CarTrawler Reviews

I would give negative stars if I could. I had to change my pick up time to the following day after not making my flight which was overbooked. I immediately contacted them explaining my situation and informed them that I would be picking up my rental a day later. When I arrived the next day, the local car company said I had to contact CarTrawler directly to "modify" the reservation. A representative from CarTrawler said I had to make this change with the local vendor. After going back and forth, Cartrawler said to place a claim which I did. They denied my claim saying that I didn't contact them even though I did. Because of their incompetent customer service, I had to rent a car from another company which was twice as much. I would advise all people to avoid this company at all costs!

I would give zero stars but I can’t. The rental booking was fine but that’s where it ended. I arrived at the car rental company to find out they cancelled the rental. Then they wanted to charge me 4x for a new car. I tried every method possible to contact the cartrawler but everything is AI. From email to WhatsApp to website chat. You can’t call anyone or speak to a real person. The kicker was when I got home and they sent me an email asking me to give a review on my car rental. Yikes. Oh, they charged me for the rental I never took. Stay away from this disastrous place. 518 1 star reviews says it all!

I wish I never had heard of them. Ripped me off for $200. No customer support, only attitude and called multiple times to only be disconnected after listening to music for 10 minutes. Just PASS on this company. They are not professional and do not deserve your money or time.

Trying for over a week, multiple attempts, on multiple browsers to make a car reservation (using American Airlines miles) and always stalls at last, confirmation step - trying to resolve, via chat (all that's offered), on several sessions totaling well over an hour, given follow up phone numbers that don't work and latest, given chat message that "there's problem with the website, try again in 48 hrs". Geez .... ultimately it's American's responsibility, 'cause they're using Car Trawler as their representative - I'm just trying to use an advertised benefit ... Pathetic!

I booked this car rental and somehow the system assigned my son who is only 15 years old as the designated driver. Obviously he cannot drive yet, I used my credit card under MY name to pay for car rental fee. The system did not take my name as the main driver but instead my son which it doesn’t make any sense. I tried to change the name to be myself and they told me I needed to pay 100 dollars to make this change or rebook another reservation. They were not able to help me at all and I ended up loosing my money and time, I don’t recommend this company to anyone as you will get scam if you do.

After more than a month with back and forth emails, requesting my credit card info (yeah right) with details, and pictures (unbelievable! Of course I never send the details!) I had to file a scam complaint thru my company in order to get my money back! They were "investigating" for more than a month for a car that I never received! They are scammers! STAY AWAY! The sad part is that they got in the ESM app which provides service to all first responders. But I also send them a message so they know what they signed up for!

Totally scammed me. Thought I was buying from Thrifty. Thrifty said that they would refund my bookings but unfortunately I booked through a third party called CarTrawler. Didn't Even rent the cars, Thrifty was not open when I got to the airport due to a big storm in the area. Thrifty was refunding me but this third party would not. Called customer service and they just kind of gave me the runaround. Total scammers.

Beware of using your Aadvantage miles with American Airlines to book a rental car, as Cartrawler is the company that handles those rentals. I recently booked a car rental with my miles. I was flying into Flint, MI on American and was going to pick up the rental at the Flint airport. Due to bad weather my flight was cancelled, and there were no other flights into Flint that day. The airline flew me into Detroit instead. I immediately went to the Aadvantage cars website to get to my reservation and attempted to modify pickup to Detroit. Website did not allow this, even after doing chat with agent. I had to cancel the reservation. Cartrawler has built into their contract that if you cancel your car less than 48 hours prior to pickup you will be charged $130. I contacted customer service but they refuse to refund the money.

Absolute disaster of a company! I got totally ripped off. Their customer service is all AI generated and they refused to give me refund. I paid for a car in full visa debit with insurance. On pick up they added another payment, which I was happy to pay with the same card also offered cash. They refused and kept both!

I would never do business with this company again. They do not have a customer service team, there is no way to contact them. I had to spend hours trying to get help and somehow was able to create a case online. It said my case would be resolved by June 19th giving themselves a month to fix it or at least give me a response, it’s past that date and they haven’t even contacted me. I am pretty sure they will just continue to ignore me because there is no way for me to contact them. Horrible!

I booked my rent a car through Car Trawler on a standby travel site for employees of airlines. This was a bad idea because this cannot be cancelled if you miss your flight or have any issues whatsoever. It is more like a bait and switch company. When I was disputing my charge, they asked for sensitive information like cc that they would share with the car rental company etc. In the end they could not and would not refund me because they automatically give part of the money to the car rental company. They are also based in Scotland and not the USA where most of not all are renting from. It is best to rent directly with the company you want to rent from if you want the best deal. It is also safer, especially if you don't make your trip for some unforeseen reason. I would not have written this review of they had treated me fairly even a little bit. I lost money, but I think I saved on the long run because I will never use this company again.

I used CarTrawler to pre-pay for an online booking so I had everything organized for a vacation car rental. Purchased additional liability insurance via their site as well. Had a complete runaround at time of pick-up of the rental car, with unreasonable charges added on if I wanted to take the car. Cancelled the rental and informed CarTrawler right away to ask for a refund. After over 8 weeks of providing EVERYTHING they asked for (multiply different requests for various documentation) they said, "NO. SORRY we will not give you your refund". They kept my money that was never passed on to the car rental company for the booking. They have conditions embedded into their terms and agreements that give them loopholes to get away with keeping your money even if there is an issue or cancellation. WILL NEVER USE THIS BOOKING COMPANY AGAIN.

I booked a rental car in Italy through CarTrawler with Europcar as the local provider. During the booking process, there was no clear mention of needing an International Driving Permit (IDP). Upon arrival, Europcar refused to release the car solely due to the lack of an IDP, despite my valid national driving license. I was denied service and lost the full amount paid. I contacted CarTrawler for a refund and have sent several emails with no reply to date. This is unacceptable and completely unprofessional. As a frequent traveler and business owner, I strongly warn others: stay away from these companies unless you want to lose time, money, and patience.

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.