CarTrawler Reviews

I made a reservation for a car through a third party on this site. When I tried to pick up the car at the airport, the car agency stated that cartrawler.com made it for a different date. A date that was much earlier (roughly 6 weeks) and in no way lined up with when I even made the original agreement. It was a completely random date. When I attempted to contact CarTrawler to rectify this as quickly as possible, so I could leave the airport, there is only a corporate headquarters number provided.

Argus Car Hire/CarTrawler failed to inform the carrier desk of my flight number. When my arrival was delayed until late (1:15am) all desks were closed and I was unable to pick up my vehicle. The next morning when I phoned in to attempt a resolution I was informed my FULLY PRE-PAID reservation had expired and they would NOT issue me another one due to company policy. I argued for a while asking to speak with a supervisor and they would not comply. In the end they hung up on me after repeatedly telling me that there was nothing they could do. I had paid them in full for a service and received absolutely nothing in return.

I booked the Dollar Rental on CarTrawler for personal use. Debit card transactions was honored on prepaid booking...but my husband was denied the car when he went to collect it at Lehigh Valley Airport for Dollar Rental do not do debit card transactions. I cancelled the reservation on Dollar Rental and was hung up for NO refund from the customer service also came to know that I had booked with a 3rd party agent Cartrawler.

In June, 2017, I made flight & car rental reservations through JustFly for an October trip to Orlando. Car rental reservation came through CarTrawler, with whom JustFly has a partnership. When I arrived at airport, I contacted the 800 # and was told a shuttle would arrive in 5-10 min, I was to report to 'off airport rental shuttle' area. No shuttle arrived, called again in 30 minutes & given same response. Ninety minutes from the time this all began, I am told that Orlando office is likely closed, I'll need to go through another rental agency. Was fortunate to secure a car but at 10X the cost of CarTrawler quote.

Worked on setting up business trip thru Hotels.com. Reserved room then moved to Car Rental link. Made selections went to "Book Now" but got error message: "We are sorry but a technical problem occurred while processing your booking. Your booking was not completed and your card has not been charged. Please try again or contact us so that we may assist you." Called Hotels.com for support. Reps DID NOT LISTEN, kept trying get me hotel reservation. Only support offered for CarTrawler was international call to Ireland. NO SUPPORT IN USA. Never got chance to make car reservation thru their website.

I rented a car last minute through what I assumed was Dollar Rental Car and I am a Dollar Express Member. By being a member I can usually skip the rental counter and head straight to my car but on this occasion I had to go to the counter. At the counter I advised the clerk that I would like to use another credit card other than that I used to reserve the car, no problem. Dropped the car off when I was done went back to the counter to ensure everything was OK because I just had a gut feeling that my original card would be charged but the clerk said I was good to go.

Rented car online. Pre paid with debit card. Went to pick up car the next day. Clerk stated I couldn't pick up the car unless I had a valid credit card. I didn't. Didn't get the car. Called Dollar Rental and was referred to Cartrawler. Called Cartrawler requesting a refund of payment to debit card. I was turned down, stating that I needed to reserve the car with a credit card in order to get a refund. Even though the online site accepted the debit card to reserve the car. Now I know how they stay in business. No refunds. Never again.

I made a car rental transaction through CarTrawler online. I paid the deposit, however, nowhere did they disclose that they are a foreign, NON USA company, therefore I was also charged foreign transaction fees by my credit card company. If I had known I would have used a different credit card with no such fees. Also, they incorrectly underestimated the taxes and fees, therefore, I had to pay more at the rental counter then they had disclosed on my original, online rental receipt. This company is not up to my standards and I will NOT be using them again. Be leary of companies of such as CarTrawler, that are hiding and misrepresenting information online. I called CarTrawler and they did nothing to help me. Not a reputable company at all. They put themselves above the customer, that is for sure.

CHEAT-CHEAT-CHEAT. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. DONT USE THEM. BOOKING A CAR IS EASY, but, couldn't expect such a theft if I had rented the car and paid their ridiculous deposit, 1000 UK Pound. Rent of car including insurance. 95 UK. Pounds, not expensive, but a cheap car, a small car, ok. BUT 1000 UK Pounds as deposit, so I canceled my booking right away, and got a confirmation mail soon after that I would receive my money back 10 BANK DAYS after. This was the 1st of March 2018, now it is the 17th of March and nothing has happened yet.

I booked a flight and car through Ryanair website. Car Hire is operated by CarTrawler. I booked the car, payment was taken on my credit card and a voucher issued. On arrival at destination Airport being Paphos in Cyprus I proceeded to the Europcar desk. On arrival and handing in voucher they had no record of my booking. After investigation by the very helpful Europcar operative she found the car had been cancelled. I contacted the booking company and they say it was cancelled at 11.15 am on 21/02/18. As I was in midflight at this time it obviously was not me cancelled.

Thrifty and CarTrawler are stealing people's money. This happened to me and from what I later saw in the comments, with thousands of people. If I had researched better before, I would never give my credit card number to Thrifty and CarTrawler. Avoid being deceived by these two companies. Look for honest car rental companies.

I booked Toyota Rav4. We went to pick up car from Cancun Mexico. We waited there 2 hours to get the car. They said, "We don't have Rav4. We can give you 4 door sedan Kia car". We are 5 people and we had 3 luggage and 5 handbags. I paid for SUV not for car. They asked me on the counter. We have to pay third party insurance $350 more. When I booked the car was included third party insurance. On the web when I booked the SUV was showing Toyota RAV4 or slimmer. Why they want to give me small car. She said, "If you don't want car we give you money back". I paid in August 2017. I emailed them too many times. Now they said, "We are not refund you money". I lost $389.00 CAN. Please don't rent car from this company. I looked all the reviews. All is bad. Stealing money from people.

BEWARE of this company that operates under various names like Car Trawler, Argus Car Hire, Etrawler etc and pays people to put good reviews on all forums! Just google the above names and see all the complaints that pop up. They are all the same company and we got SCAMMED by one of them before we realized they are all the same! DO NOT USE THEM. We booked a Mazda Demio or similar, AT, AC, class of car. We got an old junk Nissan Tiida that did not suit any of our needs and the AT was useless since the car wouldn't go up any inclination at all without manual gear change.

Stay away from this company. They will overcharge you and hold a deposit over 2000 euro. Stay away and book somewhere else. I have canceled my booking and I am having problem getting my money back. Time to call my Credit card company...

I made a booking for a 7 seater Chevrolet Tahoe or similar under Booking Reference Number: ** Confirmation no. **. My pickup was scheduled for pickup at Dubai international airport T1 from Dollar Rent a Car. I went 15 mins before pickup and was informed that they have the booking but they don't have any 7 seater. I had paid in full in advance for a 7 seater four days ahead of pickup day, but despite this, no 7 seaters were reserved for me. When I called CarTrawler, to complain on this non-availability, I was asked a bunch of question like, did I go to the pickup before my pickup time, did I go the correct local rent a car company, after I had answered these questions, I asked the agent if she would like to speak to the local rent a car company, and they spoke.

This company is a big sham! We booked a car through CarTrawler for our 9 day holiday in the UK with our 3 children aged 8, 11 and 13. Our flight to Gatwick was delayed and when we tried to call the number on our booking confirmation no-one answered the phone. By the time we got to the rental desk it was closed for the night. We then went to speak to one of the other rental companies at the airport who helped us call CarTrawler to let them know what had happened. We were told they couldn't guarantee us a refund and that we had to send in a complaint.

Avoid at all expenses... Hundreds of complaints and lawsuits are pending against that thief company. They offer discounted cheap PREPAID prices for rental cars. When you go pick up your car, OOPS NO CAR AVAILABLE for variety of reasons. The last car has a problem, the driver made an accident while testing your last car, credit card not debit card needed, accept inferior car or no car at all (e.g. manual rather than automatic transmission, or compact or economy rather than full sedan car).

I rented car through Ryan Air for a trip to Italy, who unbeknown to me used CarTrawler. When collecting my car in Italy they tried to charge me £90. (Sound familiar?) For what I didn't know. When I refused (as I had pre-paid the full amount) the chap at the desk refused the whole rental. I then had to rent a car from another company opposite leaving me out of pocket for the full rental amount I pre-paid. After complaining, so far CarTrawler are not interested despite this being a clear breach of contract in my view. So my next stop is the small claims court.

