
CarTrawler Reviews
About CarTrawler
- Timely refunds
- Affordable rental options available
- Wide range of vehicle choices
- Frequent booking issues reported
- Unexpected charges and fees
- Poor communication from support
CarTrawler Reviews
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Updated review: Feb. 12, 2015
After several email attempts with Alicja we were finally able to connect and after reviewing my complaint she has informed me they will be refunding my money.
I would be happier if I hadn't had to expend so much time on resolving this but it's important that people know in the end Car Trawler did do the right thing.
Original Review: Jan. 30, 2015
I booked a car through a link on Orbitz. 7 days in Italy. My flight from BOS to CHG was delayed a day due to mechanical issues. I emailed Car Trawler to let them know I'd be a day late. They replied they couldn't do anything, contact the rental company (Enterprise). I was unable to contact Enterprise while traveling. When I arrived my reservation was not valid. I was forced to re-rent direct from Enterprise for the entire week at a higher price. I was happy to lose the one-day, but I wanted to still use the car for the time remaining.
Contacted my credit card company to refute charges but Car Trawler sent them a bunch of BS that I agreed to basically lose all my money if I didn't make the small time window. DO NOT USE THESE CROOKS!
Updated on 02/23/2015:
I posted on February 12th my miserable experience with Car Trawler. I then updated my post when CT refunded my money after my social media postings. This morning they tried to put through 4 $55 charges for god knows what. My credit card company flagged the charges as fraudulent and now I have to get a new credit card. This company is clearly run by crooks. Stay away!
Reviewed Jan. 28, 2015
Please read all the fine print. I rent cars all the time. When you go through this company it is treated like a voucher and the car companies want to hold up to 350 Extra. If you do not have the money you will not get a refund even if you did not get a car. Their customer service is RUDE and they will not speak directly to you. Please go through a regular car company, not this one.
Reviewed Jan. 24, 2015
I booked a Ford Figo from Dubai airport from Dollar. When I arrived, I was told that a Lancer was the only car available and the contract says "or similar." The Lancer is a piece of junk, 91,000 km, noisy, interior light burned out, you get the picture. They told me that they would change it but after many calls to their customer center, the same results... "We will call you." Of course no one ever calls. CarTrawler seems to have no control, probably gets the worst cars. BEWARE. One more thing. CarTrawler say that they accept American Express but there is no button for it on their form so one cannot pay that way.
Reviewed Jan. 24, 2015
If I could put negative stars I would. Don't even want to give a half. I haven't even started my holiday yet and booking through this company has already put a damper on it. I tried for a whole day to pay in full online and the website was down, I sent emails and was told to use different links/browsers and replies came almost instantly from customer service. Every time, I would log off and log in and try payment again. Turns out payment was taken twice and now when trying to get refunded, they won't reply to emails. I get sent vouchers to print and go online. It says still outstanding amount so can't print etc. I call and leave messages with no replies.
They were happy to reply when they didn't have my money. Now they've got it and extra, I hear nothing!! If you are looking for good customer service and a good experience avoid CarTrawler at all cost! They do have cheaper prices but it's worth paying that bit extra to actually get some decent customer service and a good experience!
Reviewed Jan. 17, 2015
I recently rented a car through holiday Autos (Cartrawler, it turns out). On my printed voucher it clearly states ‘Pick-up type, IN TERMINAL COUNTER/SHUTTLE TO CAR. On arrival I searched for the Counter but none exists. After calling the supplier (Green Motion in Stansted), I was asked to take a bus to the counter. The bus goes at 30 minute intervals and there is a charge for any adults other than the driver, all of which would been useful to know! At the desk I was told there would be an additional 30 to pay for late arrival (I arrived at 22:30, the office hours were to 22:00). The personnel agreed that I had been misinformed but had to enforce the charge anyway, and I should complain to Cartrawler about the supposed In-terminal Counter.
I have complained, and they replied that I should have called when I knew that I would be late. So I sent phone logs recording the calls to Green Motion and a copy of my voucher stating IN-TERMINAL COUNTER. They replied that they would no longer correspond with me. I would not have been late had their information been correct. Their customer service is woeful, I would hate to have to deal with them over a more serious matter. BEWARE!!!!!
Reviewed Jan. 8, 2015
Having booked for a vehicle through the Car Trawler website at least a month before I traveled to Dubai during the festive period, I was told at the counter of the service provider that the vehicle was not available. We were a group of 7 left stranded with no company having what we wanted as it was peak season. After having complaining to Car Trawler we have not been provided with any refund to date. DON'T BOOK THROUGH CAR TRAWLER.
Reviewed Jan. 8, 2015
I wanted to hire a car while in Mexico. The airline I used - Volaris had a link to Car Trawler. On that site I chose a less expensive car and saw that it was less expensive because CDW insurance was not included. However it also stated "Please obtain proof from your card company if CDW is included on your card otherwise it can be purchased at desk". This is what I have always done when hiring cars. Upon arrival I was taken to a car company who I had not dealt with until that point and they refused to let me use my card for the insurance.
CDW insurance from them would have been $1691.00. I declined to take the car at that point in time hoping to rectify the situation. I returned the next day to the hire company Mex with a document from my bank saying that CDW WAS included with my card. They still refused insisting I buy their insurance. THIS WAS CONTRARY TO CAR TRAWLER'S ORIGINAL AGREEMENT. They still would not pay me back the dollars I had spent. Even the bank (Citi) would not honor this saying using the card for insurance can be not accepted by some companies. This all comes down to the fact that Car Trawler despite their own statements cannot guarantee what their subsidiary companies will decide.
Reviewed Jan. 6, 2015
I went to Austria for christmas vacation and was charged 50 Euros for snow tyres. Between the 1st November and the 15th April, vehicles must be fitted with winter tyres (which must be marked M&S on the side walls and have a minimum tread depth of 4mm) or all-season tyres which must be marked M&S (mud and snow) and if roads have a covering of snow, slush or ice outside these dates. The company I rented from, Schiller, in Vienna does not charge for snow tyres but since we booked through CarTrawler I had to pay. It doesn't make any sense to charge for something that is the law and extorting money from tourist that who probably have no idea about the rules.
Reviewed Dec. 30, 2014
CarTrawler is the worst car rental ever. I booked a car capable of carrying 6 pax... When I went to the car rental company they offered me a 5-pax vehicle. There was nothing for 6 pax available. The car rental company said, they had nothing left. It was CarTrawler mistake. I complained several times to CarTrawler, nothing happened. Just after I returned the car, they contacted me & felt sorry for me... Thanks for nothing! Better pay a little bit more by using Kayak, Expedia or Travelocity.
Reviewed Dec. 27, 2014
I had the unfortunate experience of booking a rental through Cartrawler in Early November 2014. The pickup airport was Berlin Schonefeld. Upon arrival, I was told by AVIS that they had no cars available. I followed the normal route and informed Cartrawler of the mistake through their complains process. They responded by asked me for a paper copy of my bank statement. The request struck me as quite bizarre, I replied accordingly. On checking the complaint some time later, I discovered it had been closed. I contacted my credit card company and asked them to open a dispute with cartrawler. They did so and informed cartrawler. Cartrawler responded by informing the credit card company that they had fulfilled their obligations and I was a no show at the AVIS desk. That is an outright lie.
The credit card company have extended the dispute period to another 45 days and refunded my credit card, however Cartrawler still haven't admitted liability. This company is untrustworthy and devious. I'm pretty sure they are breaking the law. I for one will never use them again, and I advise anyone else to stay well clear of them.
Updated review: Jan. 6, 2015
The piece had the desired effect. I forwarded the story to the company and heard back within 15 hours. They had refunded the overpayment which I had not been able to verify. I have now checked and all's well. If only they had responded to my earlier emails. Thank you Consumers Affairs.
Original Review: Dec. 25, 2014
Earlier this year I had to visit the United Kingdom for a family bereavement. I used the Car Trawler service to reserve and pay for a car from Budget/Avis at London's Heathrow Airport. The agent claimed he did could not find my booking and so, I was obliged to enter into a new agreement directly with the agency. We called Car Trawler and I was verbally assured that they would look into the booking and refund any prepayment.
I subsequently communicated four times with Car Trawler. After my second communication I was asked for documentation on my original booking and payment and my subsequent new booking. I provided all the documentation they asked for. I was informed that they would look into it and refund my initial payment of CAD $279.64. I have since asked several times for a report on the status of my file and have not even received the courtesy a response. I am left with a sneaking suspicion that this may not be an error that could be corrected and ask if it is a systemic attempt to milk customers instead. I certainly would use them again.
Reviewed Dec. 22, 2014
I went to pay with my Atm card which is permissible and there was far more money in there to pay for four rentals but some reason it was declined, and the young lady said she can't run the card again having me to go to another vendor and renting a car at a higher price with the same ATM card. Now I don't get my money back that I pre-paid, thanks for the service Screwed.....
Reviewed Dec. 22, 2014
I booked a family size car from Thrifty.com. When I arrived to the pick up point I was offered a tiny little car- not anything like what I requested. When I refused it the guy said "It's similar to the car you requested... And anyway It's thanksgiving holiday, what do you expect?" I refused the tiny car and they made me pay full price for an upgrade. I had little choice because the alternative was no car at all.
They also made me pay upfront for a full tank of fuel at an elevated cost. They said I had no option and I had to bring it back empty. How is that possible? Later they said that pre-fuelled cars are an optional extra but this is a lie. I was given no choice. Later when I tried to complain to Thrifty, they just kept passing my complaint to Car Trawler who are useless and have no intention of resolving the matter. So frustrating. I am very angry with the contempt they show. I have decided to wash my hands of the whole affair and accept the loss of my money, however I will NEVER NEVER NEVER use Thrifty or Car Trawler again. I advise you to keep well clear as my experience shows that they are all about boosting their profits at customers' expense with their dirty tricks.
Updated review: Jan. 20, 2015
Cartrawler refunded the money.
Original Review: Dec. 9, 2014
I used CarTrawler to rent a car from Europcar. When I got to my destination the car was not the one I chose nor similar. I paid for a Seat Ibiza and they gave me a Fiat Panda and said both cars are similar (I didn't chose the lowest category and I didn't pay the price of the lowest category). I called and they said they would need a deposit of 500EUR. I called twice and they gave me the same information twice. When I finally got there, they said they would require a 1200EUR deposit. Since my credit card has a lower plafond, they didn't let me take the car and left me with no option. I didn't get the car nor the money back. I paid for a service that they didn't provide and it was entirely their fault for giving me the wrong information, twice.
Reviewed Dec. 8, 2014
I am a US citizen who resides abroad, and I rented a car unknowingly via Cartrawler for a trip to visit family in Texas (thought I was renting directly from Thrifty, and nothing about the online booking process told me otherwise). When I arrived at the Thrifty counter in Dallas after 30 hours of travel, I was told that my rental car couldn't be released because I, as a US citizen, was ineligible for the online deal that I had booked (and paid for) from my country of legal and permanent residence. I then got another car and contacted Cartrawler, who told me that I had misrepresented myself and given "wrong" information on the booking form.
