CarTrawler Reviews

My experience with this company was extremely disappointing, and I would strongly caution others before booking with them. Before my trip, I contacted customer service to make a change to my reservation. During that conversation, I clearly explained that I would be picking up the vehicle in Utah, driving to Missouri, and then returning to Utah. The customer service representative was fully aware of my travel plans and made the requested changes without mentioning any restrictions. On the day of pickup, after spending approximately $80 on an Uber to reach the rental location, the employee at the counter asked where I would be taking the vehicle. When I explained the exact same itinerary I had already discussed with customer service, I was immediately told that I could not take the vehicle out of Utah because the company does not allow that with certain rentals. I was given only two options: keep the vehicle in Utah or cancel the reservation.

Terrible renting experience. The car I rented online with CarTrawler was not the car Fox rental would give me. They fought with me and made me pay an additional $86 (with no add ons, no extra insurance, nothing, no upgrades). They would not give me the agreed upon car that I rented online and told me I must upgrade. My online receipt says Nissan Sentra - they refused anything other than a Versa unless I paid more. And the whole time they were doing this while I was with my young daughter. When I returned the car, the manager on-site agreed and said he’d refund - never did. Worst company ever! And customer service is not helpful.

Be aware that this is a very bad organization where scamming is on highest level letting you pay a lot of extra money on pickup. One way or the other.

I tried to use frequent flyer miles to rent a car, and the airline sent me to CarTrawler. What a rip-off! My flight was delayed by four hours, and by the time it got in, the rental car desk was closed. I had to take taxi, so I canceled my car rental; but CarTrawler refuses to give me a refund. They say if my flight is delayed, I'm out of luck. When I look at other reviews, this seems to be a pattern.

They are slamming. I paid for my car rental and insurance inline but when I went to collect the car from desk they didn’t release the car and they said I have to pay again directly to rent company not through the site. They ruined my holiday. After 5 times calling the customer service each time they said they will contact me in 48 hours but when they no call I call again and surprisedly they said, "Oh you have wait another 48 hours because you called us again." I spent a lot on transportation on my holiday and no car and every day calling rental company for solution but nothing. As soon as my holiday finished they sent me an email and say, "Oh because you have no cancelled the contract during the rental time so you don’t get cancellation." They are disgusting.

I booked a car with this company "CarTrawler". I paid for the rental and purchased their insurance plan. Then when I arrived to pick up the car they told me they did NOT accept the online booking or insurance and tried to extract another 600 euros from me for a deposit on the car plus another 200 euros in insurance, plus they wanted to secure 2000 euros on my credit card so I refused the rental and canceled my booking and they still kept the 800 dollars I had paid and did not refund 1 penny of the money. They are scammers and the most fraudulent company I have ever dealt with. Do NOT rent anything from this company because they will scam you and keep your money. They should be in jail!

Scammers scammers be warned, foreigners and absolute scammers.

I booked my car thru WestJet (CarTrawler). Having confirmed the booking and receiving a quote I thought I was set. Until I reached the actual rental counter for Alamo where I was charged about 40% more for the car than was quoted. With no other options at the time, I paid. When I reached out to CarTrawler their response was basically, "You're on your own here. Take it up with the rental company." As far as I'm concerned they are operating a bait and switch operation and I will never deal with them again.

I rented a car through Car Trawler, and bought their insurance, which they claimed would be all I needed for my trip to Costa Rica. When I got to car rental office, it was clear based on posted signs that that wasn’t correct, and that I would have to buy additional insurance. I contacted Car Trawler (which was a fairly slow, painful process), but was told that they couldn’t cancel the useless policy. I would recommend avoiding this company.

Terrible service! When I booked my flight and car rental at the same time, I didn't know I was using cartrawler until I received confirmation for the booking. I had a last minute flight change and when I contacted CarTrawler customer service to reschedule the car rental dates, the online agent suddenly "ran out of time" to confirm the rebooking and had to send my query to their case management office. Ultimately, Cartrawler denied my refund because I hadn't cancelled within 48 hours as stated in the contract. The flight change was out of my control and I made every attempt to reschedule the car rental. It's a total scam.