I see a pattern going on here. Therefore, although, I feel for all the others who got cheated by this company, I am not alone in this situation. I ordered a rental car through Thrifty, which sent me to their sister company Dollar Rental upon arrival. When I made my reservation, I was aware that most rental companies don't accept debit cards.

CarTrawler stole my deposit because I NEVER actually rented a car from THRIFTY car rentals. Now neither company will return the deposit to me. Budget, Thrifty, Dollar Rent A Car, Enterprise, Hertz, Payless Car Rental, Hawaiian Airlines, Expedia.com, Atlantic, Virgin, Travelstart And a long list of European travel companies use CARTRAWLER as third party online reservation service. BOYCOTT these companies until they STOP using this company. They are thieves and liars. You will be sorry!

Abandoned two vulnerable young women abroad and failed to refund inside 3 weeks (if at all - yet to be seen). As a direct result of this neglect, despite warnings about dangerous situation, they were robbed of all cash, valuables and passports. CarTrawler refused to process refund to assist and blocked correspondence systematically. Neglectful, unaccountable, irresponsible, immoral. Don’t go near this appalling company if you value honesty, safety or believe in basic human decency.

I have been traveling on a business trip to Kuwait and I have booked a rental car through CarTrawler, Upon reaching there was an issue with my credit card and I was talking to my bank to solve it. The Customer Service Manager from SIXT advised me to cancel the booking and get a refund, and also advised me to go for a local car rental office where credit card will not be needed. I told the manager clearly that I will not get a refund, and he assured to me that I will receive full refund. SIXT and myself communicated with CarTrawler and CarTrawler refused to refund and their reply by email was very unfriendly. This was a very bad experience and I will never deal with both companies again.

Cartrawler is classic BAIT & SWITCH scam. What a ripoff. Return time of day on the confirmation was incorrect by 7 hours. Total rental cost for 3 days - $89. Cost of the extra 7 hours - $195 plus tax etc. Fortunately had a backup reservation and only a small loss. Customer service completely supports the scam... Run the other way.

I have had it with 3rd party bookings!! SCREAM!! I paid a deposit of $140, but then was charged the entire amount for the car upon returning. Submitted a claim, but can't attach documents to the case number. Their Customer Care email replies back with this email is not monitored. Hours to book a trip, then months to finalize charges!!!

Booked online with who I believed was the actual rental car company. Although the Dollar Rental easily pulled my info and receipt I'm told my Visa/debit card couldn't be used so I asked if we could change it over to my husband's name. They proceed to tell me to contact the online customer service. After 30 mins of trying to understand the foreign lady I'm told, "Well your rental has expired! (We were there 30 mins early) You will need to redo everything as if it's a new rental."

Hired a vehicle through CarTrawler and was quoted a price of $422.62, paid £235.77 and got the confirmation email from Dollar USA saying that when I got to Orlando airport all I had to do was produce letter, driving license and pay $110. When I got there I was told I had to buy another cover called FDW which cost me $455.84 plus all the taxes that in all cost an extra $578.22.

I made the mistake of prepaying online a 10-day car rental with Dollar on September 9th 2017. I did not know at the time that Dollar outsourced the actual "booking" to CarTrawler. When I reserved, I paid 1/2 of the rental charge. On Sept 14th I landed in Charlotte, went through reservations at Dollar, selected a car, walked around the car to ensure everything was OK, no scratches, normal car rental routine. Got to the front of the car, the small front lights were missing. I selected another car, walked around that one, it had a dent, but I said to myself Okay, I'm ready to go.

This company is rip off! I was charged for a car that I never picked up and now I'm told I never cancelled the reservation. I was charged 221.93 for a car that I never picked up and my reservation was cancelled within 2 minutes of booking. They have no record that I cancelled the reservation so they will not refund my money back. This company is a scam and you shouldn't use them because they are robbing people!!! This company should not be allowed to continue "robbing" and their website should be taken down immediately!!

I rented a car online from Dollar Car Rental in Washington D.C., because of my credit I wasn't allowed the car; they wouldn't take a deposit. I was asked to contact CARTrawler - here is the email from them; "Sending to you an email on how to file a case for refund. I regret to hear that you experienced problems during the rental. In order to resolve the problem for you, we will need to create a complaint ticket for you, where we are able to keep you informed as to the progress of the investigation. We will aim to resolve your complaint within 20 working days from when it is created, but it can depend upon the type of problem and who the car rental supplier was."

On 12 Jan 2017, I caused an accident with a vehicle rented through CarTrawler on 2 Dec 2016 under hire contract number **. The excess was limited to AUD 3500. The car was supplied by Hertz; this firm deducted 4,309.84 from my Visa Card account. I had no contractual relationship with Hertz. However, CarTrawler obviously allowed unauthorized access to my account. I asked Cartrawler to refund the amount of AUD 808.84. This company did not reply to my request. Did I fall victim to thugs?

I rented a car through their website and then when I went to Avis counter in Turkey, they could not deliver my car saying that there is a security requirement by the government that every customer needs to receive an sms from their bank regarding leasing a luxury segment car. Anyways Avis advised me to contact CarTrawler and get my money back but when I did, CarTrawler declined my request and they charged my card for a lease that DID NOT TAKE PLACE. Their customer relations team never replies back on time or simply reply saying 'You agreed to sign our terms and conditions and therefore we cannot help you further,' it was very disappointing. I would not suggest anyone renting anything through this website, they are unreliable and they have no respect for their clients.

I cancelled my reservation more than the required 48 hours in advance and they still will not refund my money. I have a time stamped email showing it was cancelled but it does not matter to them. This was my first and last experience with CarTrawler. I had used Dollar car rental many times and was happy with their services but they have also lost a customer for doing any kind of business with this company!

THIS BUSINESS IS A RIP OFF! In August 2017, I reserved a car for three days with Dollar Car Rental at Chicago's Midway Airport. I was flying into Midway from DC. I selected the online booking because it appeared to be the cheaper resource. I picked up the car on August 17th, but due to an emergency, I had to return the car after only one day's use on August 18th. When I contacted Dollar, I was told to contact CarTrawler to get the separate pre-booking amount. When I contacted CarTrawler I was informed that since I had prepaid, I was not entitled to a refund of the unused days.

DO NOT USE THIS BUSINESS FOR ANYTHING!!! I "thought" I was renting a car from Thrifty for a vacation in Atlanta, Ga. Turns out, it was through CarTrawler, which is apparently based in Ireland (so watch what number pops up on your phone when you try to call them... I was charged $27 for overseas but I never put in any overseas number). I chose the "prepaid" option for the car, which was $131.81, because it was about $50 cheaper than non-prepaid (if I had only known just how much this choice would cost me...), and then would be charged taxes/fees/etc., upon rental.

Never knew this company was involved in my Car Rental. Didn't get car and want refund. Car Trawler is refusing. Getting ready to file small claims action. Hope they show up here in Florida to fight it. I want my $107 back and will spend thousands if I have to for all the customers here that had a bad experience with them. It's time they stop ripping consumers off. This is for you all!

The service provided by the CarTrawler partner (Green Rental Car/ADDCAR) was unexpectedly rude. The staff tried to force me to accept and pay for additional optional insurance. After I declined this optional coverage, they started to treat me quite offensively, so I requested the cancellation of the reservation and went to another company (Thrifty), where I was treated with respect and provided a very high level of service, for the same price, without them trying to sell the optional insurance as mandatory.

Horrible customer service! I rented my vehicle through Volaris airlines with no knowledge that they utilize this company (Car Trawler). The vehicle was to be picked up from Budget at the Guadalajara airport kiosk. Upon our arrival, my family of 4 and I approached the kiosk and everything was going fine with the attendant until she offered us a $600 insurance package that would cover our 10 day car rental. I declined purchase of the insurance claiming that I had already purchased insurance through the airline (Volaris) at the time I made the reservation and that I had my confirmation certificate from Allianz Insurance. At this point, she picks up the phone without saying anything to me and she mentions to someone on the other end about our insurance. When she hung up, she immediately apologizes and tells us that unfortunately the car we had reserved had been in an accident and was not available for us.