They refused to refund my money for a rental I didn't use and was unable to collect. They offered to refund most of the money I had paid in advance, all but $75, which they've claimed is a refund processing fee, but I think that fee is a bit excessive based on fees other customers have paid (as seen on this web site and others). They have not adequately explained why my rental was denied OR why they can not offer me a full refund for a service I was not allowed to use, nor have they explained why their so-called transparent services are so non-transparent that I was surprised to learn (again, at the rental counter) that my booking wasn't through Thrifty as I had originally thought.
Reviewed Nov. 30, 2014
I received promotional email from Holiday Autos to save 25% of car hire rental in the UK. I then booked a Ford Focus or similar size car from Holiday Autos which turned out to be Car Trawler who then allocated booking to Enterprise car hire Manchester. On payment I received booking of a car much smaller than Ford Focus. I immediately notified Holiday Autos who referred this to Car Trawler who advised me booking was for compact car, however, Enterprise car hire have two compact car categories - small compact and large compact. Ford Focus being Large but Car Trawler lump them all as compact so they said I was getting a compact Ford Focus, But Enterprise say I had booked small compact and would not give me Ford Focus which is what I had based my decision on as per Holiday Autos email.
I immediately contact them to resolve this but after weeks of emails going back and forth and offering me various cars such as manual transmission, higher collision waiver charges, etc., etc., I finally cancelled booking. So then I was charged admin fee of $29 for giving them the benefit of rectifying the booking to correct car as I had not cancelled with 48 hours in hindsight. I should have cancelled then said give me correct booking and I will rebook. I have now booked direct with another car agency direct and Ford Focus or similar and also saved a hundred dollars on booking anyway. So by no means are Holiday Autos or Car Trawler cheaper than booking direct. Enterprise would not allocate me Ford Focus without extra payment.
Updated review: Dec. 1, 2014
Good news :-)
Following an exchange of emails with CarTrawler, especially concerning the bank card problem (everyday french "carte de crédit" meaning in fact "debit card").
If everything is confirmed , I want to revise my opinion :
- It was possible to have a real and constructive exchange with CarTrawler- The problem with the french "carte de credits" that are actually "debit cards" will be reported to the quality service
- I am very grateful to CarTrawler which demonstrated a gesture I appreciate
This story ends well and it was possible to have a positive exchange with CarTrawler, so I will renew my experience with them.Thank you again,
Vincent,
Original Review: Nov. 23, 2014
Hi all. As a french citizen, I want to share my bad experience with CarTrawler. I booked a car to be collected at the airport of Cagliari (Sardinia) at: Via Dei Trasvolatori snc C/O AREA RENT A CAR AIRPORT. Cagliari - 09030 - Sardinia. Tel. +39 070 242190, Fax. +39 070 242190, email: cag@goldcar.com, GPS: 39.254511,9.060862. First problem, arriving at Cagliari, Goldcar employee does not want my credit card because it is a "debit" card (90% of cards in France) and not a "credit" card. Explanation, maybe you do not know, unfortunately like me, but there are TWO types of cards: "Debit" and "credit" cards. That is 90% of cards in France are "debit" cards. Caution, this is very confusing for French citizens, because what we familiarly call "une carte de credit" is actually a "debit" card! I spent 15 minutes discussing the Goldcar employee, but he refused to take my credit card. During this time, three other families (2 French and one German) had the same problem. Like me, they were unable to rent the car from the GoldCar rental office.
I was forced to rent, in an emergency, another car (AVIS, this time without problem). Second problem, back in France, I contact CarTrawler to get a refund, having been unable to collect the car. Their answer is NO: no refund. What a nice commercial policy! So actually, when you read their terms and conditions, you can find mentioned the need for a "credit" card. But like I said, it is very confusing for French citizens and it is very easy to be fooled.
Fees and Charges: "The credit card/administration charge if any, which CarTrawler charges you is non-refundable in all circumstances. It is the responsibility of the rental vehicle provider to process your reservation correctly. The accuracy of any quote for renting a vehicle provided by this booking engine and any booking made on this booking engine depends on the details you provide on this booking engine." What I find quite brutal ... Basically if you have a problem, there is no hope for a refund... After a little search on the internet we can find a multitude of other cases where consumers are unhappy.
Conclusion: I really does not recommend CarTrawler. Especially if you are a French citizen because a prerequisite is to have a "credit" card which is unlikely the case if you live in France (approx. 10% of French cards). I wrote this long message hoping that it will prevent other consumers to be ripped off as I was.
Reviewed Nov. 19, 2014
In August I confirmed the rental of a car via Car Trawler for Collection in La Airport on September 13th. It was to be an Economic car with 2 or 4 doors and enough room for 4 adults and 2 suitcases. They informed me ALAMO were the principals. I paid $397 (circa£235). Arrived at the airport and ALAMO told me that there were no Economic Cars to that spec and I could have the one model available or upgrade. The car offered was too small to suit so I went for an upgrade. The ALAMO operative said he would give me a good deal on the upgrade and gave me a pro forma for $559.01. When I returned the car they gave me a credit card receipt for the proforma amount which I assumed would then attract the credit of the initial down payment of $397. But NO, Car Trawler had charged me AND so had ALAMO a total of $956. I believe I could have got a "Roller" for that sort of money.
I wrote to Halo with my concerns who said Car Trawler were not their company but I was put through to their office on the phone and an exchange of eMails took place with negative results. The first excuse was "We cannot confirm with ALAMO that the car you ordered was not available." The next excuse was "ALAMO did deduct the $397 from your upgrade" though nothing shows on the paperwork. And with that Car Trawler considered the matter closed and no further communication would be entered into.
Car Trawler is a very elusive company, operating out of Dublin somewhere, who don't seem to trust their principals or their clients, and from this website it would appear many clients don't trust them. I AM ONE OF THAT MULTITUDE. I suggest you do no business with them. "Buyer be warned." My advice is go direct to a principal rental company at your destination, cut out the con men, and if they have not got the car you ordered you can have a solution. Rather than a faceless person thousands of miles away from the problem who has your money. There will be no stars for customer service as there was none. No car, no refund!
Reviewed Nov. 10, 2014
I unwittingly went on the Car Trawler site (I thought I was renting through Thrifty/Dollar), and rented a car rather seamlessly (dupe #1!). I never saw any Terms and Conditions. When I went to the airport to pick up my car, they ran a credit check (about which I was informed when I called Dollar Rental while making the reservation); I did not pass. I went to another car rental counter, where I passed the credit check and was able to rent a car. The next day, when I called Car Trawler to get the $32 I had spent with them put back in my account (since I WAS UNABLE TO RENT THE CAR), they gave me some runaround about their customer service (!) person would have to decide whether I got the money back. WHAT?!
I asked them again, in blunt terms, to return the money to my account. They sent me an e-mail telling me that whoever the "decider" was had decided NOT to refund the money back to my account. Because they are in IRELAND, I sincerely believe that they take advantage of international laws and regulations and are a THEFT OPERATION, and the fact that you end up on their site unknowingly from the Thrifty/Dollar Rental site makes me seriously wonder about both Thrifty and Dollar Rent-A-Car. The fact that they are in Ireland means they're difficult to get to... but I must believe it's not impossible. They WILL answer for all they've done.
Updated review: Dec. 3, 2014
The issue has been resolved. I just don't understand why it took such persistence to rectify the problem?
Original Review: Nov. 7, 2014
Booked a BMW, paid for a BMW before arriving at our destination, received a Citroen. Because of their "2 credit card" policy, we were denied the BMW. It seems they are the judge, jury and executioner and would not refund us the difference in the cost of the cars. With the regular car rental agencies, you get what you pay for. Not so with them. Their customer service severely lacks. I don't even know how we ended up on their website...we booked through Air Transat. DO NOT USE CAR TRAWLER!! In future, we will also not be using Air Transat.
Updated review: Dec. 8, 2014
I would like to update---I did contact CarTrawler regarding the cancellation fee. I would like to thank Alicja from CarTrawler for looking into my issues, and issuing a refund of the fee I was charged. They did go above and beyond, when they could have just ignored me, so I do appreciate that.
I realized that all contracts have "small print", but it would be great if they were just a bit more transparent with some of their rules/regulations. I am updating the star rating because of their follow up customer service. Thank you
Original Review: Oct. 24, 2014
First of all, I did not realize that I was on their website. I actually thought I was on the Car Rental Co. website. Nothing indicated Car Trawler, and when I printed out my receipt and voucher, everything had Thrifty Car logos and info. In the rules and regulations, it stated that booster seat costs were not included, which lead me to believe that booster seats were available. Two days after making the reservation I called the car rental directly to ask them how I would be able to get a booster seat with my rental. They informed me they did not rent/provide booster seats. So I asked them to cancel my reservation as I would need to find a car company that did have booster seats as the whole idea of my trip was taking my 5 year old. They informed me I could not cancel with them, that I would have to contact my booking company.
That was the first that I found out I hadn't be dealing with Thrifty on my reservation. So I called Car Trawler (after some deep searching, trying to find a contact number on their supposedly website). They informed me that there is a $26 charge for canceling after 48 hours (it had been 50 hours!!) I told them I felt that I was mislead into thinking that my needs (booster seat) was available. I had to ask 4 times to cancel, he wanted to keep stressing that there was a fee charged with the cancellation. I will be very surprised if I do not end up having issues with my credit card and this cancellation. The whole experience felt like some type of sham, and I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone!
Reviewed Oct. 23, 2014
Very bad experience:
1. The vehicle was not as clean. I have been renting cars in Portugal for at least 10 years and this vehicle was by far the worst in terms of cleanness, and to my surprise they expected me to return it cleaned?? Not only it should have been clear on the contract of this requirement, this is a bad strategy since all vehicles should be cleaned and checked by the rental company prior to delivery of vehicle to insure quality!!
2. The Baby Seat was unusable. The baby seat backing was bare and uneven hard plastic! it was so rough that it would be tough on a adult much more on a one year old child!! we wanted to visit many more locations in Portugal but we were limited to due to the baby seat, every time we lay him on the seat he would cry, so my wife would have to carry him on her lap most of the time and this was a constant concern to me for obvious reasons...so I reduced my visits to a minimum...
3. The car I original requested on the site was supposed to be a 5 seat vehicle, but in reality it was not!! in order to have a safely buckled baby seat, a third person in the back seat (my daughter) could not buckle her belt.
4. When returning the vehicle, the gentleman who drove us to the airport - as he loaded up the luggage in the shuttle vehicle he damaged one of my luggage as he tried to close the hatch door/rear door..he obviously tried to fit more than the vehicle could carry, I was surprised to see only one person at the counter for assistance, luckily there was only on party prior to us and we all squeezed into this one vehicle!! there should have been a back up!!!
I've related this complaint to Cartrawler, and not surprisingly they answer with a bunch of excuses including "the staff does not remember the occurrence!!" and offer an undisclosed discount next time I rent from them!! as if I ever will!!!
