A LENGTHY DISSERTATION (RANT) ON CAR HIRE

Michele Erdvig · Host

A LENGTHY DISSERTATION (RANT) ON CAR HIRE

Thursday Next · Member

LOL, then perhaps I prefer honest thieves who make themselves very clear how they're robbing you. I know I sounded like a Pollyanna in my previous post. I stand by my decision to rent with Dan Dooley, though. The biggest surprise is that I've already paid for the car, of course--I forgot to mention that paying a month in advance was treated as standard! Fool and money, already parted? You decide!

:)

Anchoress · Guru

Michele Erdvig wrote:

Kristin,

The Irish government requires certain insurance on car rentals but not all. CDW and Super CDW are not required. That is at the discretion of the car company.

It is like the wild, wild west with car companies in Ireland. They will get what they can from you. It's up to the consumer to become informed or be taken advantage of.

Michele

-- Edited by Michele Erdvig on Tuesday 20th of April 2010 12:15:34 AM
Indeed yes, Michele. Wonderful assessment. lol....

I would not believe the Dooley assessment of what they make per car.

Everyone new to ireland falls for it at first, then we learn to get what we need without believing a word we are told.

One landlord was going to get the drive tarmacked, a concrete floor in the shed, the roof painted, a new carpet, the garden fenced, the house painted.

All to get a tenant.

We knew the scene; he took four months and threats of leaving to fence the garden and that was because we had sheep and cattle wandering in.

Nothing else was done and we knew it wouldn't be. Now we do small maintenance jobs ourselves.

It is not seen by them as lying, you see.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Kristin,

Acutally Dooley is good. I rented from them last time and the price quoted is the price I paid. They are one of the few that give you the details up front and don't try to hide them and surprise you later. In fact, before canceling my trip I had a reservation with them - $499 for 29 days. Not bad.

Michele

meredith · Veteran Member

Looking back, we were probably very naive when it came to booking our car rental for 4 weeks on our trip in '08. Reading all Bob's info made my head spin! We went through Europcar at our travel agent's recommendation, she did all the paperwork, the final figure seemed reasonable (based on the sort of rates we pay here in Australia) and we paid in advance.

Our travel insurance covered the vehicle excess which was 600 euro if I remember correctly (and very possibly not-memory like a sieve). When our back bumper was dinged, we paid the excess on our credit card, then made the claim on our return home, once again through our travel agent. There were no problems-just lucky?!

Travel insurance is essential, so it's worth looking into to compare its coverage with that of credit cards.

Regards, Meredith

Michele Erdvig · Host

meredith,

Thanks for posting your experience. Glad to hear it was smooth despite the ding. Sounds like your travel agent had it under control.

Michele

Roy · Guru

John, The car rental scheme is constantly changing. Keep with this site to stay current.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Roy,

Seems like the last post from John was SPAM. I've deleted it.

Michele

Roy · Guru

Thanks for being vigilant Michele!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Gotta keep up with the Spammers. Otherwise they can take over a forum.

wckc · Guru

We just got our Capital 1 Cash Rewards WorldMaster Card. Keith called them this morning and they faxed us a letter confirming coverage for both ROI and NI. Now to call Dooley's and verify that they will accept it!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Way to go! Glad you got a World MC that covers Ireland.

Roy · Guru

A big stressor out of the way! I've been keeping an eye on car rental costs since I reserved with Dooley. On previous trips I have sometimes been able to save by re-booking. This year the ptice has only risen, and in fact, cars are in such limited supply for my dates in June that they are not available through the web site right now. Perhaps tourism is indeed on the upswing.

Green Dragon · Guru

It looks like Dan Dooley just changed their website to a little more flashy interface. I have been going on it to look at August prices (for 2012, but my trip will be 2013). A couple days ago, the only options available for any rental were minivans! Now they have the whole gamut, which is good!

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Wow! Can't believe that this old thing has resurfaced ... biggrin

I booked a Focus class, manual from Dan Dooley for my April trip (17-30 April). Waiving the CDW using my BofA MasterCard. Used Michele's advice to 'Save' quotes to avoid any price increases and scored a $270 price, which I prepaid by calling the NJ number. That saved me about $20 in Foreign Transaction Fees. My MasterCard has NO Annual Fee and DOES cover Irish Car Hire, but BofA tacks on 3% to the MC's 1% furious

Can't get EVERTHING, I guess confuse confuse

Bob

Michele Erdvig · Host

Bob,

As they say, everything old is new again. Unfortunately, car rentals in Ireland never change.

Michele

Michele Erdvig · Host

I returned a Dooley car a few days early and was refunded the amount even though I pre-paid. You must ask at the car rental desk.

Michele

wckc · Guru

Wow Bob! I had no idea that if you called NJ you don't have to pay the foreign transaction fees! We are icking up on 4/18 and dropping off on 5/2. I just looked at the cheapest car they offer and got a quote of $266.66.

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Yar.

The TRICK is to PRE-PAY, in US Dollars.

Since the charge is entered, processed AND paid to the NJ office, NONE of it is a Foreign Transaction ... biggrin

Of course, the charge applied at pick up for the initial tank of fuel, DOES constitute a Foreign Transaction -- BUT I always return the car with a full tank and receive a refund credit.

So far, BofA has REFUNDED the Fee ... but I dunno if ALL banks do that.

Dooley advises that you are subject to a 25 Euro Fee, charged locally, for declining the CDW -- but last June, they did NOT apply that confuse confuse

TRUST me, though -- I'm NOT complaining ... biggrin

wckc · Guru

So since you pre-pay, if you return it a bit earlier than anticipated you probably don't get the extra money refunded? we're not sure how early we'll be dropping off the car, so i'm not sure what time i should say...