Car rental in Ireland: who did you like?
 

We are going in April and will waive CDW since our world MC will cover us.

We used Dan Dooley last year and had no issues. Their pricing is a little high this year. We used Hertz/O'Scannlain in the past but I would rather take care of the paperwork while we are still in the terminal instead of being shuttled to their office and then waiting. (Plus the desk people were not friendly.)

Who have you used? Did you like them? Hate them? Were there any surprises?

Hertz in Shannon messed us over in '03 by not having a vehicle that would accommodate 5 women and luggage even though we had reserved it long enough ago that they could have built one in the parking lot. And no one seemed to care. The Hertz office in Killarney redeemed by sincerely making an effort and finally finding us the proper size vehicle. Manager even drove a station wagon out to our B&B to see if we would fit (we didn't).
So far after 5 trips Dan Dooley is my favorite. I especially like the No Surprises pricing and the 10% discount.

Another vote for Dan!!! Never a problem with hiim on any of our trips..

allisonm, we rented a car with autoeurope last September also using our world mastercard for cdw. Our contract was with Avis out of Dublin airport. We took the smallest car available, a manual trans, without a/c. Our 18 day rental was $315. Avis tried to upgrade us to a larger car but we refused their generous offer ;;) We had no problems with the company or the car. I know I spent hours and hours trying to decide on which company to use for Ireland. Good luck, Deborah

Autoeurope. The contract was with Sixt - automatic transmission car and I took the insurance for peace of mind. No surprises, no extra charges.

We dropped the car at the Shannon airport early in the morning before the car rental return area had opened. It was a little disconcerting to (per the car rental instructions) park the car in the airport parking lot and just drop the keys off at the closed rental desk in the terminal without getting a receipt or having the car looked over - but no extra charges were ever billed.

Autoeurope for me, too! ( Hertz is terrible!) We've used Autoeurope several times...good pricing and great people to deal with...no extra charges!

Thanks, looks like I will be pricing Autoeurope this weekend!

Definitely Dan Dooley! We used them in 2009 and 2010. Last September was a little higher but we used them because it was a good experience the previous year and service, attention, was very good. Costs of everything is higher especially with the euro much higher against the dollar. Dan Dooley will treat you right and give you no hassles.

Watch out for Budget Rentacar in Ireland! I just returned from a wonderful trip to Ireland, marred only by my unsatisfactory experience with Budget.

I had done my homework, or at least I thought I had. I took my World Mastercard. I understood that despite my letter from MC saying I was covered, they would charge me an additional 25 euros for the privilege of declining their overpriced CDW. I also understood that they would charge my credit card upfront 2000 euros, which would be refunded when I returned the car in fine shape.

What they don't tell you, until you read the very fine print at the bottom of their contract, is that they'll charge you the deposit in your local currency. They use an exchange rate of their choosing. Interestingly, they return your deposit in euros, not your local currency.

So they made about 5 cents per euro by using an unfair exchange rate. In my case, they actually got over $100 from me that they didn't earn. Their answer to my protests? "The rate of exchange is controlled by the government and the banking system, not Budget."

It's true that the OFFICIAL exchange rate is not controlled by Budget, but the rate they USE is controlled by Budget, and it wasn't even close to the official rate being used on the day of my rental.

Don't expect help from Budget in the US - they simply referred by complaints to Budget Ireland. I won't be using Budget again, in Ireland or anywhere else in the world.

I had a horrendous experience with Autoeurope in Ireland; Bait & Switch and hidden charges. I used them for 25 years of traveling twice/year to Europe with few to zero complaints-- they broke my heart. The issue was resolved on my favor eventually but only after involving the Better Business Bureau. I have been using HERTZ and AVIS since for all Europe travel since 2007; very good so far.

I have also been looking for a car rental company and have read nothing but negative things about Auto Europe. I am nervous about hidden costs.

Jeanne V...Thanks for the heads up on easytourireland.com. They seem to be the best since everything is upfront.

Oh Dear! Wish I had read this forum BEFORE I reserved our car! We went w/Dan Dooley, and for a 20 day rental, compact car-automatic with A/C (had to have A/C for daughter's allergies), SCDW, they charged us $1975. It appears that easytourireland.com's price is about $250 cheaper. :(

Well, hopefully we will have a good experience with Dooley's service. I will know NEXT time, to check on this forum for help before commiting to a rental company. Can't wait to get to Ireland! :)

Used Dan Dooley a number of years ago. It was a very satisfactory experience, picking up in Dublin city and returning to the Shannon airport after seven days.

Dan Dooley--hassle free on 2 separate trips. IMO, I'd pay the extra for peace of mind.

Used AutoEurope the first time. No hassle, no surprises.

2nd time, Used Europecar/Irishcarrental/National....all under the same umbrella. They had 4 surprise charges on our credit card when we got home. Unfortunately...they took my original paperwork from my internet booking, and my credit card company wouldn't let me dispute the charges without the paperwork that clearly stated what I was suppose to be charged for. National in the US wouldn't help me, referred me to Nationl Ireland. I wouldn't go anywhere near any of the 3 listed above.

Used Hertz/JourneyThroughIreland 14 months ago. They had the best rate for a pre-paid price guaranteed rental at that time. Dooley was about 20% higher...the other option I had in mind.

We are going again in Oct, and so far Hertz/Journey has the best deal, but will be checking with Dooley again today by phone (their web sight quote was more than double) and will report back rvflyer

We just used Dooley again this April. We had 2012 automatic diesel Renault Fluence with about 2600 miles on it, spotless. That really put the pressure on us to keep it scratch-free, which we managed to do. It is much easier if you get an older car that already has some scratches, let me tell you!

In our favor, diesel prices are lower than gas, and what Dooley charged us was a good bit lower than the local price, so we tried to return it as empty as we could get it.

Last year's rental with Autoeurope went well with no surprises.

Every time we return a car, I breathe a HUGE sigh of relief!