Updated review: Dec. 2, 2014
I am pleased to say that my complaint was swiftly resolved and a full refund paid. Thanks to Lynne at Cartrawler who picked up my dissatisfaction from ConsumerAffairs.
Original Review: Oct. 21, 2014
I booked a car with Cartrawler through Holiday Autos - to hire a car from InterRent at Avignon TGV station on 27th September 2014. When I got there the place was closed for the weekend (or so I was told). There was no specified opening hours in any of the paperwork I received. I contacted Cartrawler by phone in France and they seemed to be organized and said they would email me on my return; and fair enough when I got home there was an email address to which I sent the details of my request for a refund. Since then, nothing. Holiday Autos won't reply to my messages and their phone seems to be permanently blocked. Now some research on the net suggests that the firm Holiday Autos booked me with CarTrawler, are to put it mildly, not held in particularly high esteem. Can anyone suggest how I might contact Holiday Autos (their contact email button does not work) or CarTrawler who are similarly uncontactable?
Reviewed Oct. 16, 2014
On August 2014 we rented a car for 3 weeks, we drop the car full on fuel, car was checked and was everything OK. After week they charge us 59pounds for fuel!! Now we have October and the case is still open!! Called 3 times, ask for explain and still nothing!!! Never again will use that company, never!!! Please use another company if you need to. This one is untrusted!!! I rented car 2 times a year and never had any problems until now!
Reviewed Oct. 12, 2014
We have not rented a car yet, but I am already scared and hope it will go well. We ordered a car for 272gbp, when we had to pay the remaining balance it appeared that the price went up to 482gbp. When we eventually decided to pay and agreed they mislead and screwed us up, they issued the voucher with amended details! We paid for gps, but the voucher says we did not! When I called, the lady said bluntly that we I don't have a screenshot of what I paid for, then I did not pay for GPS! They also refuse to tell you how the price was generated and tell you only total amount when you call. Absolute crooks and liars. Be aware!
Updated review: Nov. 21, 2014
I have now learnt lesson to check every small print on hire contract before I pay my money even if it takes half an hour of my time.
PLEASE DO NOT USE FIREFLY CAR HIREAS YOU WILL GET MASSIVE ADMIN CHARGES EVEN IF YOU RETURN THE CAR FULL TANK.
I still believe this is theft and the ultimate responsible party is the car supplier FireFly especially their Carcassone - France branch the clerk was rude and obnoxious, he beleive anyone coming from England should pay ie ripped off and being taking for a ride..Thanks,
Elie
Original Review: Oct. 8, 2014
It is very disgusting and very annoying what has happened to me over the weekend when I hire car through Argus website and the car supplied by Firefly in Carcassonne, France. It is clearly stated on the Voucher that this is a prepaid hire for one day costing me 40 Euros for the smallest car grade (nothing special). To my utter surprise I was asked to sign for administration charges (28.6 Euros - 75% over the rental day charge) over the counter when I was collecting the car. I refused to do so as I did pay. Firefly clerk refused to hand over the key unless I sign for these charges. Surprise Surprise, when I return the car the following day "Tank full and no damages" - the charges taken out of my credit card.
When I contacted CarTrawler were not helpful and they stated a small print in the fuel policy in page 4 of the voucher which state despite returning the car "full tank" there will be administration charges but nothing mentioned of charges of 75% of the total rental charge for one. Therefore I end up paying 68.6 Euros for very small very basic car for 24 hours rental. These 3 companies, Arguscarhire.com, Firefly, and CarTrawler are now on my blacklist of companies not to use.
Reviewed Oct. 7, 2014
I reserved a standard car in Dublin, Ireland via CarTrawler when I booked airline tix thru Aer Lingus. I paid $354.18 for what appeared to be the car rental. When I got to airport, National only had upgrade cars available. All they would do is discount the upgrade charge (from EUR100 per day to EUR40 per day). Where was the class I reserved? Why not do the right thing and offer car available at the reserved rate? Nope. And CarTrawler will not address where my deposit of $354.18 went. I am still fighting this with Capital One. But I would not recommend CarTrawler or National in Dublin. Your reservation means nothing.
Reviewed Oct. 7, 2014
We rented a Hertz car from CarTrawler through the Virgin Airlines website to be picked up in Cairns, Australia. When we arrived in Cairns, our plans had changed, and we needed the car for fewer days. However, to change the reservation was extremely expensive, so the Hertz agent cancelled our reservation (we thought) and created a new rental agreement directly through Hertz. On arriving home and seeing our credit card statement, we saw that we were still billed for the full amount by CarTrawler. Attempts to get a response from CarTrawler by email (via their Contact Us link!) and letter to discuss this have been unsuccessful. I believe this is a highly disreputable company and will never do business with them again.
Reviewed Oct. 3, 2014
Hired car through CarTrawler for Firefly which was paid in full. Firefly refused to give the car as I didn't have a credit card. So I had to hire a car with a different company in the airport terminal. Have asked CarTrawler to refund the money I paid them for a hire car I never received after Firefly refused to give me the car and they therefore cancelled the car hire agreement (note that I didn't want to cancel it). CarTrawler will only refund two-thirds of the money, with about £80 being kept by them as an "administration fee". So I have paid money for a service that I never received. They have basically conned me out of £80. To all those people who I have spoken to at CarTrawler regarding this, shame on you for working for these people whose business model is to steal money from the general public. Have you ever heard of the concept of repeat business? Absolutely appalling treatment.
Reviewed Oct. 2, 2014
They are not even worthy of the one star, I would have put 0 if I could.. We reserved a car through CarTrawler to pick it up in Zagreb, Croatia. Immediately noticing that they could only offer a car worth much less than the one we payed for, we asked to cancel and turned to the car rental provider next door. The providers themselves were understanding and even referred to this agency as a fraud, agreeing that we payed for a car better than the one they had to offer, and that it is always better to rent a car directly from the provider. Lesson learned..
Long story short, we cancelled the car at 11.00 when the pick-up time was stated at 12.00. Now, almost a month later, they are still claiming that we did not cancel the car in time and refuses us a full refund. Calling the customer support I found them extremely rude and ridiculing me, telling me that their cancellation arrived after the pick-up time. They feel no responsibility towards me as a customer to examine the case further with the provider, as there was obviously a miscommunication between the two.
They are extremely unprofessional and I would even declare them as a fraud company. I am now paying for a car I did not rent and cancelled ahead of time. Stay Away form this company!! I cannot stress it enough. I am turning to lawyers and media with this, not exclusively because of the money been lost, but because it's time that these immoral, swindling companies are stopped from ruining people's vacations like they did ours.
Reviewed Sept. 30, 2014
Having asked particularly for a company that would rent to a 74 year old and having car trawler documents saying age limits 25 to 75 we were astonished and shocked that easi rent the company, they had booked our car hire with refused to hire us a car as I am 74. Their ages for renting cars were only up to 70. This then took the time of 2 hours, yes two hours to sort out and we were eventually allowed to have a car after numerous emails and phone calls to their head office and to the credit of Easi rent, the staff were only doing their job, the fault lies totally with Car Trawler.
To say we were upset was an understatement. We had been up since 5 am flown in from Spain and were traveling on to Southampton for a special occasion obviously we were then very late and very stressed. This was a terrible start to our visit to England. We are very disappointed with the service of Car trawler and will not recommend them to anyone.
Additionally when booking I had taken out the extra insurance on reading the small print I noted that this was only valid for UK residents as we are Spanish residents I cancelled and asked for a refund. If I hadn't noticed this and needed to claim the policy would have been useless. I notified them upon our return of this disaster. I am still waiting for a reply!!!
Reviewed Sept. 29, 2014
I recently booked a Audi A1. I was then told I booked a Ford Focus ESTATE? The salt in the wound is that CarTrawler refused to accept I had booked a Audi. If I gave customer service like this in my business I'd be out of business. All I want is the Company to accept that the client is correct and that they are wrong due to a fault in the system. A company that is this unprofessional is destined to fail. All I want is the car group I ordered online. It's simple.
Updated review: Sept. 30, 2014
Now it is solved. At the beginning I only got nonsense and late answers via mail. Once I told my experience in the social media, they reacted very fast and they gave my money back. Better late than never!
Cheers
Original Review: Sept. 25, 2014
I rented a car with Argus Car Hire (CarTrawler) and the Allianz policy offered at the end of the book of the car. I indicated my Spanish residence when I filled my data. When I had to claim, I was informed that the policy covered only UK residents!!. I am asking them why they sent to me that kind of policy but nobody answers (neither Argus Car Hire nor Allianz Assistance). Please, don't rent a car from Argus Car Hire (Car Trawler) or a policy from Allianz (Mondial Assistance); they band together. It will be a nightmare if you have to claim, believe me. You will have peace of mind, except if you have to claim. You are warned!! Now I am trying to get the peace of mind telling my experience to everybody.
Updated review: Nov. 11, 2014
I would like to update all the future travelers that our issue with Car Trawler has been resolved. We had shared a number of correspondences with Car Trawler customer service. They have agreed to refund us for the insurance paid. We have just received an email to that effect. They promised to refund our credit card in 5 to 10 business day.
Even though we didn't receive the funds as of yet I believe they are going to keep their word. As far as we are concerned we would buy insurance with them again and travel through Slovenia. In fact, we are going to travel to Europe later this year again. This time we will make sure we have the confirmation in writing ahead of our trip to state the fact that we don't have to buy additional insurance we don't need. After all that is why we have our "gold cards" to take care of car rental insurance and other privileges during travel. Thank you Customer Service at Car Trawler.
Original Review: Sept. 23, 2014
My husband and I were vacationing in Slovenia and Croatia first 2 weeks of September, 2014. Although we have travelled to Europe every year through Germany and NEVER had this problem in Germany this time we wanted to try rental in Slovenia to save driving from Germany. What a mistake this was! We prepaid 2 weeks rental through Cartrawler (Argus Car Hire) and SIXT Rent a car at Ljubljana airport. We went to pick up car at SIXT rental pick up and were totally shocked when the car rental agent request 10,000 Euros first in order to get the car. We were just beyond ourselves. I said we paid for the car and showed him rental voucher. Then he told us in order to get the car we MUST PAY 273 EUROS insurance and 2,000 EUROS deposit on the car. If we don't want to do that he simply will not release the car to us.
I complained to Cartrawler and just this morning receive a reply: They wrote - "I would like to confirm that the insurance you paid for was an optional product purchased at the rental desk that you have signed for at the rental desk." Do you people see the SCAM here..we didn't have a choice in the matter. In order to get a car we HAD TO PAY, it was not optional!! I had insurance through my VISA card. BEWARE, NEVER HIRE A CAR VIA CARTRAWLER IN ANY COUNTRY! Our big mistake was not reading the blogs below, my experience is not an isolated example of price gouging by this outfit. I will continue to write about this outfit on every possible travel website on an ongoing basis. I hope other travelers will read it before they rent their cars through this outfit.
