Terry (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} l_stboy) wrote,@ 2009-07-09 08:48:00 |
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Ireland, part 1: the Irish car insurance scam
Almost done sorting pics, but I thought I'd lead off with this:
I reserved a car through Expedia on Thrifty for 85 euro (55 euro a week, 35 euro in taxes and fees). After a marathon series of air trips, I turned up at the Dublin Airport thrifty counter and handed over my paperwork, license, and credit card. The attendant typed in 90% of my info, and said, "You will have to buy this mandatory insurance. It will be 265 euro". I said, in the same detached tone of voice I always use, "no, waive the insurance". Here's where the script started to differ.
"No sir, you have to have insurance on Irish roads. You must buy this. It's 265 euros." I don't think so. I began to argue that both my home auto insurance -and- my credit card offer rental car insurance. He said, "I'll need a signed, notarized letter from your auto insurance, and your credit card doesn't say "Global Mastercard" or "Global American Express", so we won't accept it. I can call your bank and see if they'll fax over proof that you'll be covered by them if you want".
I said, "Ok, Call them." He poked on the computer for a while, and then said, "I can offer you the insurance on a smaller car for 225 euro." There it is. Evidence of the scam. First, I was already renting the smallest car. Second, whenever they start to lower "mandatory" fees, you're getting taken for a ride. He was a persistent little bugger, though, and refused to call my bank to get this settled. I'm not paying 3X my quoted price, and being tired and jet lagged makes me -less- likely to capitulate, not more. Finally, after it looked like a total impasse, I walked over to Hertz.
Hertz rented me a car on the spot, let me waive the insurance, for 125 euro. $55 or so more for the week than I expected to spend, but not $300 more.
I've spent the last couple of days reading all the fine print I can find and sending nasty letters to Expedia and Thrifty. No replies yet, and no fine print anywhere in my reservations (and believe me, I've read a _lot_ of fine print) that mentions mandatory insurance -or- that only certain credit cards are honored. Some complaint sites indicate that in Canada, Turkey, Ireland, and a couple of other places, Thrifty claimed to only accept "Gold" branded Mastercards (not Visa), but nothing about only accepting cards with the word "Global" on them.
You have been warned. Did any of the rest of the OTP crowd get hit with this same scam?
Almost done sorting pics, but I thought I'd lead off with this:
I reserved a car through Expedia on Thrifty for 85 euro (55 euro a week, 35 euro in taxes and fees). After a marathon series of air trips, I turned up at the Dublin Airport thrifty counter and handed over my paperwork, license, and credit card. The attendant typed in 90% of my info, and said, "You will have to buy this mandatory insurance. It will be 265 euro". I said, in the same detached tone of voice I always use, "no, waive the insurance". Here's where the script started to differ.
"No sir, you have to have insurance on Irish roads. You must buy this. It's 265 euros." I don't think so. I began to argue that both my home auto insurance -and- my credit card offer rental car insurance. He said, "I'll need a signed, notarized letter from your auto insurance, and your credit card doesn't say "Global Mastercard" or "Global American Express", so we won't accept it. I can call your bank and see if they'll fax over proof that you'll be covered by them if you want".
I said, "Ok, Call them." He poked on the computer for a while, and then said, "I can offer you the insurance on a smaller car for 225 euro." There it is. Evidence of the scam. First, I was already renting the smallest car. Second, whenever they start to lower "mandatory" fees, you're getting taken for a ride. He was a persistent little bugger, though, and refused to call my bank to get this settled. I'm not paying 3X my quoted price, and being tired and jet lagged makes me -less- likely to capitulate, not more. Finally, after it looked like a total impasse, I walked over to Hertz.
Hertz rented me a car on the spot, let me waive the insurance, for 125 euro. $55 or so more for the week than I expected to spend, but not $300 more.
I've spent the last couple of days reading all the fine print I can find and sending nasty letters to Expedia and Thrifty. No replies yet, and no fine print anywhere in my reservations (and believe me, I've read a _lot_ of fine print) that mentions mandatory insurance -or- that only certain credit cards are honored. Some complaint sites indicate that in Canada, Turkey, Ireland, and a couple of other places, Thrifty claimed to only accept "Gold" branded Mastercards (not Visa), but nothing about only accepting cards with the word "Global" on them.
You have been warned. Did any of the rest of the OTP crowd get hit with this same scam?
