CarTrawler
Reviews and Complaints

I booked a vehicle on 30 Sept 2021 to take me to my hotel on 11 Dec after I arrive in Dubai. However, a few days after making this reservation, my company informed me that I would be required to make a business trip to another country so I needed to cancel this trip.

I have tried numerous times to reach CarTrawler by sending them emails (their email inbox is full), online forms (constant error messages) and phone calls (no response) so I am unable to cancel my reservation and request my refund.

My reservation number is AE556981200. Below is the email confirmation I received from them after completing my payment;

Thank you for booking your transfer with Cartrawler, in association with Emirates.

Your booking reference number is: AE556981200.

Transfer Details

Pick-up location: Dubai - Intl Airport (DXB)
Pick-up time: 06:55 Saturday, December 11, 2021
Drop-off location: The St. Regis Abu Dhabi, Nation Tower, Corniche Rd - Al Bateen - Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
Your payment card has been charged for EUR132.04.

You will find a link to your booking voucher below. This voucher is an important document, so please ensure that all of the booking details are correct.

Please either bring a printed copy with you or ensure that you can access it using your phone or tablet.

I would appreciate if you could assist me receive my refund.

Regards
Godfrey

On September 26, 2021 my reservation FR764551270 was canceled during flight EZ 1003 to Nice, France, without my knowledge. I only found out when I came to the Europcar desk. I had to find another car, which not only cost me hours of my holiday but twice the original amount!
Reading all the comments on your company on the net I can only say:
refund my costs immediately!

I booked car hire on 16 July 2020. I paid £162. Due to covid I needed to cancel on 20 July 2021. It was extremely difficult to cancel but I ensured that I understood the terms and it was stated I would be refunded in full. On 20 July 2021 I was told it was going through as a refund. On 27 July 2021 I was told it was being processed and that this would happen on 10th august and thereafter it could take 5 working days. On 17th august 2021 I was told it had been processed and it would take 6 working days. Today, 10th September 2021, I have received a refund for £80. Only half the amount! I called easyJet and they state it is nothing to do with them despite all of the e-mails coming from them. They have me a phone number for Car Trawler and it went straight to voicemail.
This is all pretty disgusting particularly given how difficult it was to cancel in the first place. Then how
Long it took and not the fact that 50% is making. Is there anyway I can get help with this? I would like the rest of my Money back.

I booked a hire car through EasyJet and Cartrawler for pickup at Barcelona on 29th July. At the time of booking, I also bought a car insurance policy to cover everything. When collecting the car from Goldcar (alarm bells) at Barcelona airport, the lady informed us we needed to purchase their insurance policy at a cost of £300, plus a fee of £70 to add another driver. I showed her our AXA insurance policy to which she said "it meant nothing and did not cover the car". If we did not pay the £300, we needed to pay 1500 euros which would only be refunded, within 30-60 days, if we had not had an accident of any sort (even minor scratches).
Cartrawler has done nothing to prevent this from happening and when I contacted them about it, their view was that it was a shame, but they can't help.
I will revert to booking cars direct (and 100% not Goldcar) or via moneysupermarket.com - never have I had to pay to add a driver. Oh and I am still waiting for my fuel deposit back.
My advice - STEER CLEAR of Cartrawler, and GOLDCAR.

I booked my car with you and pay you 300£
When I arrived in Malaga airport I went to pick up my car with Goldcar the person at the reception ask me to pay an extra of 374€ that was import tax, petrol use and assurance and no receipt was provide to me if I didn't pay my booking was cancel without refund of my money they told me actually this booking cos me more then 600£ for 2 weeks and the car they give me is Fiat 500 hybrid witch mean I can't drive unlimited as there is battery to recharge all the time also the tyres was unloading and there is a alerte in the car
I am so unhappy about this situation I want a total refund of the booking and I would like someone to explain why I pay all that money also the car quality they gave me
If I don't get any of this I will definitely get my lawyer when I am back in Uk to get all this information and if we need we will go forward
Best regards
Aurélie petit
[protected]

I had a booking the 28th of June in Nice (france)
I was supposed to flight with my husband and my son but a very close person died and I changed my flight booking to the 30th. My husband and my son took the flight of the 28th and when arriving at the desk of the car rental office he was denied to take the car. He called me and I immediately called Car Trawler to find a solution. they told me that they will analyse the situation and in the meantime my husband has no other choice than rent another car in another office. I also proposed to take the car the 30th and to lose 2 days instead of 10!
The day after I received an email to confirm the total refund.
Three weeks later I received another email saying that finally I couldn't receive any refund! I payed and lost 800€ for nothing, never seen the car, no alternative proposition.