Reviewed Sept. 21, 2014
A family of 6 vacationing in Hungary. Prepaid a whole week rental through Cartrawler. Got to the airport at 1am to find out from the car rental Buchbinder that instead of 300 Euro excess, I have to put down over 1000 Euro if I want to take the car. No manager to talk to. They claim Cartrawler did not provided us with the correct Terms and Conditions. To Buchbinder's merit they put that in writing. They helped me call Cartrawler, the Cartrawler agent claimed there was no manager to speak to and only could put a request ticket for refund. Got a couple of emails from Cartrawler, the last one informing me that they won't refund me. Cartrawler scammed 456 Euros off my credit card by doing the old bait and switch trick. I warn everyone not to do business with Cartrawler.
Reviewed Sept. 17, 2014
I rent at AVIS with CarTrawler (Argus Car Hire). The renting was fine until the way back to airport. The voucher mentioned all inclusive (except gas and kid's option), but finally I had to pay different taxes (airport...). The total overcost based on voucher is more than 140 euros. I complain to CarTrawler beginning August. They replied with apologies and asked me tons of documents which I gave next day. They said they need up to 20 days to solve the case. We are September 17th and still no feedback after 3 or 4 emails...
Reviewed Sept. 12, 2014
BORDEAUX: We needed a car rental to be able for my 18-year-old daughter move into her university room. She found the rental on the internet in our hotel room very late that night for 11 am next day. We had to go by two buses back to Bordeaux Airport. No contract as we were in a hotel room with no printer. ARGUS CAR HIRE- she had and a reservation number. I was very suspicious but she at 18 did not know much about scam artists.. We looked for ARGUS CAR HIRE. There was NO name there. I was upset as it was over 60 euros taken from my daughter's card. My card had a problem. I could withdraw cash but it would not work for charges. I said to her, "Let's go find the police."
In her innocence she suggested to ask the other car companies... Hertz no Avis no none of them until the last one was Enterprise. They knew the name but they had NO CARS AS WE WERE LATE AND THEY HAD GIVEN AWAY OUR CAR TO SOMEBODY ELSE... It was paid for! - NO CARS. They told us we would have to wait as they had 60 cars returned that were dirty and we had to wait for them to be "cleaned". I was even more suspicious when I heard a Chinese group having the same problems and were told to come back at 5 pm. It was 3.30 pm when I asked what was happening.
We wanted to cancel as the whole purpose of the car rental was to go to organize everything needed for my daughter to move into her university room. I was leaving at 6 am the Thursday. We could not cancel! Yet ARGUS quote "FREE CANCELLATIONS 48 HOURS" But the agency said that it was nothing to do with them and they could not cancel. My daughter went upstairs to find internet and yet another name: CAR TRAWLER... I now knew it was a scam. We wanted to cancel but told we could not. One day only and even that was not possible they said...
So my daughter had to go back upstairs to again contact whoever and was told to get a proof. Finally we decided to try to take the car as they refused to refund the over 60 euros already taken from the card., They asked for 780 euros payment on top of the rental. I gave my card. They refused to take it as it was an ELEKTRON Carte Bleue Visa. They told me it was FORBIDDEN for the car rental agencies to use it (???). I gave my US card but I also had not told them I was in France. So we did not get a car and it was 4 pm in the afternoon.
We had lost the whole day and I was in Bordeaux ONLY to assist my daughter to move into university. NO CAR AND NO REFUND. My daughter contacted the other company DRIVY.com who were FANTASTIC... We received a car for 19 euros payment. An honest pleasant owner rented to us with the payment taken. NEVER USE ARGUS or is it CAR TRAWLER or is it another name... As dishonest ARGUS was DRIVY was honest. My daughter is 18 years old Starting her first days at Bordeaux University as a student. Over 60 euros... I don't even know how much that company cheated my daughter of.... and she needs that money.
Someone from CAR TRAWLER refused to refund the money claiming it was because we did not have 'sufficient funds'. The car company desk and I do not speak good French changed the reasons... DO NOT RENT FROM ARGUS CAR HIRE NOR CAR TRAWLER. THEY HAVE CHEATED AN 18-YEAR-OLD student.
Reviewed Aug. 31, 2014
Made a car hire reservation in August 2014 for Chevrolet Spark or similar for 1 week via CarTrawler from Holidays Auto, Chania Airport, Crete. Paid beforehand for 1 week nearly €200 via MasterCard. As our flight was late on schedule, we came a couple of hours late at their desk. They let us know that they have absolutely NOT ANY VEHICLE for us to pick up and what's worst, they went on saying they will keep all the money, NO REFUND, NOT EVEN PARTIAL ONE will be possible. CarTrawler support located in Poland was of no help at all. Holidays Auto referred to the Terms & Conditions of CarTrawler, but such terms (that if pick-up is late all the money will be held, and no vehicle is given) did NOT exist at all. Had to file a crime report to Chania Tourist Police Dept. and also local police in my home country. CarTrawler's actions are being investigated by police with a criminal offense of "Fraud". Finally got my money back from my credit card issuer after filing a claim, and they attached the police report copies to it.
BEWARE, NEVER HIRE A CAR VIA CARTRAWLER. Always deal straight with the known, good reputation car hire companies like Hertz, Avis, etc. and do not pay beforehand, just at the desk when you will be actually given the vehicle for hire.
Reviewed Aug. 28, 2014
We hired a car through Argus in Sardinia. We arrived at nearly midnight due to a flight delay to find that the provider did not have an order for our booking. We had been provided with a confirmation and a voucher from Car Trawler but the company in Sardinia said they had never received an order. I rang customer services at nearly midnight and after 30 minutes of being on hold I found out that indeed they had not received confirmation back from the Sardinian supplier & I should not have been given a voucher. They apologized and said there is nothing they could do.
I tried every car hire company there and not a single car was available as this is the busiest time of the year. Argus customer care told me don't worry ring back tomorrow and maybe they will refund me. They even suggested if I got a taxi they might refund that. Eventually we got a taxi which cost us at a cost of nearly €200. Now customer care say sorry but because the flight was late they let my car go - and I should sue the airline not them...
This is complete lies. I'm pretty sure it's not the first time a plane has been late & I'm pretty certain that car hire companies don't release cars because of a plane delay. I've again contacted Argus and am still waiting for a solution but I fear it's not coming. Maybe they are normally pretty good but this time I fear only court action will prompt a response from someone that understands what has happened - a family stranded in a foreign country at midnight with a 2-hr taxi to a small village & now no transport, not able to go where wanted and also another €200 taxi back to the airport to look forward to. BUYER BEWARE.
Reviewed Aug. 26, 2014
I have rented a car for our 2-week holidays in Italy and paid in cash as usual. This year unfortunately my mother got sick and on the 8th day we had to go back home. It was a disaster for us cause she became sick the last couple of days before we finished our first week and our holiday was simply ruined. To start with, the air carrier THEY tried to rip us off. They wanted to charge us the same amount of money of two return tickets for the schedule change and I had to make 5 international calls from my mobile just to receive NO EMPATHY! And each time, I had to wait more than 5 minutes!!!
Not being able to solve the issue over the phone, we went to the airport the following day. I am forever thankful to the lady who is working as ground personnel - she was most helpful. After coming back, I have written to Car Trawler (by the way Mum got hospitalized, stayed in the hospital for a week) saying that we had to change our schedule due to a sickness in our family. At first I did not receive anything other than an automated message and when I wrote to them again, they told me their response time is 21 working days (that was 17th July 2014).
I have waited and there was no response again! So got in touch with them in 26th Aug 2014 to hear that due to their policy they cannot make a refund!!!! During this period of time, I have found out that Locauto (the rental company we used) actually offers refund to Car Trawler but they do not to their own customers. This is not something that I chose to do, so I cannot accept this answer. I will write about this company wherever I can. Do not use Argus Car Hire! STAY AWAY FROM CAR TRAWLER!!!!!!
Reviewed Aug. 18, 2014
Athens car scam, stay away. Bad cars. Pretending you get for example a Golf for a good price, then not available. Then a car one step down. Then no office at the airport but some scummy 20 min ride away from it. Then one last/left ** car, Nissan Note 5 years old full with damage, not even CLOSE to a regular hatchback Opel Astra or so. Then you refuse to take the car, you lose your deposit you never agreed to pay for..
Reviewed Aug. 13, 2014
We had booked Flights through Monarch Airlines so we took advantage of their Car Hire recommendation which was the "Car Trawler" online service. Residing in Gibraltar we are acutely aware that we don't always qualify for many of the features advertised. As we also have a medically dependent child we always make a point of calling companies via phone to clarify any questionable points in the disclaimer. We duly phoned and confirmed that we had a debit card and not a credit card. We were told by the operator this wouldn't be a problem and that a note would be attached to our booking form. (This occurred last year with EuropeCar with no problem.) Imagine our surprise when we arrive at our destination in Birmingham to find out that no such note is attached and that if we don't pay by credit card we are liable for a charge of £180 non refundable. This is where our day got interesting....
We requested to speak to Car Trawler (as our hire car was from subcontracted firm that we had no knowledge of). The first operator put us on 'hold' for at least 10 mins before cutting us off! We phoned a 2nd time and requested the identity of the operator (who refused to reveal their name). Again we were put on hold and we were told the first operator had gone home. We were subsequently cut off again! 3rd time we managed to find out that we were dealing with a call centre in Poland. This operator informed us that our case was being investigated and that they would call back in 10 mins. After waiting a further 15 mins we called back a 4th time. We were asked for the date of our initial call and our home number. We were told that (if after listening to that call we had indeed been telling the truth) we would get our money back.
We waited as instructed but finally paid the additional £180. We have 3 children that had to stand in a very hot car park for nearly 2 hrs with my medically dependent son's medication melting. We have an 8 hr window to get them refrigerated so we couldn't wait any longer. They knew this for well and I'm sure that they were going to just delay us further until we paid up. This company then had the audacity to email me and produce proof of our "allegation" which of course we can't as we couldn't even get the operators name and I am not in the business of recording all my telephone conversations. Despicable Customer Service, which I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Never again will I touch this company.
Reviewed Aug. 11, 2014
Avoid this company. They sell you add-on insurance that the car hire company won't accept. You have to pay twice. They know it but ignore it, continue selling and wipe their hands. Now taking Small Claims action against them and writing to the Ombudsman in the UK. Crooks.
Reviewed July 30, 2014
I booked an automatic transmission but when I arrived at the Athens airport, only a standard manual car was available. I could not drive it, and it was not what I requested. I spend a few hours to book another car at the airport costing me time and effort. When asking Cartrawler for a refund, they declined, claiming that I had booked a standard all along (a blatant lie.) Avoid this company like the plague as well as Air Transat that deals with them.
Updated review: Oct. 20, 2014
2 month after the trip. I did receive a full refund from the Budget Catania with the help of cartrawler staff. As is the case with 95% of overcharged car rentals, I believe this is due to bad organization on Catania Budget side.