I booked a reservation through Dollar that used this third party CarTrawler. On my documents I was told I would have to pay a balance of $42.20 for taxes and fees upon picking up the car. Well upon arrival we were actually charged $89.01. I was told like others to contact CarTrawler who failed to resolve the final payment amount difference. Dollar and CarTrawler are dishonest, low life scamming businesses that should have a class action suit filed against them. I can only imagine how much money they have scammed out of people.

As many others have stated below, I thought I was simply making a reservation for a rental car with Thrifty. I used my debit card, this "third party" (apparently) that Thrifty said they are not affiliated with (what?) charged me what was supposed to be a portion of the full rental price when reserving it early. Guess what? Nope. Thrifty said I needed to call CarTrawler (??), which I didn't even know I was dealing with and get a refund. Based on all the other complaints from people who've had their money stolen, I think my chances are slim.

Flight delayed, rental place closed, no car but still charged! I rented a car for 15 days for my Spain vacation through Norwegian Airlines, had no idea the rental company they were using was "CarTrawler", it said Goldcar in the website. The flight was delayed, by the time we walked out with our luggage the Goldcar rental place was closed.

I went home for a memorial service on 6-19-2017 and when I arrived @ the Dollar counter they told me since I didn't have a credit card they would not give me a car. They took my $243.98 as a deposit but did not return it to me. My reference booking number was **. I got the run around from Dollar and the other company they told me to contact. I definitely have forewarned others not to use Dollar car rental because of all the hassle I received. I can't afford to not have my deposit returned to my account.

Even though Thrifty's website clearly states they accept debit cards, they do not! I even called the corporate office to ensure they would accept a debit card from my traveler and was assured they would, so I prepaid the rental and the invoice showed there would be a small amount of taxes due at the time of rental, which he would use his debit card to cover. However when my traveler got to the rental office, Thrifty refused to give him the car, and CarTrawler, who handles the prepaid booking charges for Thrifty and Dollar, took the money and refused to give a refund citing it as the traveler's fault. This is absolutely criminal. I book between 50-150 rental car reservations per year, so congratulations, Thrifty and Dollar, because of this third party you use, I will take my corporate travelers elsewhere.

I booked a car through who I thought was Thrifty Rental, upon making reservation I made sure I could use a debit card and no major credit card was needed as I don't use them. NOWHERE did it state "major card needed,” it also stated “if using debit card a return flight verification was needed” and only that. Made Reservations, CarTrawler immediately took out payment for car. Upon arrival at destination I was told that Thrifty Car Rental would NOT rent me a car due to no major credit card/credit check (which I was never told about either). After talking to a very RUDE manager from Thrifty I was informed that it was not his problem and if I wanted refund I needed to go through CarTrawler to get it. I then said a few choice words to him and rented from Enterprise Rental which counters were next to one another and agent overheard what had happened and was very nice and accommodating.

I was basically told by Michael the Lead at Dollar Car Rental that this company is fraudulent but yet they are associated with them. They are double billing me. This has been a nightmare. I made an online reservation with ETRAWLER. They billed me but when I went in to pick up the car from Dollar they billed me again. I specifically asked the rep both times why I was being billed for the amount when I basically made my reservation online. They brushed it off that the extra amount was due to "taxes & fees." Now my credit card is being billed from both of them. When contacted they both told me to contact the other.

Worst experience ever renting a car. I prepaid for a thrifty rental car through CarTrawler. When the car was picked up, there had to be a credit card on record in case of any issues. They charged me an extra $733 and will not provide any documentation as to why. I contacted customer service twice and have had no luck. Cannot find a telephone number to call. I reported this to the BBB. This is right out fraud. I am hoping that my credit card company will be able to help with this issue.

DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR CARTRAWLER!!! If I could give a minus score I would, I booked at taxi transfers from Naples to my hotel in Scala and return for a family holiday through these guys and now realise that was a complete mistake. On arrival at Naples my taxi "123Transfer" (or later to be know as "123NOTransfer") didn't turn up because of an "accident". I was told to get a taxi from outside the airport and I would be refunded. This taxi cost €160. When I told him he refused to pay, I contacted CARTRAWLER (being the agent) who said they would refund but only for half the money. I had paid them for one half of the journey, citing "the small print!!!" CarTrawler eventually refunded me half of my booking after numerous phone calls to them (using my own phone which created extra costs for me and extra anxiety whilst on holiday) but that still left €30 out of pocket.

This company has to be a scam. It is very stealth in their business dealings online. They do business with multiple car rental companies but you are not aware when you book with Dollar or others that you are actually dealing with CarTrawler. I had my online $55.00 deposit stolen by the company as I tried to cancel an hour late due to a delayed flight at LAX. So no car and my money taken. My credit card was unable to reverse the charge due to the company's stealth policies. BEWARE of booking online with DOLLAR and others.

I had to cancel my booking (**) because I did not have my driver's license with me. Avis, (through which CarTrawler made the booking) cancelled the booking but said I should contact Cartrawler for a refund (the entire amount was deducted before by Cartrawler). My message was registered by Cartrawler but they refuse to contact me. I sent three messages but they simply do not answer!

In June, I prepaid for a rental car on a website not knowing it was through a third party called, CarTrawler. When I arrived to my destination to pick up my rental car, I was told that the car rental place was not providing rentals that day due to a bad storm in the area, and the electricity had gone out at the car rental place. They told me to call CarTrawler to be reimbursed for the rental car I did not receive. I called CarTrawler, and they told me I would have to provide proof of receipts and documentation that I did not receive rental car, plus, I had to provide proof that I rented a car from another company. When I got my receipts together to email, the email would not go through! I called them again and the customer service rep told me that they could not handle it and I would have to call Dublin, Ireland the main head quarters to handle this. Why didn't they tell me this in the first place!!!

I rented a car from CarTrawler as part of an Aer Lingus flight. The experience was awful. On arriving at the airport, there was no specific CarTrawler agent. I used one from Avis who did have a record of the booking but told me that their terms and conditions would not allow me to rent a car. I asked to cancel it and was told they could not do this and there was no Aer Lingus CarTrawler desk. I would therefore be charged for the full rental as a no show. I asked for another rental company with different terms. They were no help. Totally useless. Do not use these people.

We were renting a car through Thrifty and we decided to prepay. It sent us to a place to pay and never said it was with a different company that they work with. They sent us a confirmation so we printed it out. About 5 minutes later CapOne sent me a possible fraud alert. I called them and they said the charge was from Cartrawler in Ireland. I said that I didn't know anything about that, but it was the same amount as my rental with Thrifty.

My booking was auto cancelled by CarTrawler although their auto-response payment portal showed "system's error" and their payment doer refused to take credit card payment over the phone. CarTrawler even cancelled the booking after I went to Europcar counter to pay! Spoke to "customer service" 5 times and every time they provide no help. So car was cancelled 1 day before pick up on a 21 day family vacation in Spain. Now having to locate another hire and will pay over double. This company has appalling service standards and substandard processes.

Paid my location of my car before the arrival on Venice. They refused to give the car because I did not have international driver's license. It was not written when I reserved my car. Lost 600$. Rented car to the airport with no problem but higher price.

In all my years using the web I have never written a review. Unfortunately I have had such a bad experience with this company that I felt compelled to write this review. A few days ago I prepaid for a car rental. We arrived 9.30 pm to the airport and went to the pickup area to be taken to the agency ADDCAR. After waiting one hour a shuttle never showed up to pick us up. We then decided to just take a cab to the car rental place. We arrived at the car rental place at 1030 pm (which was just an ugly shack outside of the airport). When we arrived the place was closed even though they claim to be open 24 hours on the website and open until 12 am on their answering service. Needless to say we are all very upset and had to take a taxi back to the hotel. I had to end up paying for the two taxis. It took more money than what I paid for the car!

A month ago, I booked a car through a Dutch website cheapcars.nl., rental company was Dollar. The pickup location which was mentioned in the booking is Schiphol Airport. I was searching at the airport for Dollar car rental between other car rentals, but they were not there. I called Dollar and they informed me that they are located outside the airport, which was very surprising for me, and the gentleman on the phone he didn't mentioned that they have a shuttle bus service, either they are closing at 10:30 Pm. Once I arrived there by taxi it was 10:34 PM and they were closed. I called to the customer service which should be in the Netherlands, but I got a gentleman from Car Trawler, he said he feels very sorry for what happened and he will report a complaint with this matter. A proper reply from their end will be within five working days. No One from their end have even called nor replying to emails.

