CarTrawler Reviews

The site had misleading copy, incomplete terms and conditions and reservation copy that was entirely misleading - when contacted customer service, they did not resolve the problem and, in effect, told me it was my problem and then dropped the conversation

I booked the car from Cartrawler in Dec 2024 and paid the renal online upfront at the time of booking. When I reached the car pickup counter the system was not showing the booking. Cartrwaler used partner Europcar to book for me. The system at Europcar pickup counter was not showing any booking. However their Online system (when contacted Europcar customer care) was showing it. They asked to get it cancelled through Cartrwaler. Its been now 21 days since I raised the ticket. There is no further development from their side. **** To make it worse they are using Expedia Logo in their Car Hire Voucher ****

I booked a Car in July through a third party company, and they used CarTrawler for their needs. I arrived there and I had enough funds available, they weren’t able to provide me a vehicle I booked. 6 months later I am still battling this same issue.

Used them to book a car from Dollar. It’s unfortunate that their system and the 1 staff member at the establishment had given my rental late and caused a domino effect to my day resulting in financial loss. Once I reached out and tried to get them to refund, they mentioned they couldn’t do that as I accepted the rental. What else was I going to do? I had no car.

I rented a car from them and prepaid to save even more money. When I arrived at the airport rental car counter, I was charged another $60 and told that they don’t charge all the fees and taxes. I contacted them after vacation; that was 8 days ago and I have heard nothing from them. Never using them again.

This company take my money. Ttheir agency did not gave me car and they did not helped at all. They are scammers. They don’t responded. Their mails not helping. Just sending back generic e-mails. Scammers!

My recent experience with CarTrawler has been nothing short of a nightmare. After two months of supposed “investigation” into an issue I faced, the response I finally received was utterly disappointing and unacceptable. From the moment I encountered the problem, I faced significant losses: not only did I waste an enormous amount of time and effort trying to find a resolution, but I also experienced humiliation at the airport due to the lack of support from CarTrawler. The stress and frustration caused by this situation are indescribable. Despite my patience and hope that CarTrawler would resolve the issue, their response was inadequate, leaving me with no faith in their service or systems.

This was not a good experience. A price of $423 appeared on the screen for my car rental. But I was billed for twice the amount. Dollar Rent-A-Car said I would get a deposit back. No such luck. Beware of CarTrawler.

Warning!! I booked a car through CarTrawler with a company called Surprice in Sardinia. At arrival they rejected my credit card and I lost € 426,-. This was mentioned in the voucher: "A valid credit card in the first name and surname (no abbreviations) of the lead driver must be presented at the rental desk in order to pre-authorise/charge a deposit". So, although the credit card was valid (the reservation was even paid with it), Cartrawler also was not willing to solve the problem, nor to pay me my money back. It spoiled my first day of my holidays. Don't ever use Cartrawler!!!

Booked a car in Feb for June (airport). Their system cancelled the reservation (email proof) but my credit card was still charged in June. I have been sending emails, chats and WhatsApp and no one is responding. I finally managed to get a complaint & a case uploaded that will still take 20 days to be investigated + the backlog they are facing (no wonder..). Never ever again will I use this company. 100% scam.

Be aware of all brokers but Cartrawler seem to just suck people's money from them without any aftercare. I have lost £115 due to not having a credit card with a forename on it! Not plainly obvious when hiring the car!

Rented a car via HOTELS.com and selected THRIFTY for a pickup at DFW. (Didn't realize that Hotels.com handed me off to CAR TRAWLER.) Our flight was delayed and we didn't get to the rental counter until 10:30PM and the counter was closed! (I had already registered for "Bypass-the-Counter" providing them with my Driver's License.) No one was there; no one in the pickup area, not a soul was around. We were literally stranded without a car! I called the customer service number; they said they were closed. I went online to "Manage" my rental and I could not because my rental reservation had passed.

I booked a car through Carngo/Cartrawler for an afterhours pickup when my plane landed. When I got there the office was closed and security turned me away. When I went back the next day the clerk at Rentafacil told me that they don't book through third parties and there was no car reserved for me. Now cartrawler and rentafacil have me listed as a no show and I can't get a refund. They stole $300 from me Feb 3 2024 **.

