jahnj

Do NOT use Dan Dooley! They are running a SCAM. If you refuse their over-priced LDW ($250.00 for 6 days), they give you a car with engine problems. <BR><BR>I rented a car from them on a pre-paid voucher. I had only driven for 20 minutes when my clutch went out. I have driven a manual car for 40 years with no problems - I do know how to drive a stick.<BR><BR>They charged me for towing and for the clutch repair. They told me that a motorist phoned in to report that I was &quot;riding the clutch&quot;. First of all, there would be NO outward sign that I was riding the clutch. Secondly, I was NOT and I have a passenger witness (inside the car) to confirm that.<BR><BR>They were extremely snotty to deal with, and will they will not even discuss the matter further. I have disputed the charges on my credit card.<BR><BR>Do NOT give in to this scam treatment of tourists. DO NOT rent from Dan Dooley!

wojazz3

Now that is a horror story! I've never used Dan Dooley, but they do get inconsistent reviews. Does the contract actually say that the renter is responsible for the cost of repair of all engine problems? Even the worst driver would have a hard time destroying a clutch in 20 minutes. <BR><BR>What was the cost of the clutch and the tow?<BR><BR>Bill

littletraveler

Oh PUHLEEZE, what motorist would take the time to call that in?? I think they are lying. I am so sorry you had to deal with that, but I also wonder about the contract. They should have to give proof that someone called in and said that. AND even if you were riding the clutch, it should not cause the car to break down in 20 minutes! Sounds like that car was on its last leg, and now you are footing the bill. <BR><BR>We did rent from them last year, and we had absolutely no problems at all. They were very polite and our car was fine. I am sorry you were treated so badly.

Irrover

What location was this problem at? I've have heard mostly good things about Dan Dooley but every once and awhile something like this and would like to know if it is just at one location.<BR><BR>Thxs

ron

Why does this complaint make bells go off in my mind. Jahnj registers on this site solely to complain about this company. He talks about a car with engine problems and describes a transmission problem. He doesn’t tell us what Dooley’s did after the car was towed back. Did they give him a different car? Did it too have problems, or was it satisfactory? Or did they make him wait while they fixed it, and was it ok after it was fixed? Do the Dooley cars have the company name and freephone number in big letters on the side so that people observing mistreatment of their cars can call them? Do they offer a reward? Are the Dooley mechanics so good that they can make the cars fail at times of their choosing? What is Dooley’s interest in doing this kind of stuff?<BR><BR>Are we dealing with a harmless troll here or a malicious person attempting to damage a company’s reputation?

sandy_b

We rented from Dan Dooley and have nothing but praise. We accidentally ruined a tire and bent the rim . . . several people told us that tires are not covered but Dan Dooley reimbursed us without fuss.<BR><BR>The clerks were friendly and quick when we picked our car up at Shannon airport and the same friendly and quick and nice when we returned it in Dublin.<BR><BR>I'm sorry you had a bad experience. When we return to Ireland, we'll certainly rent from them again . . . they were also about $100 cheaper than the other companies I looked at.<BR><BR>Sandy

Patrick

We rented for nearly three weeks from Dan Dooley and they couldn't have been better to deal with!<BR><BR>And like Ron, I must ask too: I see you have never posted here before. What made you come here to air your complaint if you have never posted here before? Or are you using an &quot;assumed&quot; newly posted name for this post only -- which in the old Fodor's days would be called a troll post?<BR><BR>If they &quot;will not even discuss the matter further&quot; then you will be freed of all charges since you have contested it with your credit card company. If they now want to collect from the CC company they will have to discuss it!

Mikeee007

I've rented twice from Dan Dooley and never had a problem. The cars that I rented from them were fairly new and in great shape. <BR><BR>The only problem I had was with my wife. She had to ride in the car on the side with all the bushes and brick walls, if you know what I mean.

AAFrequentFlyer

I don't take any posts that start with &quot;DO NOT.....&quot; very seriously. We all know that when we travel, occasionally something goes wrong. If the experience was so bad as to make me stay away from the company, so be it, but the headline in my report would still be more like &quot;Bad experience with.....&quot;. I think that would be more acceptable to the readers as well as show some maturity from the poster. What makes someone think that if they have a bad experience, the company is a total rip-off. After all the company would not be in business for too long if that was the case.

littletraveler

Wow, this is an interesting turn of events. I sure would hate to think that jahnj would be out to hurt this company's reputation, what is the purpose of that? Like the others, as I said in my previous post, I had a very good experience with Dan Dooley.<BR><BR>I too don't pay much heed to &quot;DO NOT&quot; posts, unless when averaged out with all the other reviews that is the consensous.

