CarTrawler Reviews

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.

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 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?

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.

First of all I would like to point this out, this was the most unpleasant business with you in all aspects.

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.

Here I'm attaching the complaint, that I was trying to send to CarTrawler - currently their server rejects any input:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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!

Avoid by all means. I lost so much time and money as they charged me twice for the same booking refusing reimbursement.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 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 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.

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 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!

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.

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.

I rented a car from Sixt at Dublin airport in May. I prepaid through Car Trawler and was very surprised at the additional costs when I arrived at the airport. Car Trawler had arranged the rental and I had prepaid. The additional "optional" coverages, which I did not wish to purchase, were more than the original rental rate. I have my own coverage for collision damage and have always used it when renting cars from other companies. They would not accept this at Sixt. I called Car Trawler from the airport, but they would not help. The first car they gave me was very dirty, had damage and was missing a wheel disk. I insisted on another vehicle. The staff was not pleasant. I would never rent again from them.

I hired a car from Australia with Car Trawler for pick up in Munich airport and return in Frankfurt rail station. I paid E82.25 as deposit, and the contract states E306 to pay on pickup. It seems Car Trawler dealt with Alamo, which is serviced by Europcar in Munich. Europcar Munich had our reservation but no info on the deposit. Their charge was also higher - E440.79. They phoned Alamo, which also had no info on the deposit. I phoned Car Trawler which ended up as a Poland call center. They were no help. On their (Car Trawler call center) advice, I signed the E440 credit card slip, so I could leave on holiday.

In March of this year I made a car reservation with Car Trawler, with reservation number IT260933520, wherein the car was to be picked up and dropped-off at Milan Airport Malpensa on April 16 and 27, 2011, respectively. When I and my family arrived at Milan Airport, we picked up our bags and went straight to Locauto Tirreno desktop. It was approximately 12:30 pm. After more than 12 hours of travelling, we stayed in a line, awaiting to be attended by an employee of Locauto (there were only 2). We were in a group of 8 people.

Unfortunately, my credit card was stolen one week before my trip to LAX. So I cannot use the car already booked in Car Trawler. But Car Trawler charged me for US $419.74. Ps: Police report with evidence on theft.

I tried to rent a car from Car Trawler. The rental was prepaid. When I went to the car rental office, they said I was late. They gave my car to another guy, and there was no car left to rent by me. I asked them to refund my money back, and they said I should talk to Car Trawler. I called them, and they told me to send a mail describing the situation. I sent the mail, and after 30 days, they answered me saying that being late was not their problem and that I should have chosen the right time for pickup. So I paid 4 days of rental fee to Car Trawler and rented no car. It must be a very profitable business.

I hired a car through CarTrawler in Kemer, Turkey. The rental was prepaid; payment was done via credit card. Upon arrival in Turkey, the rental firm asked to pay the full sum plus an extra pick-up charge that was not communicated by CarTrawler. I filed an issue with Cartrawler to get a refund of the rental sum which was paid double, once to Cartrawler and again in Turkey. Cartrawler did not respond to the real issue, the double payment. They mailed about the extra charge only which is a side affair. After that there was no communication from Cartrawler; all mails I sent were not responded to.

My husband and I rented a car through their internet site in 10/08. I never received a voucher, but they charged me. It has taken approx. 15 emails over 4 months (they are unreachable by phone) and pressure from the attorney general of Oregon, to finally receive my money back. I would like Consumer Reports to consider this information when they next review car rental companies. There are numerous complaints about this company online, but I was unaware of their history or practices.