This company lures you in to get your payment online. Even if there is less than 24 hours to cancel you will still pay a $55 fee for calculation. Then you will have to fight to get the money due to you. No one there has answers. They hang up on you and try to get you off the phone without resolution. I can't believe a multi million dollar company like Thrifty/Dollar rental car allows their customers to be treated this way. I will never use these companies again you just get ripped off for your cash. Never again and I will be sure to spread the word. Beware!

I booked a rental car for my 20-day visit to the UK last month. Wish I had read these terrible reviews prior to booking. I paid in full with my credit card online. When I received my authorization I learned that it was booked through CarTrawler a third party broker using Budget. No problem. During the wait period I had to upgrade to a larger vehicle. No problem. Paid an extra $90 for the upgrade. When I printed the voucher I received I noticed it was a co. called Green Motion not Budget. I thought it was probably a spin off from Budget. Once I got to Manchester Airport I called for the shuttle. Again no problem only waited 15 min.

I am writing this review to deter anyone else from using this service... I have given them one star because I had to - they shouldn't receive any!! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE RIPPED OFF. I booked the car at 11.46 am not noticing that the pick up time had defaulted to 12 pm. By the time I go to the showroom and cancelled the hire - as not needed - and told by the person there it was cancelled it was past 12pm - I AM NOW NOT ENTITLED TO A REFUND!!!! The car hire was for 7 days at £105.00. No wonder they are cheap if they rip everyone off. Avoid at all costs - could you imagine if you had an accident?? This is just a cancellation!!

Horrible experience in Southampton Airport. Had to wait 40 minutes for a shuttle to arrive and take us to the pick up location. Easirent office at Southampton Airport said that there is no car available for us to rent. After 1 hr and 30 mins calls and complaints to the Customer services office they provided us with another vehicle and charged extra 48 for insurance coverage in addition to AXA full coverage paid when we booked. Dodgy car rental company and agent ruined our bank holiday weekend. After 2 hours of arrangement for the rent, we missed our ferry. The official complaint has been issued. Now we are waiting for the compensation.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. First, I'm shocked that Thrifty allows this company to use their website to deceive people into thinking they are booking directly with them. This is a total scam. They accepted my Visa debit to prepay, then when at the airport counter, Thrifty would not accept any form of payment I had. Never rented a car, and they would not refund the amt prepaid. Shame on CarTrawler and shame on Thrifty!!

CarTrawler is an AWFUL company. Just read the reviews. My spouse traveling abroad booked a car thru Hotels.com & was directed to an AVIS rental agency, however the third party booking agency was thru CarTrawler. She was denied her car & fully charged for services not rendered, which made her trip more difficult. They required a $2500 security deposit, she tried to cancel but since she was 48 minutes past the pickup time they fully charged for the car.

Booked a car from AirAsia site, in Thailand. Didn't know CarTrawler were the middle agent used with AirAsia. Took a day before I got a reply. Two days later my credit card number had been compromised and USD items began to appear. I hadn't used the card for a while before the booking and didn't use it after. I assumed it was either AirAsia or Avis that had ripped my card off. Only when a customer survey arrived in my inbox from CarTrawler, later on did I realise CarTrawler was used as the agent to find the hire care. I had no idea since when you select a car on AirAsia it goes straight to Avis or some other company I assume. I've booked flights with AirAsia many times and no problem.

Myself and my son were traveling to a little town near Figeac. Staying with friends. We had to take a taxi for some unknown reason to Brive town to collect our car. We booked through Ryanair who have refunded me the cost of the car hire. To them I am very thankful. However - Cartrawler have done nothing. We were literally stranded in a little French village by the train station. My son was 9 years old at the time. We always drive to our holiday location - it's roughly a two hour drive from Brive airport.

CarTrawler the worst company in the world! This Company will take your money and leave you empty-handed. They won't even refund you your money, after you explain to them that the car that you've paid for wasn't delivered. After filing a complaint, they even tell you that they hardly ever pay a refund, let alone any compensation for the costs that you had to make. All in all a bunch of crooks!

I booked a vehicle for the usage on the above dates. Strictly for the Jazz weekend. When we arrived at the airport at 20h45pm we were not given a vehicle since I forgot my driving license and I had my credit card. My partner had his license but not credit card. We were told a credit card and a drivers license should belong to one person. We were not given the car. We had to use taxis. I asked for our Refund and I was told to go back online. I did send the email the very same night but NO RESPONSE HAS BEEN GIVEN UP TILL TODAY? Kindly Refund the R434.00 that was paid in advance for the vehicle. I sent emails to Woodford and they are not assisting with my refund. Bad service. Booking was under: ** Nathaniel. Pick up 31March Cape Town Airport. Drop off 02 April 2017. We did not use the vehicle. Please refund my credit card.

This is the worst refund and complaint issue I have ever had to deal with, If I could I would not give any stars. After numerous complaints, calls and being subjected to rude and unprofessional manner. I am sending this to a law firm to review and hopefully get my money back. After I write this review I will appoint the massive complaint tally to the CarTrawler Main US Office and hopefully they will hire individuals that know how to address and speak clearly when dealing with consumers happy or not.

I booked a prepaid reservation through CarTrawler for a car rental through Thrifty. This was for vacation purposes with my kids. The day I went to pick up the car, the agent declined me due to having a visa debit card. I let the agent know that had prepaid the car. They extended the apologies but it was their policy that they could only accept major credit cards.

Possibly the worst car rental company and car booking agency we have ever dealt with, it took them 2 hrs to pick us up at the cruise terminal (after 5 international calls to them) and when we arrived they had already rented our rental vehicle to someone else, despite the fact we had prepaid three months earlier! They offered us the van that had picked us up, which they then had to take to get insured for renting, it smelled, was in very poor condition, and had extremely high mileage. They offered us one day free rental (we had an 8 day rental) for the inconvenience as they did not have another car to offer us, we refused and canceled. The car was canceled but the manager did not mention that we would not get our money back, $910.00 CDN through CarTrawler.

As a customer, how can I get an invoice?

Booked a car through CarTrawler for Locauto and got the confirmation (see below). When I arrived at the counter, they could not give me the car under the pretext that 2 credit cards were needed which was never specified by cartrawler except after I talked with them regarding this issue. They only specified to bring a credit card, the credit card with which the booking was made, a driving license and the contract. As such Locauto could not deliver the car under these conditions. I call cartrawler and they refused to reimburse me.

I did a prepaid reservation with Thrifty on Thursday March 2, 2017 to pick up my rental on Friday March 3, 2017. I paid with a debit/VISA card and $84 of a $94 rental was taken from my account. I showed up to the Thrifty rental location in MD to pick up my rental and they refused to take my VISA card. They told me they did not accept pre-paid debit VISA cards but nowhere on the website or in their paperwork did it specify and they sure didn't refuse my prepaid debit VISA card at time of reservation.

Online to the Dollar Rental Car to secure a rental for a trip to Las Vegas, Nv. Nothing mentioned of the "CarTrawler" being the company that was taking the down payment. Get to Dollar Car Rental at the Las Vegas airport, end up getting a bigger more expensive car for a total payment needed of nearly $600 for 5 days of car rental. Ended up returning the car 2 hours after renting it as not happy with the vehicle itself and not needing to rent it after all based on a friend/family emergency that allowed us to use one of their vehicles during our stay. Dollar car rental (as far as I know as I haven't seen the credit card statement yet) refunded all but $60 for the rental car.

To whom it may concern, I booked a car transfer from Bcn to my hotel on Friday, February 10th. The shuttle's driver never showed up. I stood up at the airport for two hours, called the number provided with my voucher and no one would answer. What a disrespectful behavior!! I sent an email to complain and to ask for a refund. So far, I have received no reply!! I try to cancel another booking on the portal. Obviously it's impossible. To me, it's clearly a fraud!!!

Horrible experience with these people. Whatever you do, do not book your car rental thru them. I tried to change the pick-up location on my reservation. After entering the new pick up location, I had to give my card number for extra fees. My pick-up location change never came thru and after being on the phone with them for a really long time they refused to refund my money and hanged up on me. My reservation never changed but they still took my money.