Recently booked a ride from JFK to the hotel near Time Square, received a message upon arrival, but the driver was missing, called the agency several times, was kept on the line with the result being no driver. Asked for a refund but unfortunately, several messages were sent, no answer, but we did collect money but unfortunately handled the matter properly. What vultures and how they sell themselves neatly and do everything to satisfy the customer. Booking number **.

I booked a car service from JFK to my home through the Emirates website. Emirates usually has impeccable service and customer service. I was promised a driver with a sign at arrivals. Instead, while I was still on the plane I received a barrage of texts with my driver's name and contact. They asked for my selfie to help him (Jerry) find me. When I got out I tried texting and calling. No one was there. I got more texts and a caller ID that said "best price for you."

I reserved a vehicle online which required pay in advance. Reservation stated a confirmation would be sent via email with voucher for the vehicle and pick up arrangements. Vehicle was reserved for 2:30 pm. At 3:15 pm after 4 calls to this company, they finally sent the confirmation email. An hour too late for me to make my deadline. Their response was "We don't know why you didn't get the email, we sent it." That went on for 1 hour. I finally got in touch with the rental company they contracted with who told me there was no vehicle available. CARTRAWLER refused a refund. Flat out stole my money. This company should be banned from conducting business in the United States.

I have booked a Car through Uber Car rentals, through Car Trawler and Car Trawler had Fox Rental assigned to my booking. When I went to pick my car they refused to give me the car. They stated that we can travel to Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri but not to Michigan (These conditions were not mentioned on the Uber Rental app) and they asked to contact Car Trawler for Refund. I contacted Uber for refund and Uber stated to contact Car Trawler. When I contacted Car Trawler, they refused to refund and stated to contact Uber. Car Trawler states they don't refund if the car rental company refuses to give you a car.

BIG bait and switch! They'll tell you you're all set for a low cost rental, but not disclose that it's an electric vehicle and leave you stranded and stuck upgrading at the counter. Rented thru UberRent via CarTrawler and at 12AM we were told it was going to be an EV, which would not work for the distances we had to travel, so we were forced to upgrade at the counter amounting in nearly TRIPLE the originally quoted cost. Uber will do nothing to help you because CarTrawler is the booking service and their customer service team will be jerks to you and refuse to rectify the situation. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

I am sharing this in hopes that other consumers will read it BEFORE not doing business with these scammers. I booked a car to which I paid a premium insurance, only to find out that the rental company will still secure a $2,250 deposit on my credit card and they will use the ENTIRE amount if the car gets any scratches or dents. When I asked them to cancel the useless policy they said it needed to be cancelled more than 24 hours prior to the rental period, ignoring that I booked the rental only 2 hrs in advance. I wasn't informed of none of the important facts - that they need 2,250$ security deposit and that I can't cancel the policy if I don't needed it. I will NEVER do business again with these scammers!

I booked the rental car with NU Car Rentals. The transaction was done through Hotels.com. Cartrawler is the broker. When I arrived at the Phoenix airport, the NU Car Rental place was closed already (super frustrating). I had to make other travel arrangements late. I noticed that my card was still hit with the transaction. I called NU Car Rentals and explained what happened. Danielle (super nice) canceled my booking without penalty and told me that I had to call the broker since they didn’t have the funds. I called Cartrawler (646-845-1888) and they refused to reimburse me my funds, stating that because I arrived after NU Car Rentals was closed, it was my fault. Or that I should have called them prior to the time of the rental company closing; I was on a place. Super unreasonable. I'll avoid them in the future.

CarTrawler cannot understand why they should refund $233 for a car rental "reservation". This was not my 1st time reserving a car online, think we all do it to find the cheapest price. Why, then would I use an agent in Ireland to secure a car rental in the US? August 2023, provided my name to pick up the Dollar rental car(as usual) they did not request a voucher from my "reservation agent" Dollar requested credit card and asked if I wanted insurance told them I took insurance when I made reservation. The reply was, "We will not honor that policy", so took Dollar insurance (about $36) so as not to be sorry later.

