certain parts of the vehicle are excluded but can be covered by our optional top-up insurance."
 
I would definitely obtain full insurance cover, I hired a van from Enterprise, on returning it I was told there was a small chip in the windscreen, which was so small it could have been there when I picked it up, fortunately I had full cover, I suspect that this could be a regular ploy.
Try driving in Ireland without getting a few stones hitting the windscreen
 
roker said:
I would definitely obtain full insurance cover, I hired a van from Enterprise, on returning it I was told there was a small chip in the windscreen, which was so small it could have been there when I picked it up, fortunately I had full cover, I suspect that this could be a regular ploy.
Try driving in Ireland without getting a few stones hitting the windscreen
Click to expand...
Hi rented cars for serval times a year for 5 years. First two years was cheaper then having my own car.

I have rented off enterprise (almno) most the times. Their a little more expensive then other providers. But don't try to push the insurance down your neck and customer service is better. I take excess insurance with a company called https://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/ . I have made two claims with them during the time and once all paperwork was sent. Paid out days later. They also cover glass ,wheels and underside of the car. Which some policys do not cover .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top