I have been dealing with this company since November 2016 and it has been a nightmare. I booked a car rental through them and they took a deposit to secure it. When I showed up to rent my vehicle they were having issues with their credit card machines and I couldn't rent a car through them. I was sent away and I ended up renting a more expensive car at the airport. A few days later, I noticed that the deposit was not credited back I called the company and they referred me to an email address where I needed to open up a complaint form. CRAZY right? You would think that the deposit would have been returned to me. This was in fact their error not mine.

Upon arrival at the airport - we provided flight number - there was no one at the HERTZ rental desk. We had to rent another car as we had to go to our accommodation 80 km from airport. We NEVER got a refund from CarTrawler. We had to rent a much more expensive car. They do not respond to my emails and I never got a refund, not even in the form of a voucher. So NEVER rent a car through AIR ARABIA or CarTrawler. Customer service is very bad.

Booking voucher told me to go to Union Station, Washington to pick up the car. Went there and was told company had not operated there for several months! Had to trace across town to find the car, some 90 mins later. Loads of hassle, phone calls and rubbish customer service. Don't use this firm!

Do not book anything through Arguscarhire (CarTrawler). I booked a car online and had to make a payment before the booking would go through. The booking went through Easirent in Glasgow City. I went down to the location and no cars were available? I was not able to get a car that day and after two weeks of phone calls and emails I am still trying to get my money back. Both companies seem to just be giving the runaround now, so unfortunately the next step will have to be a Fraud report to my credit card company.

I was booking a flight through Webjet and decided to take up the option to book car rental at the same time. A few days later I took my flight and arrived at my destination. Looked through my emails and could not find any car rental agreement. Panicked a bit and then went around all the rental companies in the airport and asked them if I had made a booking with them. I had not. So we had to get driving and so had to rent a car with someone else. Later I saw a credit card debit from online cars. I disputed this with my credit card company. They followed it up and today I got an email from "Car Trawler" about my credit card dispute.

I prepaid CarTrawler for a one month Europcar Rental in Puerto Vallarta for the guarantee of no surprise extra charges at the pick up desk. Surprise! Europcar says I need letters from my bank and from a Mexican government Agency named CNSF validating my credit card car rental insurance coverage. (It took me 2 weeks to find this CNFS contact info: soporte_ma@cnfs.gob.mx... good luck getting a response.) This appears to be a scam whereby (since these letters are impossible to get in under several weeks if at all) you are now forced to pay the rental agency's exorbitant $20 US/day in spite of the fact that the credit card company you've paid with fully guarantees collision damage loss costs.

The CarTrawler contract explicitly stated that any additional insurance proposed would not be required and should be declined and that the company would put a credit card hold of no more than $450 for the Excess Damage.

I purchased a voucher through CarTrawler as a broker (third party) for Dollar company to rent a car. I ended up not getting my rental car or my full refund back. I contacted Dollar in order to get my money back and they told me to contact CarTrawler to ask for my refund. I want my full refund back to my card.

My partner and I travelled to Cape Town in July and we rented separate cars for reasons of convenience as we both had different friends and family to visit. Rented through CarTrawler and the car would be picked up at Tempest Car Hire at Cape Town International – this was in July 2016. Upon arrival, I got my car through a company I always use (thank goodness – no hassles) and then found out that there was no car in my partner's name even though she had booked (with additional insurance). After numerous phone calls from Tempest staff and visiting all other car hire companies along the line still no luck. An hour and a half later she gave up and hired a car instead from Woolfords (great help they were!) Upon return to the UK and numerous emails and phone calls (almost 3 and a half months down the line) and chatting and repeating the 'story' to almost all of the ladies in the call centre - no luck!

I rented through CarTrawler a car with Thrifty. The contract included protection for the car (CDW) and third party liability. I HAVE IT IN WRITING. Upon arrival at Thrifty, they said that protection was NOT included and that I had to speak to CarTrawler despite having everything printed out. CarTrawler are liars and do not honor their deals. I had to pay AGAIN to Thrifty and lost my money. Of course trying to contact CarTrawler (should be called CarLiar) is impossible, it's obvious from reading other comments that they have it set this way to fool and steal from the customer.

Arrived at the correct time at Reunion Airport Sixt Car Hire. With ID, credit card and English language license in Roman letters and CarTrawler voucher. Sixt Car Hire would not give vehicle as they wanted International Driving license. I could have provided but the CarTrawler voucher stated "if your driver's license is not in Roman alphabet" which it was. As a result I had to hire from an alternative company which accepted my license at my cost. To date after requesting politely several times on their website CarTrawler have not even had the grace to respond. The distress caused by this incident after a long flight was intense. You would think that this company, which comes off TripAdvisor platform, would be on top of the rules of the companies they subcontract the car hires to.

Avoid this site at any cost. I reserved a car from their website, was debited 200. At the appointment of the 3rd party company, the office were closed. Waited 2 hrs still close. So I got out, took a picture with the time of the day, and asked them to refund me. After 4 week, they told me they cannot refund me because I didn't have all my documents in the day I was supposed to get the car, when I never meet anyone as the company was closed!

The car rental Company (Thrifty) refused to give the car therefore requested money back from CarTrawler but it's not possible. Since CarTrawler is 3rd party for the car hirer they can refuse and there is nothing to do.

Just a heads up, don't get caught out on the price promise. Gave them 2 quotes there's £10 more. Was lead around the houses for 4 days, directed to Ryanair. Price promise links don't exist. Don't be fooled with their find it cheaper promise. It's none existence. Con merchants.

CarTrawler is a Doing Business As (DBA) in name only, per MA Atty. General's Office. Their official name in the USA is: ETrawler Inc. C/O_National Registered Agents Inc., 155 Federal Street, Suite 700, Boston MA 02110. I accidentally doubled booked a car rental as the initial booking via the Irish Airlines website went to Junk Email instead of my inbox. I was told by the rental company, Budget Car Rental, that my credit card payment of $255.01 (that I was unaware of) would be refunded. I have called them many times, emailed them, sent all supporting Docs. It is now fourteen months later and they have only refunded me $120.01. I am filing a Small Claim against them for the remaining amount, plus court costs. Note: File all claims against ETrawler at the above address.

CarTrawler would not offer a refund for 4 days of unused car rental. The car was rented for a week erroneously, and returned it after 3 days. They should offer a reimbursement for the unused days upon presentation of the car rental contract.

I was charged twice for a car hire booking that was never resolved which the company refused to reimburse. You will not save money with this company; they are very devious in their business practices. I am amazed they are allowed to remain as a legitimate business and practice with today's laws. The lure of a cheap car hire will turn out to be the opposite. Use at your peril!

I rented a car from CarTrawler from internet for 65 Euro at Milano Airport. Maggiaro Car Rental has invoiced for 120 Euro told me total payment. CarTrawler prices are not true. When you go to car rental they do not give the right information. It costed me double. Dont trust the site. Be careful for credit card provided numbers.

BEWARE... BEWARE. Myself and my husband hired a car with dollar in Florida last September (2015)... We paid a deposit of 200$ in cash as we do not own a credit card. We have done this with dollar for nearly a decade. Once home told we would get a cheque in my husband's name. Unfortunately my husband died this year and I sent them all the proof they asked for. Now nearly a year still no money... They keep asking for documents which I have sent them to no use. I WILL SEEK LEGAL ACTION AT THEIR EXPENSE... DO NOT EVER USE THIS COMPANY... I thought we had booked through dollar but this rip-off group took my booking... BEWARE BEWARE.

As a regular international traveller I booked a business class flight from Canada to UK via KLM and used CarTrawler as a source for a rental car via KLM's website. I paid in advance for the use of a car for three weeks. Arrived at the airport in the UK to be told by the rental car company, Europcar that I had only paid half of the rental cost even though the documents I had from Cartrawler clearly indicated I had paid everything in full, including the taxes. Apparently airport pick up fees and airport drop off fees plus random taxes totalling £700 extra were not included.

I booked my car through CarTrawler. At the time of pickup car from Alamo, Customer service said we charge 250 euro for the deposit which I had that experience before and said sure. They charged my Credit card for 250 Euro. At the time of pickup from Alamo/Enterprise counter the person who gave us the car look at the receipt and said, "You don't have an insurance. It's better to get one." and he explained the price and how makes it easy for us to have one. Price 169 euro which we did agree to it and got it at the counter. Now after 2 months of my vacation, they are not returning my deposit and they are telling me the total of 250+169 was my insurance. This Scam and not even responding to my email.