Make sure your read the very small prints when you check in and that it matches what you were offered in your voucher. Also be careful of free upgrades, as the insurance might not cover damages for a car at a higher level.
Original Review: July 30, 2014
I booked a mid ranged car in Catania via Budget/Avis with a total charge on my invoice as 430 euros for 10 days. The desk clerk told me I can get an upgrade for no extra charge inclusive of gas. As I am a heavy user, an upgrade is not surprising. When I checked out, the total bill was 758 euros as there were hidden costs plus VAT. The CarTrawler customer service is virtually non-existent. Simply avoid using this company for booking your car rentals.
Reviewed July 26, 2014
I reserved a car on CarTrawler site for Category B to take in Fortaleza Airport from 2014 July 17 until 23. They sent me a voucher for Thrifty company for that. When I picked up the car, the Thrifty's attendant told that they had a reserve for Category A car. So I had to pay a difference to get the Category B car. In resume, I paid for a Category B car but the CarTrawler sent a confirmation to Thrifty for a Category A (cheaper than I paid). I had to pay an additional fee to get a car as desired. I sent a complaint to CarTrawler Customer Service but I didn't get any reply about it.
Reviewed July 19, 2014
Hired 2 cars. Got to airport to collect. In my voucher, it stated under Not Included section an item of Fuel. I was told I had to pay for the full tank on both cars yet nowhere when I booked did it say I was buying a full tank. Despite Fuel being not included and you would expect not included meant it was up to me how I paid. Not so... Anything over 3 days with Cartrawler means you are buying a full tank at car rental prices. For me, it cost me around €75 in unused fuel for each car. So Cartrawler deal ended up hugely expensive when compared to any other. Only winners were the hire firm who got a bunch of free fuel and Cartrawler who got paid for nothing.
Called to complain and got nowhere.... I would avoid them like the plague.. The Collision damage waiver also does not cover tires (fine with that), windscreen (why Not?) and under chassis (why on earth Not?). So I was offered the chance to buy this extra insurance at a cost of €60... Yet again the Cartrawler conditions seem geared at making money with no concern for customer. It seems otherwise the CDW would cover those items. Never ever use them again.
Reviewed July 19, 2014
I used Cartrawler.com to hire a car in Rhodes, Greece. The agent they use is Payless car hire in Theologos... Not only was there no car, when I finally tracked the agent by phone (with the help of my hotel owner), he just told me to go elsewhere. I told him I was in Rhodes for my son's wedding, and that I would now be late. He just repeated - go elsewhere.
Updated review: July 23, 2014
Although I still would not recommend Bunchbinder, also known as Dollar/ Thrifty, finally CarTrawler has issued a refund to me for an insurance that the rental company (Bunchbinder/ Dollar/ Thrifty) had forced me to buy. One way to get the low prices offered by Car Trawler without ending up with the likes of Bunchbinder as car rental company is probably to phone CarTrawler rather than doing everything on the internet and check who your contract would be with before you buy.
Original Review: July 5, 2014
The fundamental problem here is that they work with rental companies such as Buchbinder, also known as Dollar/ Thrifty (check their appalling reviews on the internet). And when serious problems occur, like they occurred to me recently, you are on your own dealing with them. I have come to the conclusion that it is much, much safer to book directly using companies you trust. With CarTrawler you never know who you end up with as the rental company and there are plenty of cowboys out there. Like many others who have dealt with them, I got to the rental desk only to find that Dollar would not honor the conditions stated on my voucher. And there is nothing CarTrawler will do to help.
Reviewed July 3, 2014
I rented a car through Car Trawler for May going to Turkey. Paid deposit and waiver in UK and was instructed to produce credit card to company, which I did. After producing it, and them taking card details they then asked for 786Lira in cash. I stated that this was the way I was told to pay, and showed them my paperwork. They said unless they had the 786Lira in cash they would not let us have the car and left us stranded at Dalaman Airport at 3am in the morning.
I straight away phoned Car Trawler who said he should have been satisfied with the credit card but said the matter would be sorted out when we returned to the U.K. Well it has now been 6 weeks and I have phoned, emailed and sent a recorded delivery letter to Niall ** of Car Trawler who said he would look into the matter, but guess what, NOTHING. I am now approaching the European Car Rental Co. to see what they can do, so watch this space. My opinion of Car Trawler is give them a wide berth. They take your money then they are not interested.
Reviewed July 2, 2014
On June 17th 2014 I rented a car online using www.arguscarhire.com. I paid 124.15 to rent the car from 18th June to 23rd June 2014. I paid for the booking in full using my VISA debit card. When I arrived at Pisa airport to pick up the car, the girl at the Goldcar desk told me I had to present a credit card before taking the car away. I told them I did not have a credit card and had paid for the booking in full using my VISA debit card which I offered to them. They informed me it was not possible to take the car without a credit card.
I complained and they passed me on to the Cartrawler help desk who I spoke to on the phone. They confirmed that I had to have a credit card and I countered that they should only take credit cards as a means of payment on their website to avoid situations like this occurring. I then asked for a refund as I had not received what I had paid for and the girl told me she would open a support case and they would be in touch. I have contacted the company who are based in Dublin twice since in the past two weeks but have received no response.
I believe the company is engaging in misrepresentation by accepting debit cards as a means of payment for the car on the website but not accepting the same card at the check-in desk.
Reviewed June 24, 2014
I rented a car through the Aer Lingus website to pick it up in the terminal in Dublin airport on June 21st. I landed and was told I would have to go off airport for the car, which I did not want to do because of a previous experience two weeks before that. I tried to get excess insurance with my car rental when I booked online but I could not get it online, even though it was advertised on your website and I was offered this several times online. I sent in a ticket and they told me to call Allianz. I called Allianz and they said they don't offer insurance in Ireland - why would they offer this on their website if they would not provide it?
When I went to car rental agent at the "off-site" (not terminal) to pick up my car, I asked about the excess insurance that you advertised at $9.43/day and they said they could provide me with excess insurance at 22 Euros/day ($30/day) that is more than 3 times the cost of your advertised rate. It now works out that the insurance will cost $837 and the rental was $372.30, it's more than double the cost. You need to address this matter before I return the vehicle to them.
Updated review: June 19, 2014
I also want to thank TrustPilot for allowing me the possibility to express my reasons.
GM (Italy)
Original Review: June 17, 2014
I booked a car (being redirected to CarTrawler by an airline site) with the idea of crossing the border between two countries within the Europe Union. The contract was in Italian (the booking has been done in Italy in the Italian version of the site) and stated in Italian: "restrictions may apply when crossing borders". When at the third-party car rental agency, the clerk at the desk shown me an English version of the contract stating “restrictions and charges may apply when crossing borders" and asked me the extra charge. I complained that the Italian version of the contract (the version shown me at agreement time, accepted by me) did not mention extra charges and that restrictions means "limitation of possibilities" not extra fee.
Despite having contacted the customer care (in Italian) of CarTrawler two times, being reassured that I would have got a refund because of their misleading version of the contract (which also led me to not trying for an immediate booking cancellation), I later got for two times a response denying a refund. Even worse: not directly addressing my point (the differences in the contract versions), but only citing the English clauses. Next time I will for sure avoid CarTrawler (and check twice they don't act as intermediate in another booking).
Reviewed May 29, 2014
We rented a car through this company for Cabo San Lucas in February this year. We paid the rental in full before we left for our trip only to find that we could not get ANY car at the Dollar Rent A Car counter without paying $60 per day mandatory insurance/damage coverage. The Car Trawler confirmation clearly stated that insurance coverage was optional. This is not so. We had proof of insurance through our credit card and the confirmation showing that insurance coverage was optional but the Dollar people would not accept it.
We ended up renting the car for one day to get us to the hotel, brought it back the next day and incurred a total cost of $156 for our efforts. We had no other way to get to the hotel. A taxi would have been even more expensive. What a way to start a vacation! Car Trawler wanted nothing to do with us after we got home. Don't use them!
Reviewed May 26, 2014
First of all I would like to point this out, this was the most unpleasant business with you in all aspects.
2- Money has been drawn from our account which our bank account is in HSBC in Sydney. (so we already charged the transaction fee 3%, also currency exchange fee.)
3- We have called their help line and talk with Mr Marti ** who cannot even give us any reason why our booking has been canceled.
4- They are asking $1000 blocking on our credit card + the rental fee. (there is nowhere to explain this in the policy)
I would like to complain about all your service from the beginning till the end as it has cost money and time and ruined our all plan for our holiday as we meant to use the car to go for small holiday.
Reviewed May 15, 2014
On January 15, 2014 I reserved a car through Argus Car Rental who in turn went to Cartrawler and reserved a car with Essence Car Rental. I left a EUR 35.58 ($48.33 USD) deposit and was sent a receipt that the balance was EUR 187.00. The car was reserved from April 22, 2014 to May 2, 2014.
When we received the car on April 22, 2014 it was from Assist Car Rental. They charged the balance EUR 187.00 or $262.03 USD. We paid the receiver of the car 11.00 Turkish Euros in cash for tolls on the toll roads. This was all correct. The gas had more in it than when we received the car. When I received my credit card bill there was an additional charge of $82.91 that is not valid nor did I give an authorization for this charge. Kindly issue a credit of $82.91 and charge it back to the car rental agency.
Reviewed April 6, 2014
Here I'm attaching the complaint, that I was trying to send to CarTrawler - currently their server rejects any input:
"Pick up time that I communicated was 23.45. Plane arrived at 23.55, I was at rental office at 00.10 (25 min after plane arrived). There was no one at the desk, I called them at 00.15 and heard a phone ringing in closed room. A man from rental office just left home - as he said the next day by phone. He didn't call me, he didn't send SMS, he didn't check my flight (I communicated to you my flight number - just as you requested).
As my hotel is 80 km from Bologna, where I was to pick up the car, I had to rent another car. For your car I paid 90 EUR, for another one I paid about 520 EUR (it was the only one available in the airport). In my opinion a person in rental company is irresponsible and too lazy to wait 30 min for last passengers - it's a shame. Potentially he can cause troubles to other people once again, and put your reputation under hazard."
I'll keep you informed about case development - I will demand to cover the unplanned expense. Anyway, would you like to plan your business trip with them?
Reviewed March 18, 2014
After a cancellation, I didn't get ANY money back. They like cheap but the service is 0. You wouldn't get a rentable car.
Reviewed March 12, 2014
I prepaid ($967.24 U.S.) a reservation through Cartrawler.com for a 9-passenger van, with automatic transmission, to be picked up @ Rome, Italy's Termini Railway Station @ 9:00 A.M. on Oct. 4, 2013. I arrived at the rental desk @ 8:45 A.M. to pick up the vehicle. The gentleman behind the desk informed me that they didn't have the vehicle. He said someone else had the vehicle and they were waiting for it to be returned. At approximately, 9:30 A.M., he asked me to be patient while he made some telephone calls. I waited over an hour.