Thyra

Thanks for posting, but it doesn't sound like they gave you a bad car on purpose.. as for the CDW..it's always expensive, that I've found. <BR> <BR>I am sorry you think of this as a scam.. we have used Dan Dooley twice and never had a single problem.

julies

I do not even know who Dan Dooley is or where he rents cars. But, I have a lot of sympathy for jahnj. Unless you have lived through a car rental horror story you do not have the right to question motives.<BR><BR>Last year we rented through an agency that hooked us up with Alamo in Nice. I was so furious when we got back that I was extremly tempted to write in all caps &quot;do not rent from Alamo in Nice.&quot; <BR><BR>Our flight into Nice was delayed because the plane had engine problems and had to go back to Paris to switch planes. When we got to Nice at 11:30 pm on a Friday night, Alamo had no car for us despite our confirmed reservation with a deposit. They also basically called me a liar when I told them I had called them the day before. They interrogated me as to the name of the person I had spoken with. At that point we were willing to take any car they had and return to the agency in the morning to exchange it for the car we had reserved. then they dropped the bomb on us. Not only did they not have the car we had reserved, they had no cars whatsoever until Monday. We were forced to take a $50 cab ride to our hotel, and then spend the next morning calling the agency we had used (they were great and as appalled as we were) to arrange another car rental from another company. Financially it all worked out okay because Alamo reimbursed us for all of our costs (a much more expensive last minute rental, cabs etc.) but we still had an immense hassle and lost a half a day of vacation time. Plus, we heard from the guy at Budget where we finally got a car that this type of thing was a consistent problem with that particular alamo franchise.<BR><BR>So, now you know why I will pay attention to horror stories like this.

kayd

Ireland is one place where the collision insurance is probably worth it, even if the price seems high, because the likelihood of damage is high. Some reasons: nearly all renters are from countries where they drive on the other side of the road; narrow roads, in both towns and rural areas; stone walls, unprotected drop-offs, and brushy hedges abutting those narrow roads; motorists dodging farm animals by driving into a ditch.<BR>One rental agent warned me (in April) that my September rental car would be in fine working condition but that by the end of the tourist season, their entire fleet would have dents and dings.<BR>I believed her, because we suffered a clipped side-view mirror on one trip and a banged-up hubcap on another.

DavidD

Jahnji,<BR><BR>At the risk of sounding like a relative of Mr. Dooley's, I've done business with them on more than one occasion and I've commended them for their straightforward, no-nonsense approach to car rental. Dooley cars, in my experience, have proven to be clean, well maintained, and more than rural road-worthy, as I do much coast-to-coast driving on my trips to Ireland. Indeed, I've found Dooley preferable to other, more prominently advertised companies.<BR><BR>This, of course, doesn't call into question your experience with D.D. I'm sorry to hear of it. But it does suggest that a blanket &quot;Do NOT Rent&quot; should be met with some skepticism.<BR><BR>Best of luck.

jeri

well,. . . just wanted to add a few words. We rented from Dan Dooley last March--paid extra to have a ZERO dollar deductible. We had no problems mechanically, but the car itself was very beat up--scratched, dented, gouged. They wouldn't haved noticed it if we had put in a few more dents! I'm sure they &quot;save&quot; those cars for those with the zero deductible!

bmw732002

Although I have only used Daan Dooley once I found them to be very satisfactory. After arriving I realized that the car I had reserved would not be adequate for my older riders and went back and requested a change of vehicles. I asked about a vehicle that I saw in the lot which was more 'van-like' and the manager nodded and just switcehd the contract....no problems<BR><BR> That is some traveler advice for car rentals and room rentals. If you do not like what you were given, ask politely for upgrades and 9 times out of 10 youu will usually be accommodated!<BR>JOHN

kyeager

I also rented a car from Dan Dooley two years ago at the Shannon Airport. The car we were given had a dent in the side. We pointed it out to the clerk and they said they would make a note of it. Just to be sure, we took a digital picture of it with the date. On return, the office attempted to write us up for damage to the car for that same dent. We showed them the digital picture which cleared up the problem. I have to wonder what would have happened without the picture.

wojazz3

I spoke with a person on my recent trip to Ireland and she had a car from Dan Dooley. They apparently tend to rent quite a few older cars. Her's was a 99. Hertz rented me a new car for substantially less than what she paid. Just a note.

Bill

Debbie

I have rented from Dan Dooley twice - in 2000 and just recently in April of 2003.
Both times we had ZERO problems with them. ( on the first trip, there was a pre-existing dent on the passenger side, but no problems when we returned it)
Our most recent trip, we were given a Brand New Automatic Ford Focus Wagon. We refused all insurance ( MC covered the CDW, and we chanced the windscreen/tire coverage). The only problem - if you can call it that - was waiting about 10 minutes for them to find the keys and bring it around.
I was very proud of myself , when I returned it after 14 days without a scratch, dent or ding.

All of the DD people I dealt with were very friendly &amp; helpful. ( both rentals were in &amp; out of Shannon)

P.S. when you rent from DD mention Pat Preston's site, and you get a 10% discount

JulieHHH

Dan Dooley requires you pay up front for your car weeks in advance but you will have to pay again for insurance and a service fee. For us that was about $176 for a week. We did not know about the service fee but it was good to get comprehensive insurance because we wacked off both side mirrors driving in County Clare.

Left Side! Left Side! Watch out for the Sheep!


That is a good deal, but you have to REALIZE that Avis and Hertz and other companies are the same price. There is no savings at Dooley.

Plus we hated our Ford Focus because it has these really high headrests that make it iMPOSSIBLE to see out the back window, a must when you are turning around constantly on backroads. The side windows were also impossible to see out of. I thought the car was very uncomfortable because the drivers side had a hudge ridge in the side of the seat to make it look more attractive or fit to my bottom.

This ridge hurt after a few hours and I had to get a cushion. Very uncomfortable CAR.

We would have returned it for another but we were already many hours away in West Ireland.

The countryside is out of this world.

Julie