This company (ARGUS CAR HIRE) committed fraud by subcontracting out my rental car agreement to another company without informing me. When I arrived at my destination, I discovered this problem and was forced to rent from another company because ARGUS CAR HIRE does not have an office. The company they hired was closed, leaving me without my reserved car. After contacting ARGUS demanding a refund, they refused to acknowledge their mistake and refused to refund my reservation fee. See their FACEBOOK account for multiple posts regarding their illegal actions. PUT ARGUS OUT OF BUSINESS & PROTECT THE public from fraud & theft!

We rented a car through CarTrawler. They booked us with Dollar Rental, which wouldn't take our debit card and we didn't have a credit card. CarTrawler would not refund our money. They stole almost $100 from us. Disgusting business practice!!! DO NOT USE!!!

I rented a car on their website through Vueling airlines offer. Unfortunately, I missed a flight and I arrived in Amsterdam instead of Brussels. The guys from CarTrawler ignored not only my request to change the pickup location, but they've been also ignoring my request for a refund but sent me one letter. Only they said that it could take around 20 working days to investigate the case. But even 20 days are already left and I still haven't received any answer!!! Absolutely disgusting!!!

I rent a car through Cartrawler from the airport of Munich. When I went to pick up the car the price was higher than the one displayed at time of booking (the difference was 10 Euro). I had not really other choice than pick up the car because I had already done a prepayment. When I complaint at the desk, they told me that I should contact Cartrawler upon my return. When I returned home I indeed complaint with Cartrawler, which explained me that the prices they display upon the booking are "subject to changes" and if I want to be sure of the price I have to contact the car company directly.

I rented a car through the Ryanair website, following having bought flight tickets. I needed it to drive from the Rome airport home, and then to drop it at Perugia airport the following morning. The price on the website was 45 euros, plus 9 euros for insurance. The scam goes like this: someone from the car rental phones and offers a free upgrade, claiming they have no more cars in the class you ordered in. They then rebook your car hire at a higher price (in this case 117 euro), hoping that you will not notice. Indeed, on arrival at Rome airport at about 21:00, I signed the forms and left the airport. I only realized the scam when I checked my visa statement. Be warned, booking car hire through Ryanair is not as safe as it looks! I asked the companies concerned to give their account of what happened, but more than 2 weeks later they have not responded!

In mid June I booked a car with Thrifty Car Rentals online. When I went to pick it up at Logan Int. Arpt. in Boston in mid July, I was told I could not use a debit card for payment. Furthermore, I was told I had booked through Cartrawler, which I had never heard of and was nowhere on the Thrifty website when I booked on line. In short, I was unable to pick up said car with Thrifty, even though I had previously paid... with Cartrawler. Trying to sort this out is unnecessarily complicated and I am put off by Cartrawler at every turn. So Cartrawler has about 450 dollars of my money and I'm having to spend time and energy to try to recover it. Sounds like a scam to me.

I reserved a car with arguscarhire.com via Skyscanner online. During the process, I informed my flight number as it was recommended to make sure to receive the car even in case of flight delay. My flight arrived with a delay of 40 minutes and the local rental company was already closed (Sunday evening). Several international telephone calls later they apologized but could not offer a solution. Finally I had extra costs of EUR 250 for taxi and hotel, I missed the next day meeting... Asking them to refund the booking fee of ~70 US$, they informed me that it is not their problem if the flight has a delay. Don't buy from this company!

We pre booked and prepaid for a hire car to be picked up at Pisa airport. We arrived with the required documents and card as per instructions. The rip off petrol deal and the £1500 chargeback to the card which was not going to be returned until 28 days after the return of the car, we had accepted, not with good grace, but we reasoned that was extra we paid for cheaper car hire. We did not plan to take their insurance as we have our own. We were to be penalised for that too.

I booked two cars at Belfast airport but when arriving at Belfast city airport I found the cars were at Belfast int A/P. Hertz managed give us two cars but charge us £20 a day extra for the cars making £200. I had given details of our flight number/arrival time and when we would pick up the cars. As British Airways only flew into Belfast city airport I feel that Hertz should have realised my mistake and contacted me. As it is I have spent over two months on numerous phone calls and emails to Holiday Autos who then reply about a completely irrelevant subject... do not use Holiday Autos who are in fact CarTrawler.

I've rent a car with this company via Ryanair. Then when I arrived to the rent a car, they did not have the car I choose and they requested me a deposit amount. I requested to cancel the booking and the rent a car confirmed that I'd be cancel without any costs. Going to my bank account the value had been debited so I contacted the Customer Service. The Customer Service by phone is terrible! They mention they are not part of the Customer Service and requested to send an email!! Sending the email I received a confirmation that they will reply within 10 days. After 10 days I received an email mentioning that they will get back within 20 days! This is a ripoff! I did not hire the car and they don't want to refund the money!

I booked a car via Ryanair which I was supposed to pick up at the airport in Podgorica. When I arrived in Podgorica, Hertz informed that they don't have a car for me and they didn't accept the agency reservation and sent them cancellation (which I never got). To open a claim on CarTrawler website is almost impossible. You can enter all the data but at the end you don't receive confirmation that it has been submitted. Once I managed to submit the claim, I had to call their customer call center in order to confirm that they have received the claim. This is also not easy. First the phone number is available only on the Ryanair confirmation, you cannot switch to English. It is in French because I booked from Belgium.

At the moment of writing this the 20 working days it takes CarTrawler to validate and answer a complaint are way due. This concerns a rental that did not happen due to outrageous conditions from Goldcar Athens in mid-June where I was left stranded with my family (incl. 2 y.o. son) at 10pm in a field outside the airport. In particular believe that they need to reimburse the price paid as I haven't benefited from the service in no way. It was the worst ever rental car experience/scam so far with a dubious company.

This is a scam! Do not trust this company! I booked a car 9 days in advance and it said on the page that the cancellation is free up to 24 hours prior the pick up and payment is done while pick up. After making the reservation I got an email of how there was something wrong with the payment transaction and I should pay the amount immediately in order to keep the reservation. So I knew it was a scam and cancelled my reservation. It says on the web page that my reservation is now cancelled but got an email that they will handle the cancellation within 12 hours. (12 hours have passed though) I called the credit company and they had actually tried to charge me the amount while I made the reservation. Let's see what happens. Are they trying to credit me after the '24 hour prior the pick up' has passed and then claim that no cancellation has made. Luckily I made the booking with a credit card.

I lost my money. The driver not appeared and I had to get a taxi after two hours of waiting.

We booked from the United Kingdom with Cartrawler a car to be collected in Venice, Italy from Goldcar. The car selected was a Jeep Renegade or similar SUV as stated on the page. I paid in advance the entire hire amount plus a full comprehensive insurance cover simply to protect us from eventuality. On our arrival we were told by Goldcar (Sara) that they never owned a Jeep Renegade and the reservation referred to a group with a Renault Captur which was the only car available at that time anyway... despite asking for a bigger choice I was told it wasn't possible as they had only this car available. I proceeded signing the agreement to notice that I also had to leave a credit card authorization of staggering 1500 Euro despite having a full coverage insurance. Reason being – it was not their insurance therefore they required the deposit. I wasn't happy but at 23.00pm I was left with little options.

This company advertises lower rates but somewhere in the extremely fine print they hide the information that you will be billed again by the actual car rental company. I was billed over $100 per day for a rental car. When I saw charges by both CarTrawler and Thrifty on my credit card statement I assumed I was double-billed. Both companies claim it is valid because CarTrawler bills you for the car but not the taxes extra fees or anything else. Shame on Thrifty for partnering with an unscrupulous and fraudulent billing practice. BEWARE, THIS IS A SCAM. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY OR YOU TOO WILL BE DOUBLE BILLED.

I was looking for a car rental for May 12 to May 17 out of Philadelphia airport agency. I put in my information and the dates defaulted back to the day I was making the reservation, May 6th. We were not arriving in Philadelphia until May 10th. When I got the confirmation statement and saw this mistake, I attempted to call the company to correct info. The only number available was the agency "Dollar" rental where the car was reserved. The agent there stated that if I hadn't picked up the car, the rental was automatically cancelled. My credit card, however, already had the charge posted. I have contacted CarTrawler 3 times and got the same canned message every time and the charge has not yet been removed from my credit statement. I can't find a phone contact or another e-mail address to complain. Plan to follow up with my credit card to settle this dispute today.