When I again approached the rental desk, he told me that the vehicle had been returned and it was now being washed and cleaned for us. He asked me to be patient and wait. So I waited another hour... with my 6 traveling clients waiting too. When I approached the desk again, the gentleman told me that the vehicle was all cleaned, but now it would not start. He offered me a 7-passenger vehicle as a substitute. I refused, due to the fact that we had tall males among the travelers and too much luggage to fit comfortably in a smaller mini-van.
The gentleman then offered me two cars; however, my clients were all good friends and had paid good money to travel throughout Italy with one another. By this time, it was approximately 11:30 A.M. - no car and no refund was forthcoming. I was totally frustrated. After a three hour+ wait, one of my clients located another rental car company that had a 9-passenger, automatic transmission, available. At this point, I felt I had no choice but to rent from the other company, which happened to be Avis. Cost? $1,872.89 U.S. By the time I was shuttled to the location where the vehicle was available, and drove back to the train station to pick up my clients, it was nearly 12:30 P.M. At least we had the kind of vehicle we needed.
Upon returning home, I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charge made on my statement by "Cartrawler.com." The credit card company said they would investigate. They did. When questioned, "Cartrawler.com," insisted that I did not show up to pick up the vehicle and there was no refunds made for "no shows." I couldn't believe it. Now, was I not only receiving a refund, I was being blamed with a false claim. Talk about blaming the victim! Basically, they raped me financially and then blamed me. I was livid!
Eventually, I was able to talk with a Cartrawler agent in Milltown, CO. I explained the dilemma and was listened to by someone I thought was sympathetic to my cause and understood how unfairly I had been treated. She gave me a reference # ticket...and I've heard nothing since. I don't give up easily though, and I'm considering taking legal action against "Cartrawler.com," for internet fraud... or anything else that my attorney suggests. MY advice, DON'T EVER, EVER, EVER rent a vehicle from "Cartrawler.com." I'm sure they often come through meeting their prepaid commitments, but they fell far short with me.
Reviewed March 12, 2014
Car rental February 2, 2014 in Treviso. Car Rental "Dollar" has not taken a voucher "CarTrawler". Offered in the rental price rose by 50%. Abandoned rental services, took the car in another rental car. Called the "CarTrawler" and asked for a refund. Money is not returned until now.
Reviewed Feb. 28, 2014
Where do I start. Wrong car group. Old beat up car. No full tank as per contract. Radio/CD hanging off and not working. Spare tire bald and flat. Agent couldn't give a **. Said, "Its the only car we have," and walked away. Unbelievable. They don't deserve anyone's business.
Reviewed Feb. 22, 2014
Beware of this INTERNET SCAM when renting a car online from Thrifty Rent-a-Car and CAR TRAWLER!! On December 25, 2013 I went on website for Thrifty Rent-a-Car (Thrifty.com) and paid for car rental $200 with my debit card. I cancelled reservation within 4 hours (NEVER RENTED A CAR) but Thrifty car rental claims that they "partner" with CAR TRAWLER and if I want a refund then I must go thru them. Car Trawler is located in another COUNTRY - DUBLIN! It has been nearly 3 months and I still am unable to get a refund, unable to get a name of the CEO or COO or anyone in authority. There is no direct phone number to this company Car Trawler...only a generic customer service number located in POLAND that takes messages for this company!
Shame on Thrifty Car Rental for outsourcing jobs to a shady company in a different country! Shame on Thrifty Car Rental for "partnering" with a foreign company that is allowed to RIP-OFF unsuspecting American Citizens!! SHAME on CAR TRAWLER for stealing money from customers! I have reported BOTH of these companies to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to the U.S. Attorney General's Office....to the National Consumer Agency in Dublin (Consumerhelp.ie) and the European Consumer Center. BOTH COMPANIES MUST BE INVESTIGATED FOR INTERNET FRAUD, INTERNET SCAMS, MONEY LAUNDERING!!
Reviewed Feb. 19, 2014
I'm not the kind of person who writes reviews here and there, and I wouldn't have done so this time if I didn't feel the need to refute the bad impression one could get reading numerous negative reviews on Cartrawler.com.
I went to Australia for three weeks this past January with my family and not having looked around much booked a car with Cartrawler.com. Only after I prepaid the hire did I start reading reviews on it on the web and was disappointed to learn that I apparently had made a huge mistake. All the reviews were just super negative. What could I do in that situation? Start asking for money back before the hire started? I was not very pleased with the whole affair, so I decided to book another car as a backup. So I did.
To my surprise, when we arrived to Brisbane, the car was there waiting for me, just the make I booked, in excellent condition. No additional charged were made. The paperwork took no more than 5-10 mins. After three weeks I didn't have any problems returning the car. I returned back home and waited for a month before writing this review just to make sure no additional charges are made by Cartrawler or Thrifty (the hire car vendor). None. So here I am, writing the review, just to say my word in defense of the Cartrawler. Apparently, web reviews don't give the full picture of the quality of a business, since those are mostly people having had negative experience who make this effort to write a review, and those who are pleased just don't care to do so.
Reviewed Feb. 18, 2014
Booked a car through Norwegian/car trawler in December for Portugal one month 14 of March until 12 of April. Booking was never confirmed. After repeated calls, I received a mail stating I had a booking of a VW Polo. I was also stated that CT should charge me the remaining rental cost 28 Days before hire. They never did. After repeated e-mails, no reply on 4 of these. I paid the remaining sum myself and demanded a voucher/confirmation. I now 3 months later got a confirmation however now a Nissan Micra! The Polo is still available at Avis but at a higher cost. I now also got a phone number to call for problems. They could and did nothing. They could not even tell me were to complain.
Reviewed Feb. 9, 2014
CarTrawler will take the money from your Visa and then disappear. They don't have any contact information on their website, no email and no chat service. They only have international land line phone numbers which will cost you a fortune because they will keep transferring you from a department to another. The operators will not solve your problem. CarTrawler is just a supplier. When you go to any rent car office and present your CarTrawler booking they will get angry and tell you to ask for a refund which is something impossible. Again, do not put yourself in endless problems. Look for another company for peace of mind.
Reviewed Jan. 27, 2014
I made a Dollar Rental Car reservation through Priceline.com but didn't notice the additional fees due at the airport which would be due once I arrived to Houston to pick up the car. After checking with Hotwire.com their rates were substantially cheaper and with no hidden or additional fees. I immediately cancelled the reservation which would have been within 10 minutes of making it. Long story short but same old story for this company, they charged me $153.00 for cancelling because it was within the 48hr window.
After calling them, (it takes forever to get a representative) they took my complaint and said they would be in touch. I have not heard from them and really don't expect to hear from them given the complaints I see here! I will advise all of my Marines and Sailors to stay clear of Priceline, Dollar Rental car and of course Car Trawler! They are a rip off!!!
Reviewed Jan. 21, 2014
Warning against rogue rental cars companies. I rented the car of Rentalcars.com/ Firefly/CarTrawler (Firefly reference no is **), 37 days in Spain (22/9 - 29/10). Booking and full payment was made in connection with that I booked the flight with Norwegian 6/4. Norwegian has unfortunately this company on their website so you can book your car in connection with the booking of the flight. I paid 205 Euros, which would include full insurance with no excess. It was a very good price and I was happy with it. But when I got home it turned out that Firefly without my approval pulled further 305 Euros in my bank account. They can obviously do as they always pull the credit card that you should get your car (even if it is prepaid!). But this is absolutely not ok. On the contrary, I think it is a completely unacceptable behavior and illegal.
I have had an email and phone contacted Rentalcars.com, which I rented the car from, so that they could correct the error and refund me. They say then that it is paying for the insurance, even though I have a lease that says that the car is fully insured, through a special deal. When I told them they present a false invoice for 305 Euros, which they claim I signed (anyone who is not blind can see that it is not signed)!
This is outright fraud and forgery and I have made a police report. But the police announced that the case is difficult to investigate. It is due to that this “company” is like a Mafia organization, or a hydra. They direct consumers here and there and one get not hold of the whole business, or someone who is really responsible. The company making the booking is not the same company receiving the payment and still another company lease the car. Firefly is based in Manchester and are impossible to get in touch with. The same applies to the rental in Alicante. Of the report available on this page, one can clearly see the same pattern. It really should harm Norwegian's reputation having a partnership with these rogue companies. I'm thinking now to contact Interpol to alert them of this scam, as it is important to get rid of them from reputable car rental companies.
Reviewed Jan. 21, 2014
I made an agreement with Argus Car rental service for a car while on Vacation. Argus provided a good price and upon agreeing to the terms they took the money for the rental within minutes of entering. Although I was unfamiliar with this practice I trusted that they would act as a "middle man" in the rental process. When I arrived at the vacation destination the rental provider had no cars. After several call to what is now Cartrawler, an international company dealing in car rentals I was never given a car but was allowed to file a complaint with customer support. As I have learned the customer service agents are all over the world and the customer complaint representative is in Ireland.
The process even though I received no car is that the complaint rep must review the claim, this took two weeks and many calls to check the progress. Upon agreeing there should be a refund he makes the recommendation to the accounts department I don't know where in the world this office is). I have yet to receive my refund only an email stating I should. I was told today I would have to wait another 2 days for the account dept. to release my money. All of their phone numbers are in Europe and their e-mail does not accept responses. I would never use this company again. In the future I would only reserve with the rental companies directly. At least if they cannot provide a service they do not already have your money.
Reviewed Jan. 21, 2014
Car trawler (Argus Car Hire) quoted me a hire fee of approximately US$1500 on a one way hire in the US. After paying the (minimal) deposit, and later taking (as agreed) the full hire charge from my credit card, Car trawler/Argus notified me, contrary to their agreement, that I had to pay an additional approx US $400 at the rental desk.
Reading the blogs below, my experience is not an isolated example of price gouging by this outfit. If Car Trawler decline to overturn their existing decision to dismiss as unwarranted my complaint, I intend to take the matter up with the Irish National Consumer Agency. I would be interested if you have a similar experience. I can be contacted at **. Unsurprisingly, I suggest that you avoid making any bookings through Car Trawler and the Argus car hire website.
Reviewed Dec. 5, 2013
On returning home to the United Kingdom, I discovered that there was a charge of £270.36 on my credit card made by Firefly which could not be accounted for. Therefore I contacted Argus Car Hire in order to investigate this complaint as the booking was done through them. They passed this onto Car Trawler whereby they originally sent a rental agreement via email to me with a detailed breakdown of the agreement explaining that the charge was for insurance but, unfortunately I had not agreed to their insurance as I have insurance of my own to cover me for the same thing and my signature was not at the bottom of the agreement which I informed made it void. Then suddenly another agreement has been sent via email with a signature on it, not mine, I might add. This is nothing but fraud and theft on behalf of this company and I would advise that no one use this company in the future.