They did not have the car for me but still withdrew my money from my bank. I am still waiting on a refund from this scamming car hire company. They expect you not to follow up with refund and give you the runaround.

I wish I'd of seen all these reviews before I got involve with CarTrawler! I looked online for the best deal for a rental car for my trip. Found cartrawler and paid for my rental and deposit. Got on the plane and when I landed I proceeded to the "dollar car rental" that cartrawler sent me to. I get up to the counter and get told they need my card to put a 795 deposit held against my card!! I told them "NO. I paid for all of this up front!" They told me no that's just the deposit for car trawler that goes towards the rental!! I called car trawer and they wanted to point the blame to the car rental place (they are offshore BTW) so I cancelled my reservation with car trawler and they charged me 110.00 for the cancelation fee and still have not received my refund and went to Enterprise in town and got a car and enterprise was a very smooth transaction and I paid a 200.00 deposit and they took out 167 for that for my 5 day rental. NEVER AGAIN!!!

This company is the business of scamming and stealing money. I tried to rent a car, unfortunately, through this company. I never got the car for some mistake with the credit card system at the airport and I had to rent it with a different company because at the time the mistake was clear, they were out of cars. When I try to get the money back, OHH surprise, they denied and refused the refund. I raised the issue with my bank, but CarTrawler sent a bunch of paper justifying their denial and because I couldn't provided proof of the system failure, the complaint with the bank ended there. Car trawler kept the money, even though I never receive the service, and even though they knew there was the system failure. I feel like if an street rat open my wallet, grab my money and run away. They acted in the same way.

STAY AWAY from this SCAM company! Just as so many others have already written, they are LIARS and THIEVES! They quote one price and "guarantee" no hidden extras, but then when you show up at the airport, the car rental company (Dollar Rent-a-Car in Panama City, Republic of Panama in my case) tells you there are all sorts of extra fees. In my case the $110.37 I was quoted for a 5-day rental more than TRIPLED in price once all the hidden fees were added! The man was very rude and threatened to not even rent me a car if I didn't pay the additional fees.

It is true, this company like to take what is not theirs. I tried to rent a car with Thrifty. Cartrawler made the charge but when I get to the counter I could not complete the transaction for the security deposit. Even though I use the same card the transaction couldn't be completed. Now that I am requesting the refund, Cartrawler redirected me to Thrifty. But Thrifty and my bank says that who made the charge and the company that has the money is Cartrawler. I have 3 attempts to reason with them and they are even refusing a partial refund. I put the dispute with my bank and still waiting for solution.

So I made a reservation within 6 months before my flight. For some reason my fly was moved from 4 am to 6 pm and I called them to see if that was ok but they did not honor my reservation and wanted me to make a new reservation which they did not have what I need. So I asked for a refund with more than 24 hours and still they charged me $145 fees.

They refused to issue a refund. A total SCAM! When you contact them all they do is give you the runaround! They did not provide what we paid for. Despite three separate attempts they refused to do anything or refund even one penny. FRAUD!!!!

After reading all these bad reviews about this company, they are obviously scammers. I made a car reservation in January with “Sixt rental services”. When I made it, at the time of the appointment, they were closed. I’ve been having the hardest time getting a refund, and Cartrawler had me thinking that the rental company was declining the refund. However, cartrawler is actually declining the refund and I’ve basically been scammed out of my money. I’ll never pay for a reservation in advance again.

When booking through Hotels.com, I was asked if I wanted to rent a vehicle. I clicked yes and it directed me to a list of known car rental companies and I selected (and paid for) a rental through Dollar. I didn't even notice (until it came through on my credit card) that I had used a third party booking agent. The day of our trip came and our flight was delayed 3.5 hours and then cancelled. I contacted CarTrawler and they said - "Sorry, no refund. You're past the time to pick up the car." Yes, of course, I was! I don't have a crystal ball. Live and learn, I guess. Never again will I bundle anything.

They are not transparent at all. When you arrive to pick up vehicle you are told you have to buy another expensive insurance in top of the one they already sold you or you can’t take the car. They marked my pickup as no show as I was in the agency and on the phone with the broker. Which they use to keep your money.