Thrifty car rental relies on their policy to scheme and scam on customers, rather the rental was completed or not, to ensure funding from each person they get in contact with. As of 2015, a lot of settlements have been made from big companies around the U.S. do what's called a "policy scheme" or general false advertising. (Yes, I know Thrifty isn't that big of a company.)

On 04/27/2016 I booked and paid a rental car through this company and Thrifty car rental and I was denied rental due to the fact that I use my debit card and they denied me for my credit score. I have contacted both companies multiple times for my refund and I get the same answer each time that my case is still pending. I reach out to Thrifty that they need proof that I didn't rent the car, they told me that Cartrawler needs to request it directly to them. I contacted CarTrawler every 2 days and their customer service reps refuse to transfer my calls to a manager and all they can tell me is that is pending. I am disappointed in both companies and I will never ever rent from them ever again.

Booked a car rental online and paid in advance through CarTrawler. Initial booking did not reflect total cost and only after picking up the car did I realize Thrifty wanted me to pay an additional $580 on top of the $277 Cartrawler charged during the original booking online. Fraudulent, misleading and deceptive. Stay far away from both of these companies.

Despite conflicting pieces of information, this company remained inflexible and refused to refund fees associated with an unused car rental. Stay away from them.

Me and my husband used Ryanair car hire service to rent a car in Spain as we booked Ryanair flight. We choose a Budget car as it allowed us to drop the car in a different location and completed the booking paying the whole car rental fee plus insurance fee with a debit card. When we arrived to the airport at 21:00 Budget did not release the car we booked as we had 2 visa debit cards. Instead they required 2 credit cards. We explained that we have sufficient funds in the card to block for deposit which is in fact 10 times more than an ordinary credit card but this was still not accepted. We previously used our debit cards to rent a car with several big companies such as Enterprise, Europcar and Avis in the UK and in Europe and never came across anything similar before.

Comments: I reserved, via Holiday Autos, a Goldcar rental at Lanzarote Arricefe Airport for 14th April. When collecting the car I was told that I must pay a refundable deposit secured against my credit card of 2,500.00 Euros in place of any extra insurance and for any potential damage or claims, to which I agreed and gave my credit card to your agent. As the extra amounts listed on the contract are under 'Full Fuel' (in English!) they 'appear' to be related to fuel charges/ deposit (to a non-Spanish speaker); I am aware that Rental Companies often charge for a full tank of fuel PLUS a refill upon return, refunding the amount when the car is returned full, as I did in this case.

The entire company is a scam. I booked a car for three days €45 fee in a rental car at the airport - no information about the reservation and charge. Car rentals demanded payment of €550 for lending and insurance. Europcar does not accept credit cards - Visa, MasterCard, Maestro. I warn everyone, CarTrawler robs you of money. I traveled with the bus.

Adding to the bad reviews... my parents booked a car on Kayak.com and they got robbed big time. Total online for a car was 84 euros for 6 days but the credit card was charged $390! This is a totally 'legit' scam! CarTrawler is an intermediary company who is hiding behind a big company like Kayak and scams people. Although it may not help much at this point, I will file as many complaints as I can online, including to Kayak, and I will dispute the charges with my credit card as well. Maybe in the near future CarTrawler will not get away with their dirty business. If it were in the US, they would stand no chance...

Made a rental reservation with Dollar Rent a Car. Unknown to me, if you select the pay in advance option to get a better price, you are no longer making a reservation with Dollar Rent a Car. You are making a reservation with CarTrawler on Dollars website. I made the reservation for my son who was flying home. He used a different credit card onsite for the rental which invalidated the reservation. I was told that I could just contact their web contractor for the refund as a totally new reservation needed to be made for the Dollar rental. Not quite that simple. CarTrawler was adamant about not issuing a refund since I did not use the reservation.

I booked car with insurance. Got to desk, was told insurance was not valid, had to buy new & contact CarTrawler when I got home!! Contacted them, they said it was valid, should not have bought more insurance, will not refund money. Don't use this company, big scam.

I booked car hire in Norway and cancelled the booking by phoning Hertz (the company CarTrawler were using) while I was in Norway. When I asked for a refund CarTrawler refused to refund my money and in order to obstruct my claim they invented terms and conditions which do not exist either on their website or on any correspondence I received before the cancellation. I took the case to the UK European Consumer Centre who were pretty useless even though my claim seems simple and clear cut. It is more difficult to pursue as CarTrawler are based in Ireland and I live in England.

Hired a car through CarTrawler from Gdansk airport, completely different car, not in the same class as advertised. Very disappointed at the start of a holiday then when returning told 2 weeks to get deposit back and now 12 weeks later still fighting with them about who is responsible for returning deposit. They have their hands off it and I am expected to try and have this returned by calling Poland and asking for it.

If you want to rent a car Holiday Autos you may lose your money for very stupid reason. My story could be interesting for those who are going to rent a car from Holiday Autos and worry about the quality of customer service. I was traveling outside of USA and when plan to get back I did a online reservation with Holiday Autos and they asked for payment at the time of reservation which was 2 weeks prior to arrival! I gave my California driving licenses number when I booked and selected my secondary country as my country of residence and the cost was $60 for a day.

When arriving at the hire car companies desk we were bombarded with additional charges that we had to pay. We took our time and questioned these. After a while we were told that we were taking too much time and that we would not be served any further. I contacted CarTrawler about this issue the day after. By the time we arrived back home I had already received an e-mail to tell me that the extra charges were all written in my contract and that no refund could be made. This was a standard reply letter, that I assume they send out straight away to everybody.

Very unhappy with service. I prepaid with a debit card but the location wouldn't accept it when I got there. We then had to WALK to another rental company. Unfortunately CarTrawler wouldn't not refund the money as the details were in the very fine print of the rental agreement. It was not clear at all that I was not renting through Dollar and that this was a 3rd party. Their software should be smart enough to inform you when you're selecting a location that doesn't accept debit cards - especially when you pre-pay with a debit card. Anyone using them should be VERY CAREFUL in booking - read every word so you can get your money back if your circumstances change. I will definitely not ever use them again.

After booking and paying for car pre-arrival additional costs were added with no explanation at airport and a third charge also taken by the hire company. CarTrawler is very hard to contact, did not fully investigate or explain charges except I found out online, no one bothered to tell me, the third high charge was accidentally applied. They are slow to respond and do not read or listen to comment. I feel they didn't listen to the customer and are in cahoots with the car firms. I feel scammed by them.

I have made a booking through KLM website as that was where my husband and I had made our flight booking. We opted for an auto transmission Volkswagen Golf and next to "Volkswagen Golf" were microscopic letters that says 'or similar'. Naturally I missed it. But that's alright. As long as it was auto transmission. I love driving a stick as much as the next person but when you're used to being a right-handed driver on a left lane, driving on the opposite could be quite challenging. Also, we wouldn't want any damages on our credit card.

I had hire a car ref # ** - on the 7/4/16 I arrived to Rabat airport around 9 pm and I went to Hertz office to collect my car. The lady on the office - she told me that I need to pay 1650 euro and I said why that too much for what. I already paid every thing in London then she said that I have no insurance. I said to her that impossible and when I booked the car I paid for insurance and there no company they hire a car without insurance in place.

The reason for my review is to warn anyone hiring a car not to do so from CarTrawler. To do so is to deal with an unreliable, incompetent company which, in the event of a claim for redress, does not respect the law of contract. We arrived at Manchester airport late at night. Our car was nowhere to be seen. Repeated telephone calls were not answered. We were able, just before midnight when the major hirers were closing, to hire another car. We arrived at our destination at 3am in dangerous winter conditions. We had to pay 66 pounds more than CarTrawler's offer of 100 pounds. CarTrawler did reimburse this amount. Under Irish law, the 66 pounds are damages due for CarTrawler's breach of contract, but my emails have never even been answered. Do not be tempted by CarTrawler's offer. There are better offers to be had for money well worth paying.

Just had a very negative experience with CarTrawler. I arrived at Munich airport just past when the rental desk had closed for InterRent so was redirected to the after hours desk. The computer system was down so after 30 mins of waiting I decided to leave and return the next morning. I asked whether I would be refunded for the day of the rental that I was unable to use and the company told me to take it up with CarTrawler. I was unable to reach anyone by phone so submit a request online. After 3 weeks of waiting they refused the request and tried to blame me for the issue. I find it frustrating, the lack of accountability and customer orientation. Would avoid this company - wish I'd read the other reviews before making the booking.

