Dan Dooley

Frequent traveller to NI usually book with budget or Hertz but price was good so decided to take the chance on these. BIG MISTAKE... They find random reasons why you have to pay more money at the desk. They tried to charge us 3 times what we had paid in advance for the car. We refused and returned to airport where Budget guy clearly knew in advance who we were and quoted EXTORTIONATE price for alternative rental SO WE WOULD RETURN TO DOOLEYS (easirent)..MATES HELPING EACH OTHER OUT without doubt! We were lucky we have family living over there there who rescued us but if YOU don't...STAY AWAY

The Dan Dooley/Fox Customer Service Experience: The most unsympathetic, unfriendly and downright hostile group of people I have ever experienced on my many trips home to Ireland.

When faced with a very unexpected trip home in March due to a family tragedy, our travel agent made last minute reservations for flights. car rental and hotel. Upon arrival to Dublin we proceeded to the car rental counter of Dan Dooley/Fox where we encountered a very harried and upset eastern European agent. From the onset she was curt and very unwelcoming. We presented our voucher with a confirmation number which quoted a price of $92.43 for the few days we were to be there. She told us that the price was going to be 359.28 Euros which is slightly more expensive. I asked for the breakdown, and fully understood the fuel charge 65.04 Euros that would be returned on returning the vehicle full, a 25 euro fee for waiving their insurance (dubious) and then the rental fee 171.17 euros, a Deliv/Coll/Misc fee of 46.70 euros and finally VAT at 44.37 euros. We were to say the least, bemused. When we questioned the charges we were informed that it was the busiest time of the year (March 11) due to St. Patrick's day and if we felt we could do better at one of other other car rental companies we should just go and do that.

By this time we are exhausted, facing a 6 hour drive and in a state of shock due to the family tragedy, we just wanted to get on the road and agreed so we could get out of there. We were then advised that there would be a 3,000 (Three thousand) Euro hold put on our credit card. This turned out to be another mitigating disaster as they did not put a hold, they actually charged the card. This took 6 weeks post return to get amended and corrected. The follow up that both our travel agent and we encountered post return is best described by the adjectives used on our opening paragraph.

I found myself having to return to Ireland this past week for another family tragedy and both my Travel agent and I made it a point that we would not dare utilize this agency again, and ultimately had a wonderful customer service experience with one of this company's competitors.

After an hour delay we were finally given a car with damage to the left side which was noted. After driving forty miles the tire sensor lights up. Drove to gas station to see a bubble on tire wall. Drive back to Dooley to find out the axle was actually broke. Thankfully I didn't have an accident. No apologies, just rushed out of there in another car and a wasted day of vacation. I just think they should examine their cars for the safety of passengers and others. Be careful!

Our car was an upgrade to what we expected. Service was excellent prior and after arrival.

Thank you for everything we will be back and will be using your service again.

I highly recommend Dooley Car Hire.

We researched car rentals thoroughly and chose Dan Dooly with full insurance coverage. That is key. You must make sure you have full insurance coverage....Driving in Ireland is more frightening than driving in Atlanta! We had great service from start to finish and will rent from them again. They even shipped back to us an item we forgot in the trunk.

Terrible experience!!!

We rented from Holiday Autos and Dooleys was the most competitive price....well you get what you pay for!!! The car hire office is outside the airport and we waited ages for a shuttle bus to collect us and had to carry all our luggage/small baby etc. When we got to the office we experienced an extremely rude woman who appeared to be the boss, who rudely told us the following.....

1) Dooley's have nothing to do with Holiday Autos (which they obviously do if they rent cars from them) so are not accountable for anything they say about Dooleys on their website, which is absolutely ridiculous.

2) Despite paying £36 extra for comprehensive car insurance when booking online, because this was again, "nothing to do with them", we had to pay and extra 1300 euros insurance to Dooleys.

3) They failed to tell us that they are only open from 5.30am until 5.30pm which meant us returning our car hours and hours before our flight and hanging around in Shannon airport for hours with a small baby, which is not fun. When I mentioned that this should be made clear to customers prior to booking she said "do you expect us to work 24hrs, we do have a life you know'.....again, not helpful when you have a night flight!

4) While its Dooleys policy to provide the hire vehicle full of petrol, they informed me that its Holiday Autos (who they have nothing to do with) policy to return it empty. They charged us 75 euros for a full tank of petrol and insisted that we returned it empty. As we were staying with friends in Limerick, we only hired the car for a weekend to run around the local area because we had a baby and babyseat. Therefore, we only used about 10 euros worth of petrol and ended up losing the rest.

Do not rent a car from this company. They are cheap, but spend a bit more using a well known hire company and pick your car up in the airport, without all the hassle you get with Dooleys.

Scratched the left front bumper in Ireland on a Dan Dooley car. In the US it's a 1 hour job to sand, mask, then spray paint the scratch. Dan Dooley found some way to charge me the astronomical amount of 475 Euros for the repair. They held back 500 Euros and I knew that once I was back in the US they were going to find some way to get it all (they almost did). When you own a rental car company in Ireland with the narrow roads, you need to factor in that your cars will get minor scratches on them, not just rip off someone when they do get the scratch.

I'll be posting on Facebook also to tell all my friends not to rent from Dooley, ever.

We booked this car at very short notice, when let down by another company.

The rate was great, as was the service from the person at the desk at Dublin Airport and the one who drove us to our car.

The car was virtually, new, and was clean and economical.

We found no hidden extras and would use them again.

We had a terrible experience with Dan Dooley car rental. We pre-paid our rental ($1500 USD) and picked up our car after arriving at Dublin airport from the U.S. The car was a standard (stick shift). My husband's regular car at home is a standard, and he has 20 years' experience driving standard. As we were leaving the car rental lot, he noticed the gears slipping. The problems continued and, five minutes after leaving the rental lot, the clutch on our car gave out entirely. This was terribly dangerous as we were entering a highway at the time, with three small kids in the back of the car and no shoulder on the road. Fortunately, some truck drivers helped push us to the side of the road. We thought Dan Dooley would be apologetic about giving us a damaged vehicle but no! They insisted that WE had damaged the clutch and charged $2500 to our credit card. It is not possible to burn out a clutch in five minutes' driving, even with an inexperienced driver, never mind one with 20 years of driving standard! They would not give us a new car unless we signed off on the charge, which we refused to do (they charged us anyway, because we had pre-authorized a hold) and so we ended up having to go to a different car rental company for our car. The total damage for five minutes in a Dan Dooley car? $4000 USD! Not to mention the terrible danger to ourselves and our kids. Now disputing the charges with our credit car company. I will never rent from this company again!

I sent multiple emails to the company confirming that I was covered under my credit card's car rental insurance. Upon arrival I was told that this wasn't the case and that I had to pay $400 for car insurance and that they would hold $2,500 for the deductible. After I returned the car to the airport in perfect working condition they held the $2,500 for over 2 weeks even though I contacted them multiple times requesting to remove the charge.

This company is shady and they do not operate honestly. I would not recommended this company to any travelers.