Carole and I returned to Ireland on 29 April to continue our efforts. We’re staying at the AirBnB in Blackrock (County Louth) that we used for our Winter trip earlier this year.

We’re about half-way thru our six week stay, and there has been lots of activity. First, we bought a car. On a Thursday afternoon, We went to the local Toyota dealer up in Dundalk - mostly to learn if and how we could buy a car, and Dermot took great care of us. He explained the local rules, and told us we could certainly buy a car, but that insurance coverage might be a challenge. We asked about his used car selection, mostly to get a better idea of how much things cost here, and he showed us a nice looking 2019 Toyota Corolla Hybrid. It was in great shape, except for a minor glitch on the left front wheel well, but Dermot said it was going to the body repair shop the next day and would be ready on the following Monday.

Even though we had no intention going in, we wound up taking it for a quick test drive, and it was refreshing that Dermot treated us like responsible adults. No need to hold our driver’s license, no need to sit in the car with us on the drive. He quietly told me the keypad code to re-enter the lot, and handed us the keys.

The car drove as you’d expect - peppy, better than expected handling, comfortable seating. It’s a four-door sedan, and in the short-term a slightly larger vehicle would be helpful for hauling luggage to/from the airport, but that need goes away soon enough, and the price seemed right.

Carole and I chatted during the drive, and when we got back to the dealer we told Dermot we were interested, wanted to pick it up on Monday if possible, and that we’d work on getting insurance coverage the next day.

As you’d expect, insurance coverage for a non-resident who holds a non-Irish driver’s license is not easy to find. I submitted various forms on a number of insurance broker’s websites, all with no quick reply (which seems to be the Irish way). I made some calls, and got a quote for what I considered a very large amount. But we needed insurance, and I was preparing myself to pay it while I made more calls.

When I called back to accept their coverage, I was told that the insurance company would not cover me for car with a 1.8 liter engine - 1.4 liters was the max size they would accept. That left two choice - either find a different insurance policy or find a smaller car.

Carole suggested I check with Geico, our U.S. based auto insurance provider, to see if they had any referrals for international coverage. Their Irish partner is Clements, whose website claimed they specialized in ex-pat coverage. I called and spoke to a helpful gentleman named Edward, who took my details and went off to check.

When Edward called back, he had fantastic news - his policy quote was less than half the one I had gotten earlier. And, they had no problem with the 1.8l engine. So I pulled the trigger, and paid for a year of coverage. I called Dermot with the news, and made arrangements to pick up the Corolla on Monday afternoon. (The rental car we’d had for two weeks was due for return to the Dublin airport on Tuesday, so this simplified things enormously.)

On Monday, Carole was tied up with work all afternoon, so I drove the rental up to the dealer, and closed on the deal. After discussing it with Dermot the previous day, we decided the easiest way to pay for the car - both for us and for the dealer - was to put the full payment on a credit card, and Dermot has included the fees in his quote. I had called the credit card company to notify them of a large purchase coming thru, and they said no problem. The credit card company handles all the currency conversion, and we can pay it off using dollars, so it also saved us time and hassle over a bank transfers.

Even so, it was pretty surreal to insert my credit card into the terminal to pay for a car. As soon as I inserted my card, the receipt started printing - so quickly that I was certain there was some kind of problem, but it was the actual receipt, fully approved, like magic. U.S. credit cards are chip-and-signature, so I did have to sign the receipt, but it all went much more smoothly than I’d ever imagined it could.

I asked Dermot and the nice woman at the finance desk if they had ever sold a car using a credit card payment, and they both answered no, this was a first for them.

To avoid any potential problems, I asked Dermot to drive the Corolla out to the fonrt parking area, and then I drove the rental car back to the AirBnB. I finalized the insurance coverage using the documents I had just gotten from Dermot, and a few hours later Carole drove us back up to the dealer and she drove the Corolla back.

The next morning I drove the rental car back to the Dublin Airport to turn it in, and took the 100X bus from the airport back up to Dundalk. Carole picked me up in our new (to us) Corolla.