We were told if we cancel within a certain period we will be charged a cancelation fee or be waived. They charged us full amount. Air Canada canceled our flight 4 hrs before departure and we were stuck. They will not budge even though we are will to pay a cancelation fee.

This company has awful customer service. When I booked my rental car through Hotels.com, I was re-directed to a 3rd party site, Car Trawler. I booked the car in my husband's name and used my credit card to pay for the car (like I have done countless other times with several other car rental companies). When we arrived at the Las Vegas NU car rental desk, I was shocked at the condition of the building. It was filthy and falling apart. The agents present seemed miserable and were extremely rude. We stood in line for almost an hour. they refused to release the car I had paid for because my husband had a debit card, not a credit card. They refused to accept a debit card for the security deposit.

I booked airline tickets and a car on Alaska Airlines website using a bank card that my bank insists works as either a credit or debit card. Car Trawler charged my account $373.49 for a car that they refused to loan me when I arrived at my destination airport. They said they couldn't release the car because my card is a debit card. I have only the one card so I had no other card to offer them. They have also refused to refund the $373.49 reservation payment. My bank says they can't help me because I authorized it and Alaska Airlines can't help me because it's a third party, and Car Trawler won't help me because it's written in the fine print of the contract that a 'credit' card is required at pick up. Disgusting that they accepted it for a deposit and now won't refund it even though I didn't get the use of a car.

I recently traveled to LA to take care of a medical issue and rented a car through this platform. Apparently, CarTrawler was a sub-app built into the LAX car rental website, because I never actually noticed this branding until the nightmare of getting a refund on this rental began. For starters, I rented this car over a month in advance to keep everything organized. Nowhere in the rental process did it say anything about needing any special kind of credit card, I double-checked because I had lost my credit card and only had my debit. I haven’t had any issues with that in the past, most rental agencies just ask for an extra deposit. Apparently, the rental agency I rented from (Nu- also terrible customer service) doesn’t accept debit, but this wasn’t communicated to me clearly until the day I arrived to pick up my car.

I agreed to the unorthodox policies on the CarTrawler website, but when I arrived at the rental car counter I was given different policies regarding insurance. Total Scam! I refused the car and CarTrawler still tried to charge me. I disputed the charge with my credit card company and that was the first time they reached out to me and complained that they wanted me to cancel the credit card dispute. What nerve!

Total disaster. When we rent to the kiosk in Panama City, Dollar Rental wouldn’t accept the letter from our insurance company stating we had 2 million dollars of liability insurance in any country in the world and would only release the car if we paid another $45/day. We were renting for 2 months so another $2400 was out of our budget. We didn’t accept the car and wrote up a new contract for 1 week. We started the “complaint process” via WhatsApp chats immediately and submitted all backup documents to the address they told us to email to. We received an email today stating the car wasn’t released to us because my husband's credit card has his middle initial on it and he didn’t put the initial on the initial deal we made online.

We rented a van in St Croix through Hopper who then went through Cartrawler who then went through Ace/Olympic rentals in St Croix. We were picked up at the airport by the rental company and taken to their offices. We were told we needed to give them a credit card for security. We gave it to them, they assured us we would not be charged if the car was properly returned. We returned it as instructed and when we get our credit card bill we were charged 301.40 and 300.00 the same time. We asked ace/olympic and cartrawler and was told we never picked up our car at the airport. We asked cartrawler and ace/olympic for our money back. We were denied. Still waiting on hopper to help us. We have a receipt where we paid hopper in full

Avoid this company if you don’t want to lose your money. When they agree to give a refund when the service is not provided, they ended up by not doing it using ridiculous excuses. Don’t get scam by this company, don’t book online with them.

Do Not under Any Circumstances book your car rental through Alaska Airlines Car Rental!! It’s a scam from Dublin Ireland who asked me to pay $467 upfront to reserve my car! I haven’t traveled since 2019 and figured maybe this is how you have to do it now! I went to Dollar at the airport and they did not have a car for me for 2 hours so they offered me a Minivan at a reduced rate. I told them I already paid $467 and they said that my total fee would be $356. When I returned the car they charged my credit card for $356.