Reviewed Dec. 2, 2013
Never use Cartrawler! I made a reservation through their web site to pick up a car at 13:00 on a Saturday and return it until 13:00 on a Sunday. Somehow their voucher despite, being 7 pages of all kinds of details did not mention that the car rental office was closing at 13:00! Hence at 13:08, I got a call from the car rental support asking me if I will be picking up my car and informing me that I will be charged extra for the out-of-hours service: 60 EUR!!!! 60 euros because this "so-called service" did not deem it important to put it on the voucher. Obviously, as I cannot pick up a car before time I was only able to pick up my car at 13 sharp. Outrageous! I have been writing to them for 10 days now and have no reply! Never use their service! Horrible! Never!
Reviewed Nov. 29, 2013
Avoid by all means. I lost so much time and money as they charged me twice for the same booking refusing reimbursement.
Reviewed Oct. 25, 2013
We made a reservation, not a prepaid rental. Nevertheless, we cancel on time by calling Thrifty the day before and Car Trawler doesn't want to give the money back. Stop dealing with them.
Reviewed Oct. 17, 2013
I booked my car hire for my trip to the UK in May through CarTrawler. I specifically selected the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) option because, Being a Brit, I knew that I knew that I wasn't covered in the UK on my home auto insurance. I also purchase an annual insurance to cover the 500 - 600 GBP I would have to pay that the CDW doesn't cover - in the event of an accident.
When I arrived at Heathrow I caught the bus to the hotel where the car hire company was based. Upon arrival I was told that there was a special deal for American customers and that I could purchase the CDW for only 143 GBP. I informed the person that the CDW was included only to be informed that it most certainly was not. He informed me that I had three choices: (1) walk out with my bags and find another car hire company; (2) pay the 143 GBP; (3) leave 18,000 GBP as a deposit.
So, only having 17,999 GBP in my pocket, and not wanting to go door to door on the A40 looking for another car, I coughed up the 143 GBP for something I was already covered for. The car hire man told me that CarTrawler do this all the time. But I just had to contact them and they would repay me - Ha! I have now spent something like 7 - 6 hours on the phone to CarTrawler speaking to various people over many, many calls who have all promised me my money back but have done nothing. It’s almost as if they are trained to be very polite and to promise action but to do nothing. The promised to repay me about six times but I have not received a penny. May - October. CarTrawler is a disgrace - the company misrepresents itself and steals your money - Be very careful!
Reviewed Oct. 8, 2013
My family and I vacationed in Marbella, Spain this past summer. We rented a car with Avis using our Delta miles. They email you a voucher to use when picking up the car. On the voucher Car Trawler's name is printed on the header. The Avis attendant, Daniel, in the Malaga Airport failed to apply our voucher to the rental after I asked him TWICE if he applied it to my rental. He did confirm that it was applied. I dropped off the car at the airport two weeks later and once I arrived back to the states my credit card which is connected to my bank account was debited $1949.63 for the car rental. Obviously the voucher was not applied. This was September 9th, 2013.
It is October 8th and I have not received anything but the run around. Avis confirmed to me today that Car Trawler collected the money on this rental and they are the ones who need to give me my refund. I have called Car Trawler 3 times today. The first time they told me their systems were down. The second time a nice woman gave me the name and phone number of who is handling my case. The third time I called that specific person and no one answered the phone. This situation has caused myself and my family serious financial stress. No one at Car Trawler responds to my emails. This is almost $2000.00 missing from my bank account and I did everything that was asked of me at the time of the rental pick up and drop off. Ridiculous! Please if someone can help me get my money back contact me.
Reviewed Oct. 7, 2013
Booking reference: **. I am highly nervous with car trawler company. It is more than 3 months and till now they have not given refund. I have written my story on 14-09-2013. After that there was an e-mail by their customer care officer next day but no action. They are so shameless that till date they have not paid my booking amount and hotel booking loss. I have decided to take a legal action on them. I don't know how educated people from Europe are accepting such companies.
Reviewed Oct. 3, 2013
Paid for a Car with credit card on internet and received a voucher and this was not accepted by Avis. Had to Pay Avis directly so I paid twice for hire of the same car. CarTrawler refused to refund.
Reviewed Sept. 26, 2013
Booked car through them, turned up at the airport in France, they had no cars. Had to book with another company there and then claim a refund. Had to keep chasing the refund and only got a portion of the money back. No apology. Will never use again.
Reviewed Sept. 17, 2013
I booked a car with my flight. I got a confirmation from flight but not from car. Later on, I saw a cheaper car, but as I did not get any confirmation from CT yet, I was not able to book the new offer. After two days, I wrote an email with my request for the confirmation email and they apologized but still not send me the email, just a booking number. This was four days after the booking.
Just two days later than having my reservation number, a customer service agent told me that she could not find the cheaper offer and asked me what to do. I sent her a link with the (more) cheaper offer and asked her to change it and if that was not possible, then cancel the first "now that it still was in time", so that I could get my money back and book the other offer myself. She told me that she could not change it anyway so she had proceeded my cancellation, but that I was too late for the reimbursement of my money! HOW? I had no reservation number to cancel in time??? Very, very bad business!
Reviewed Sept. 14, 2013
I had a confirmed car booking with Car Trawler and paid complete rental amount 2 months in advance. This company is a complete fraud and played with my feelings. They did not give car at last moment without feeling sorry. Even after 1 month, they have not returned money back to me. DON'T GO TO THIS COMPANY AND TAKE LEGAL ACTION ON THEM. You can contact me. Their customer care officer are also cheaters!!
Reviewed Sept. 12, 2013
Despite assurances from 3 members of the Car Trawler team and an email confirming that once car hire had been booked the car hire operative at the airport would be there to deal with us. This was not the case and we were left stranded. I booked car hire for our arrival at Dinard Airport in France and the Car Trawler booking clerk assured me that the desk at the airport would be open to meet my flight at 19:25. When I received my booking confirmation I noticed that the time of pick-up was 18:00 so I contacted the team to amend the booking, which they did not do.
So I phoned and spoke to 2 further operatives who assured me that my booking was fine, it was just that the computer system wouldn't change the time to a time after 18:00. Although assured at the time as my travel date drew nearer I became anxious and phoned again to get further confirmation. The girl I spoke with checked the records under my booking ref and told me that it was fine and the desk would be open. I asked her to send me an email to confirm this, and she did so. I felt a little better and tried not to worry despite my booking slip stating the wrong pickup time.
When we arrived in Dinard, the desk was closed. There was a note with a phone number to phone which turned out to be an answerphone message which said that the office was closed and would re-open on Saturday morning at 10:30. I was unable to continue on my journey and my wife and I had been left stranded at the airport. After trying to get assistance from car hire firms who were open and airport staff who were reluctant to help as the airport was closing for the night and they wanted to go home, my wife and I were left outside in the dark and cold. My wife was in a wheelchair and I was looking after our luggage and trying to get a taxi to take us to a hotel. The airport is 2 hours away from our destination and miles away from the nearest town. We didn't know the district and our French is not good, but at 22:30 I managed to get through to a taxi firm who arranged hotel accommodation and took us there.
I had to get another taxi to take us back to the airport the next day. There was no apology from the Citer booking clerk and when we returned home to the UK I complained and asked for compensation as I had additional expenses due to this problem. I have received 2 unsatisfactory emails from Rubina ** at their customer services dept. She has totally ignored the assurances I was given and the confirmation email and states that the pickup time was 18:00 and as we weren't there, the desk closed!!!! Never use this firm. They told us a pack of lies to get our booking. They are not to be trusted.
Reviewed Sept. 9, 2013
I booked a car from Houston International Airport from 11 July 2013-26 July 2014. All paid in advance on credit card pick up full return empty. On my return to the UK I noticed I had been charged $325.64 on my Visa as additional charges. I contacted Car Trawler by e-mail as I could not find a tel number for them. I wrote on 3 August asking why the additional charges. I heard nothing back from them. On 25th Aug I contacted them again by e-mail asking what was going on with the additional charges on by visa card which were not accruing interest payments.
On 26th Aug I had an email back from Car Trawler saying that they would have to contact Dollar in Houston! Why had they not already done so! It is now 9th Sept and as I have had no reply - again!! I am posting this on here!!! If anyone knows of how to contact this slippery company please let me know. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. THEY ARE NOT INTERESTED IN CUSTOMER SERVICE AT ALL!
Reviewed Aug. 29, 2013
I am amazed by the power of the Internet. The problem I described was completely resolved by the Car Trawler staff. They contacted me for more info and as of now I got a full refund. Cheers.
Reviewed July 9, 2013
I booked a VW Golf with CarTrawler, through Arguscarhire.com.au car rentals. They managed to get me a Nissan Note. The car has space for 5 passengers and 5 pieces of luggage. The Nissan sources from Europcar takes 5 passengers and no luggage as quoted by Europcar. Obviously, it is not an equivalent to the Golf. On complaining, they sourced another Golf for an 19% on the rental price. This time I get a message from Thrifty saying that my Hyundai Accent is booked. Upon complaining to CarTrawler - through Arguscarhire.com.au - they advised me that the Hyundai Accent and the VW Golf are in the same class.
Yeah right, I wonder if VW agrees with that! I asked for a cancellation. They said that it would cost me Euro 25. So I tried again. On their website was a VW Polo for $242, I applied for it. They replied that it will cost me $254. Okay, just give me the car! I get a note from Arguscarrental.com.au that my request has been cancelled. So I booked a car with someone else. Then I get another message that the car rental is on again. Then I get a message from a company called Auto-Union - my Toyota Yaris has been booked. So when they promise car or similar - DON'T BELIEVE THEM. And when they promise FREE CANCELLATION, DON'T BELIEVE THEM. Why deal with such a company? Why did I even bother?
Reviewed July 6, 2013
Not only the colleagues failed to pick up at Edinburgh Waverley, I ended up paying extra 15 on taxi to find your office only to be declined by both the UK license and international license. Not only I had to reschedule all trip plans and also I was promised that my money will be refunded without an issue, now neither the colleagues at Edinburgh London Street nor the colleagues at call center was very helpful to resolve my issues. I have only used this because of corporate offer and the colleagues who represent your company are definitely doing a poor job. It would be ideal to have one place to get all information in future. I'm still waiting for their reply. Never ever again - Did not even refund my money back for not using the service.
Reviewed July 3, 2013
I rented a car in Greece (pickup in Thessaloniki, drop off in Athens), got a voucher from Cartrawler.com stating: Payable at Counter: 165.53 Euro (besides the deposit) Not Included: 1 Booster seat: 43.05 Euro. We (I, the wife, and the kid) flew from Canada to Frankfurt, then to Thessaloniki, then I was driven by a van few miles away from the airport to the office, and was presented with the bill: 165.53 Euro - for the car, 43.05 Euro - for the booster seat, 184.50 - "One way fare". Wait a minute, the voucher states "Pick up: Thessaloniki, Drop off: Athens", it even has a section "Not Included" where other costs are listed, and there is no "One way fare".