Booked a XXL van to dxb airport. It says 10 bags during booking but once I received confirmation it says 5 bags and 5 small handbags. This won't work for me. I cancelled immediately. Contacted support, they said no refund because it was cancelled within 24 hours of booking. Asked to speak to supervisor, they wouldn't let me speak to one. I have no choice but to dispute the charge with my credit card.

Recently I rented a car in Milan. Initially, I was charged 116.36 USD for renting the car. When I picked up the car (which was EXTREMELY dirty) they charged me an extra $150 USD for not having an international license despite my US license allowing me to drive in Europe for up to 6 months. Additionally, they tried to sell me insurance for $50 USD a DAY which I did not pay. Moreover, they only take VISA cards due to what I believe is VISA's habit of not checking for fraud and scams.

WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!!! Never book with CarTrawler Vienna through Austrian Airlines!!! In November 2025, I booked a flight to Vienna for January 2026 as a Senator. At the same time, I accepted an offer from Austrian Airlines and booked a rental car through them. When I landed in Vienna on January 17, 2026, I immediately received a message from the rental car company, CarTrawler, that they had no cars available. Ordered three months ago – this morning they discover they have no vehicle. What a sad, disreputable company! Money taken – service not provided. Fraud?? An uneducated, non-German-speaking CarTrawler employee refused any assistance.

While the company may technically be operating within its terms and conditions, I was disappointed by the complete lack of flexibility or goodwill when my circumstances changed. No alternative dates were offered, no credit, and no partial solution — just a flat refusal. Customers should be aware that once a booking is made, there appears to be zero room for discretion, regardless of situation. Based on this experience, I would not choose to book with CarTrawler again or recommend them to others.

Evil company. A partner of American Advantage that has taken over a month to investigate a botched reservation at JFK via Dollar. I booked via American Advantage and would've never done so if I had know how each company would blame the other and leave us stranded at the airport. Even worse, they never apologized and have both my money and airline miles.

I had a fully paid reservation through CarTrawler for a 7-seater car from Sixt in Porto. When I arrived at the Sixt desk at the airport, I was told that my car simply did not exist. No assistance, no responsibility, no alternative. Because the booking was specifically for seven people, replacing the vehicle was impossible, and it completely ruined my trip.

Followed the link from American when I booked my flight to these guys and rented a car. Looked like Avis, Budget etc but it's not! When I landed in Savannah GA the Budget desk could not find the reservation. The address on the voucher did not exist and both the Budget rep and I call the CarTrawler desk phone number 5 times and no one picked up. SO I rented directly from Budget. I finally tracked down the Customer Service number for CarTrawler and called. Spoke to Ahmed who would not saw where he was based - apparently company policy. He was not helpful. In future I'll just go directly to Avis, Hertz, Budget etc and cut out the incompetent middle men (wherever in the world they are). Be carefully of the airline links - the fine print states what's going on if you have time to read it.

I had a very disappointing experience with CarTrawler. While traveling, TAP Airlines made an error at the airport involving my mother’s mobility scooter, which caused us to miss our flight. TAP acknowledged the mistake — they had pre-approved the scooter by email — and rebooked us on the next flight. Because of that delay, we couldn’t pick up our rental car on time. I explained the entire situation to CarTrawler, including proof that the issue was beyond our control, but they refused to refund my money or honor the original week-long reservation.

CarTrawler are the big time scammer. Don’t do anything with them. They are thieves. They double charge me and at the end I paid my rental car double and never return my money back. I had to open a case with a lawyer. Stay away from them.

I rented a car through this company. When I got to the desk, the rental company attempted to overcharge me for insurance with an exorbitant rate of $42 per day, which was more than half the cost the rental itself. I refused the car and informed CARNGO about the situation. The manager agreed that that was a rip off price, but claimed there is nothing they can do and threw the terms and conditions nonsense at me. The company refused to help me, even though they knew I was being ripped off. I lost $1500. I will never use a company that refuses to stand up to immoral behavior from their suppliers.