I rented a car online to get in Florence, Italy for 154 Euros. The plane was rerouted to Bologna because there was too much wind. CarTrawler/Carhire refunded 54 Euros and kept 100 Euros for "administration". They're crooks. Of course when you call they don't want to give you their name or let you speak to a manager. You're stuck with someone "who can't do anything". This is a scandal. Go to Hertz, at least they'll refund you if something goes wrong!

When I booked a car (Funchal, Madeira) I had to pay a deposit. My credit card was charged a single amount, car rental plus deposit (€ 100). Several weeks after the account settlement I still did not see the deposit paid back. The mails sent to them could not be delivered (mailbox full). Since the paperwork at the airport had to be done at the desk of Dollar, I sent them my complaint. Instead of answering to this, they gave me lessons on what I not asked for. Because the car was physically delivered by Hertz, I finally addressed myself to them. Hertz sent my complaint to Dollar Thrifty (in Germany), which has no access to the files of their subsidiary in Portugal.

I paid in full, with extra insurance to bring the excess down, to rent a car for a week when I was back home in the UK. Arriving at the office from the airport, I was asked to provide a DVLA code, which I didn't have. The website stated that I needed my driving license, proof of address matching a credit card in my name, and the printed voucher. Nowhere on the voucher in the small print is the code mentioned. As it was out of hours they were unable to contact the DVLA for confirmation and I wasn't given a car.

I prepaid for a rental car online on Feb 3, 2016. My fiance and I planned on going to Las Vegas to get married. We arrived at the car rental agency on Feb 18th, 2016 and they didn't accept my debit card. I was unaware that I had to have a credit card to rent a car. I assumed that since CARTRAWLER accepted my payment online that everything would be fine. However we didn't get to go on our trip. Now CARTRAWLER won't release funds back to my debit card and it's been a month now. My fiance is disabled and on a budgeted income and we can't afford to lose $120.25 just because of this mistake. Please forgive us and return our monies. We have forgiven you for this business matter. I am a veteran of this great country and I have hope in your company to do the right thing please.

On the 7th March I hired a car at Dublin airport, which I booked online via the Ryanair website. Due to the nature of the website, I erroneously booked 2 cars for the same period instead of one. An easy mistake to make when you are the export man and often in a hurry to make deadlines. On seeing the mistake not long afterwards (obviously I cannot drive 2 cards at the same time, so any intelligent human being peering over a computer would see that there has been a mistake), I contacted the help desk before the contract had started and the helpful lady I spoke to identified the error and cancelled the second vehicle. Now you would expect the matter to end there. It didn't.

I'm really outraged and surprised that CARTRAWLER's Customer Support has tried to deceive me. According to their cancellation policy, which appears on their website: "If you cancel up to 24 hours prior to your pick up, you will be refunded in full. If you cancel less than 24 hours in advance, you'll receive a refund minus €50 for fully prepaid bookings." However, their customer support (her name is Iveta) has informed the following: "If you cancel up to 48 hours prior to your pick up, you will be refunded in full. If you cancel less than 48 hours in advance, you'll receive a refund minus €55 for fully prepaid bookings."

DO NOT pay CDW with this company. They are scamming you out of money. I added CDW to my car rental on 6th March 2016. On picking the car up from InterRent (part of reputable company Europcar) they claimed that I had not paid for CDW cover and the document I had only showed the rental amount deliberately printed across 2 pages so it clouds the value paid. I had to pay for CDW again because I had no proof of cover. CarTrawler have explained it's buried in their small print and you have to decline at the rental agency counter. I was double insured and we all know that's illegal in insurance company eyes so they would never pay out anyway. THEY WILL NOT REFUND YOUR MONEY. Give your money to a non scamming car rental company at the counter.

Less than 24 hours to writing this review, I booked a rental car. Today, I found out my plans have changed. I went online to cancel but you cannot cancel by internet, only on phone. It says toll-free, I called and it is a long distance call, so I hung up. Can someone tell me, or someone from the company, how I can cancel my reservation without paying a fee since I have tried to cancel online, but cannot. Thank you.

I rented a car from InterRent via CarTrawler. I took on the CarTrawler's website a falsely named INSURANCE option because it is only a FRANCHISE which don't protects you in anything. This franchise is also contained in the basic insurance that I had to take out with InterRent. Please do not take "insurance" in CarTrawler. It is a scam! Oh another thing do not try to join the French customer service by telephone. You will hit an autoresponder. I recommend very strongly don't use CarTrawler.

CarTrawler need to be more clear on their policies. Particularly the part of not being willing to have the credit card holder and the main driver being different people. I don't have and don't want a credit card. I have a driving licence though my girlfriend has credit card and no driving licence. My problem is that it was not a problem for CarTrawler to take the payment of my girlfriend's credit card while knowing that she was not named as a driver. Hence costing us a fortune on buses and taxi's for the duration of our holiday which ruined it from the start. I believe that such actions are deceitful and tantamount to theft as to knowingly take money for a service that there is no intention of providing is morally corrupted. I will not ever use CarTrawler in the future.

I hired a car for several days in South Africa. I had no problems with the car hire but the deposit I paid for the car hire wasn't on my final invoice. So I raised the issue with CarTrawler with several pieces of documentation attached. They took several weeks to respond and said I was correctly billed. No I wasn't. They had miscalculated my bill (basic arithmetic!). So I called them and resubmitted an email and my final invoice. Still haven't heard. Not exactly a great service. Avoid them!

Booked a rental and when arrived at rental company to collect car, no vehicle was available. Wasted my time, funds paid for taxis and then was unable to acquire services from another car hire firm because Cartrawler/Rental Car.Com (Trash Rip Off Merchants) do not return customers' funds in the manner and speed in which it was received. I was required to actually send repeated e-mails and make numerous telephone calls to prompt the release of the funds which I sent to them for which no service was rendered. In total I waited 5 weeks before my funds was returned to my bank account.

Rented a car for 15 days in Thailand through Hotels.com / CarTrawler. We got a decent price and I was happy to be spared the hassle of booking a car in Thailand directly through the car rental companies. I have done this directly several times in Thailand and it is a nightmare. When we arrived at the rental counter in Bangkok (Thai Rent a Car), there was no one there. After waiting for 10 minutes, one employee finally showed up and started on the paperwork, which took 5 minutes. We were asked to take a seat while they retrieved the car. We waited for over an hour and every time we asked the answer was "It will be here in 5 minutes."

CarTrawler is the worst company you can possibly choose to rent a car. I rented a car in February 2016 and gave them all the information they asked me. They had the schedule of my flight, which arrived in Barcelona at 11 pm. I booked the car rental at that same hour, however I was given the option of booking it at 11:30 pm when the car rental company closes at 11 pm. I had to rent another car and drove to my city (Lerida) and the next day had to come to Barcelona to found that the car has been cancelled by this terrible company.

Awful experience!! Don't use their services! Their website explicitly says the cars have unlimited miles. I booked the car, gave my credit card information and when I get to the airport the clerk tells me that the car has limited miles after all. We tried to contact them over the phone, but all the numbers I could find online were disconnected. Since we were going to travel between Lisbon and Paris, 60 km/day was a little absurd. The clerk suggested we didn't get the car. So we never even got the car. But they did charged us! The only way to reach them is through their website. They took a long time to reply and when they did they were arrogant and inflexible.

wrong and of course he said he did. Well he didn't so I was charged twice. I have and my credit card company have been trying to get a refund for the second charge for one car. Now CarTrawler is telling us that I had 2 cars. I can only drive one vehicle at a time. All I can say is RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN FROM CARTRAWLER. Don't let their so-called low price fool you. They will find a way to screw you. So bottom line I was charged 2 times for 1 vehicle.

Classic bait and switch. Advertised price will be nowhere close to final booking cost at time of pick-up. My total rental cost as communicated by CarTrawler would have been $300 CAD. At time of pick-up, additional fees inflated this total to $700 CAD. CarTrawler's remedy, "we'll refund you half your down payment and keep the rest as an administration fee." In the end, the only person that loses is you. AVOID like the plague!