bmi diamond club - Europcar & country of residence

I'm wanting to book a car from VIE to SZG and there is almost €100 difference (more expensive) if I put my country of residence as Rep of Ireland as opposed to the UK. Does anyone know if they actually check this - what would happen if I put UK and hand over my Irish drivers licence. Also, why is there such discrimination - we're not all bad drivers over here!

Cheers,
Mel.b

Not the answer to your question - I normally rent with Avis - IME they check your licence and not the residence, even though the address appears on the rental agreement.

IMO what you describe is a scam to get customers who are used to ripoff prices to pay more than others from more competitive markets. I thought that it was customers from the UK who suffered, so am 'impressed' :rolleyes: that they would penalise customers from the Republic even more.

I often rent from US websites where I can select non-inclusive rates (i.e. without insurances) which are normally lower. I have been know to be a US or Swiss resident. UK (and IRL?) webstes often offer inclusive rates only. :( I have full auto cover with my UK plat card and see no reason to pay twice for insurance.

Also, why is there such discrimination - we're not all bad drivers over here!

Actually, we are bad drivers on the actuarial tables. Very bad.

Most of the difference is accounted for by insurance charges - and of course the hyper profits of the Irish re-insurer that is actually holding the can on any rental you take.

That's why if you claim on insurance on your rental, you'll find you renewal on regular car insurance skyrockets at renewal. If you claim on your travel insurance for loss, watch your household renewal. If you claim on certain health insurances...

Just like banking, the insurance industry has a lot of questions to answer. Unfortunately, no one is askinging them in Ireland and Europe moves slowly.

As to what would happen your rental? Nothing. Until you try to make a claim and they look for proof of residence - which they will if you use a license from a country other than that of your residence.

Interesting, GoldCircle. Yet another reason why I will decline renter's insurance where possible and rely on my AmEx cover. :)

BTW, I cannot believe that Irish drivers' records are worse than, say, Luxemburgers, Greeks and Turks. FWIW, I've just made some dummy bookings for CPT with Avis (I understand them better) on a US website and got identical rates as a Brit, Irish, Luxemburger, Turk or Californian. :confused: Perhaps the OP's difference is a Europcar thing?

Thanks for that info. I did a little extra digging and playing around on the Europcar website as I thought I might be able to book with a country of residence as Australia (use mum's credit card & put her as the main driver). However the price was coming up the same as for when I used Ireland. I then double checked and noticed that with the country of residence being UK, they offer you the option to pre-pay which significantly lowers the rate. The non-prepaid rate is essentially the same regardless of country of residence.

So why would they offer pre-paid rental prices to UK residents only?

I'm starting to think it's not worth the few thousand destination miles to bother with Europcar.


That's why if you claim on insurance on your rental, you'll find you renewal on regular car insurance skyrockets at renewal. If you claim on your travel insurance for loss, watch your household renewal. If you claim on certain health insurances...



So GoldCircle, how does it affect things if I hypothetically had to make a claim. I normally take out the super CDW cover. If you take that out (and then need to claim) that wouldn't affect your normal car insurance premium would it? I don't have household insurance as I'm renting and can't seem to get contents insurance anywhere so that wouldn't matter. If I didn't take the Super CDW and then claimed on my travel insurance policy would it be likely that the next time I need travel insurance that that would be more expensive?

Cheers,
Mel.b