If I did not pay, I would lose the deposit, not get the car and miss the ferryboat to the island. Did I have a choice? It is worth to say that the price of the rental was about 20% below normal rentals like Hertz or Avis, but with this extra charge became by far the most expensive of all. I would NEVER rent for this price. I regret that when I was booking the flight with Expedia, I did not get the car as well. With Expedia, they charge what they promise. OK, stuff happens, the good companies deal with the problem. I opened a problem ticket with them and explained the situation.
After about a week of review, I got the response: "Thank you very much for your correspondence in relation to the experience you had when renting with Europcar Greece through CarTrawler. Further to our investigation, the One-Way fee was not included in the Original fee and was due to be paid at the counter. Unfortunately on this occasion, we will be unable to offer a refund as this was stated in the Terms and Conditions."
What "Terms and Conditions"? There are no terms and conditions in the voucher. The voucher is a legal document, I read it, and there is no mentioning of doubling the price. Also nice to read that they acknowledge that the "One Way fee was not included in the Original fee" but "was due to be paid at the counter" in addition the amount "Payable at Counter" from the voucher. What happened? Their systems screwed up. Clearly, the one-way fee must have been mentioned in the voucher (though I would not rent in this case). What bad companies do, they make the customer hold the bag. I would avoid this type of businesses at all costs. If I miss something, please tell me. Maybe I am blackmailing good guys.
Reviewed June 29, 2013
I had rented a van (VW) in Portugal from 9th to 12th of June 2013. I had picked up the van from Europcar at their pickup location in Portugal town and returned it at the airport. I had requested for an automatic transmission, but they provided a manual one instead. The van also had some dents and nicks, but you really should look out for those especially under good light. Near the undercarriage, at the sides, all around the car should also be inspected and all problems must be reported. Otherwise Europcar will accuse you for those repairs. The tires were badly worn! This was the worst and most safety blaring alert that they chose to turn a blind eye to. Poor maintenance on the part of Europcar.
When I reported the problem to Car Trawler, they just washed their hands clean and said they will inform Europcar. They can't do anything about it as they are just agents. They are good at collecting monies, but not good when it comes to resolving customer complaints and suggestions.
Reviewed June 10, 2013
I rented a car through ArgusRentacar for 14 days in Ireland. I paid Argus and received a voucher to use at Budget upon arrival in Dublin. Evidently, CarTrawler (unsure of Argus/CarTrawler connection) handled the rental which was with Budget in Dublin. After 3 days, we had a mishap with the car which rendered it unsafe for driving. Budget would not provide us with another car and neither Budget nor CarTrawler have been helpful in getting a refund for the unused days. I would recommend not using Argus or CarTrawler for renting cars.
Reviewed June 8, 2013
BAIT AND SWITCH! Do not use Bookit.com Car Rentals or Fox Car Rentals, or anything that goes through Car Trawler. I booked a package deal through Bookit.com. It included a car rental with Fox Car Rental at Tampa Airport. I booked a compact car for $157 for 5 days. When I arrived to Fox Car Rental, I was told I only had a reservation for an economy car and I would need to upgrade to a compact if we expected to get our luggage in a car. I had no choice but to upgrade to a compact and Fox Car Rental charged my card for another $362.
When I complained to Fox, they basically said, "Well, you should never book a car rental through Bookit. You should always come directly to us anyway." When I asked for a refund through Bookit.com, I never got a response. When I filed a complaint with Car Trawler as I was told, I had to do in order to get refunded. They just said there was nothing they would or could do about it. Thanks for nothing! Lesson learned. I won't book any travel through Bookit.com again. I won't use any online travel agencies that go through Car Trawler for the Car Rentals and I certainly won't ever use Fox Car Rental.
Reviewed May 17, 2013
I rented a car on-line through Cartrawler. I was directed to Economy Rent A Car in Liberia, Costa Rica since this was our destination. Economy asked us to put down a $1,000.00 deposit, to be given back upon the return of the car. Economy at the Liberia Airport did not give the money back and disregards our e-mails as does Cartrawler. There was no damage done and the car was returned nice and clean. This business Cartrawler does business with companies who are dishonest, and I will never do business through them again!
Reviewed April 22, 2013
Buyer beware! Bait and switch? I booked a Toyota Aygo or similar in class. I was given a Fiat Punto, which is a downsize without an adjustment in price. Original booking said Honk was the rental company. The actual provider was Marsbel at the Malaga, Spain airport. I booked the car for 8 days and returned it after 6 days as the Fiat Punto was a nightmare to drive. No price adjustment made for the unused portion of the car rental or for the unused extra insurance. Marsbel was unfriendly and uncooperative. Simply told me I had to talk with Car Trawler for a refund. Car Trawler said the terms and conditions state no refund for rentals returned early. Okay, fair enough.
I didn't read all the terms and conditions. I've been renting cars for more than 40 years and this is the first time I've been charged for a rental I did not use. You'd think I am old enough to know that when a deal sounds so much better than the competitors, better read the fine print.
Reviewed April 20, 2013
I rented a car online from Argus Rental Car but have been receiving all of the replies to my emails from Car Trawler. It was to pick up the car in Bursa, Turkey. The same day, we decided not to return the car to the same location and wrote an email immediately asking to change the drop-off location. The next day, I received an answer from Car Trawler saying this wasn't possible. Somehow, Avis was the agent but when I went to the Avis website, I saw that I would have no problem dropping the car off where we'd like to. I immediately wrote back to Car Trawler explaining that and inquiring about their cancellation policy. They answered 2 days later with their (very strange) cancellation policy. The only way to get a total refund was to wait and cancel within 7 days of our Pick-up in Bursa on July 30.
I wrote them repeatedly asking for clarification of their policy but they simply kept sending the same information. Then I went to the Argus Car Rental website and saw that they charged the credit card I gave them 28 days before pick-up. So that means that first, they will have already had access to our total money 21 days before we're allowed to cancel and second, we will already be traveling around during the window we have to cancel (July 23 to July 28) - they require cancellations 48 hours before arrival - what if I'm not thinking of that; what if I don't have good WiFi connection, etc.? The whole thing makes absolutely no sense. I just received my most recent reply from them (April 20) that had I cancelled in the first 7 days of making the reservation, I could have gotten my deposit (25 euros plus a "card processing fee") back.
However, this is now 15 days since reserving the car but I started this whole talk about needing to cancel if I couldn't drop the car off will be - they don't specify but the whole experience has been very aggravating. P.S. I just booked directly with Avis online - I can cancel anytime for a full refund and I can drop-off the car where I need to - no problem!
Reviewed March 1, 2013
I rented a car from the website for pick up at Miami airport and I paid a premium price for a large car, a Ford Expedition, so that my group would be comfortable. When I arrived at Miami, I received a Toyota Sienna Minivan. I called Car Trawler from the Alamo counter and talked to a customer service representative, who told me to either accept the car or pay 300EUR/US$400 more for the car I had originally rented and after the rental was finished, they would refund the money. I opted to take the car offered and good thing too, since it is now two months later, and despite myriad efforts on my side, they keep stonewalling me on a refund. They even claimed that the two cars are similar, even though on their site there is a 300EUR/US$400 price difference for the trip, confirmed by Alamo. I am disappointed by their attitude and I will never rent from them again. I will let as many people as possible know how bad they are. I wish I had read these reviews before renting.
Reviewed Jan. 12, 2013
My reservation, **, was for a rental car at the Grand Cayman Island airport on December 22, 2012. Rental car provider is SIXT with provider confirmation number 1738461525. Car Trawler charged my credit card US$310.03 on October 12, 2012 when I made the reservation. When I arrived at SIXT on the 22nd, they refused to rent me a car because their insurance company has an age limit of 70 years and I am 71 years old. I was able to rent a car from another rental car company at the airport. I e-mailed their customer service and explained what happened. The response was they will look into it after the rental period ends and will notify me of their decision. I called them when I returned to the States and got a call center in Poland. The agent said it was midnight there and there was no supervisor on duty. He said they have my e-mail and someone will get back to me in about 2 weeks.
I went online and added copies of the SIXT rental information showing the age limit and the rental agreement I had with the other rental company showing I was really there on the 22nd at 11 am and did rent a car. I received an e-mail on January 11th stating, "According to the information supplied at the time of booking, the age of the driver was set as 25. Unfortunately, as you were in breach of your terms and conditions, we cannot offer a refund in this instance." I was not aware of this age limit until I arrived at the SIXT rental counter and I doubt that Car Trawler was aware of it too. The fact remains that they took my money and didn't deliver the service promised and they have refused to refund my money. I wish I had checked out this website prior to renting with Car Trawler.
Reviewed Jan. 3, 2013
I hired a car at Ibiza through CarTrawler. As I was only there for 6 days on business, I wanted to pay my own petrol instead of buying the whole tank. They provided me, but Ibiza Europcar denied me this, saying this was not their policy and therefore not their problem. I could buy the petrol or I would not get my car that I already paid for. I contacted CarTrawler. They advised me to buy the full tank of 87 euros and fill in a formal complaint afterwards. As I needed a car and I had no other choice, and because I felt safe regarding the fuel, I followed their advice. Now, being back, they claim there is a different fuel policy than there is on my contract that I have at home, and they will not pay me back my extra fuel costs. It's a terrible company with no respect towards their customers and no inclination to resolve a problem. I hire multiple cars each year but I will never be back with either CarTrawler or Europcar!
Reviewed Oct. 12, 2012
I rented a car through 121carhire.com where it says basic insurance and CDW is included on all rentals (I have an email from them saying the same) and my rental ended up going to Car Trawler where they said I had no insurance included and tried to charge me 300 more euros when I went to pick up my car despite having a receipt that said zero is due at pickup. They wouldn't let me cancel and they won't refund my money. I did not use their car as I rented somewhere else in the airport that wasn't trying to rip me off.
Reviewed Aug. 15, 2012
Avoid this company to save yourself from bad problems. Thrifty Car Rental used offshore internet site run by Car Trawler of Ireland to scam and cheat unsuspected customers. I booked a car through their Thrifty website, unaware of hidden links to cheating clauses and paid for the rental of a week minivan rental at Miami Airport. I arrived at Miami trying to pick up the car for my family vacation, only to find out that I cannot get the car rental I paid for because of the small print that says I needed to have a foreigner driver's license to pick up the car. The agent at Thrifty counter told me to pay for a new car rental and request for a refund from the site. I rented another minivan for the trip and they charged me another $800 on top of $550 I paid on their website.
For the new rental, I refilled the car full when I returned it at the airport, only to find out two weeks later they charged my credit card $150 for fuel. I called Thrifty and was told that there was a fine print saying that I had to tell the agents and show the receipt for gas refill when I returned the car. The agents never mentioned this to me and again, I did not see the fine prints. I requested for a refund from the web rental purchased and they flatly refused to refund. I called their customer service for the fuel charge and they also refused to refund. I disputed with my credit card company and they gave me credits for the two charges, but could not get Thrifty to reverse the payments. Then the credit card company put the charges back to my account again. For my mistake by renting from Thrifty Car Rental, I paid $1,500 for a week of car rental and lots of headache. I will stick to Hertz from now on. I hope that you don't make the same mistake that I did.