I booked a car in Italy in July 2021 and paid for several days of rent at once.  When I arrived at the office to pick up the car (had to travel by train, bus and on foot 30 min) I was told that no car is available for me and I was offered to wait for some time to have a chance to get a car returned by another customer. When I realized that I was just loosing my time I called to the CarTrawler and spoke to the person that told me that it is something that should not have happened and that I can rent a car at another one company and receive the compensation and refund later on when I complete the application online. I took a lot of time as you have pass through automatic system with several minutes waiting and listening the music (my phone company charged a lot for this experience).
When I filled the application I received a reply that no compensation or refund is possible as I was late for the pick-up based on the time that was stated on the paper that I received from the guy at the office who confirmed that no car was available for me.
After some more e-mails I received a notification that my case is closed and nothing can be done anymore.
The reason that I was late was a complete lie, this is just the way to justify steeling money from me. This is a fraudulent company, highly UNRECOMMENDED for anybody.

This company has refused a refund twice, I arrived in Portugal For this booking i no longer have exact times or dates but it was May 2018 and Car Trawler have the details) with my Family at 8:30 pm and my Granddaughter was 4 and very tired, The would not let me have my car i had paid for because i did not have TWO credit cards with me in my name (who carries two) I went next door to SIXT and they said they had never heard of this, in my career I hired cars every week for over 25 years and never had this problem, They would not give a refund !
Secondly during the Pandemic my Holiday was cancelled and although i got a refund for the Holiday Car Trawler (booking reference ES692426590) refused point blank to issue a refund, when i eventually tried to use the voucher the prices had raised so much that i used another company in the same location and got a better car with a cheaper total cost even when you take the voucher in to consideration so there was no point in accepting the voucher and STILL paying more.
P.S. I used TUI for the hire car and did not realise they where affiliated to Car Trawler.
They say i cancelled the booking which i did not as ALL travel was cancelled due to the pandemic and they say i accepted a voucher which i did not, they sent a link which i clicked on to see the options and they
r are counting that has accepting the voucher

As a comparison with Auto Reissen with same carb (Citreon Cactus for example) with Car Trawler (through TUI ) £ 460, with Auto reissen £128.97
Auto Reissen provide Booster seat for Free! If you minus the voucher worth £140 Car Trawler would be £320, which is £170 more than if i dont accept it, Why would i take the voucher ?

[protected], US729365670

I contacted the global phone number on the reservation 9 times. In all cases, no one picked up and I was told to call later.

The print out of the confirmation calls out the numbers at the airport to contact, which I also did.

Please note that this was a holiday weekend so I am positive that the vehicle was rented by someone else. That means that this is a penalty and is not enforceable as lost committed revenue.

I was unable to rent a car because of my poor credit. Instead of warning me ahead of time that there were restrictions. I should have been vetted prior to paying my $735.15 & $120.00 for insurance. I ended up having to take Uber during my business visit. Since I didn't use the service I should get a refund. JustFly.com makes it impossible to request a refund. They just ghosted me and I finally got referred to Car Trawler.

STAY AWAY,

I came from Florida to Cancun, I booked a car through "Hopper, " for a week, but before My flight, I had cancelled the reservation. Oh boy, that was a mistake for doing that. I tried everything to see if I could get an answer, until now, nothing & no refund.
This company will steal your money and lie about everything, they will ask for evidence that just a way for them to get you discouraged.

Use this company if you are ready to blow out some steam

Reservation: FR528423760 Ref: [protected]
Following a car rental by using CARHIRE for 7 days (16-23/11/2020) in Paris Orly airport at Alamo desk, I returned the car earlier on using: Amount 123, 74 Euros (17.67 x 7 days) charged on 15/11 to my LCL account.
- On 16/11, at Alamo's desk of Orly airport, I took the excess insurance
- On 19/11, I returned the car to Alamo's desk at Orly's airport. They charged me for 3 days (72 Euros) of the excess insurance. This proves that I return the car after 3 days of car rental.

Having used the car 3 days instead of 7 days, I am requesting CAR HIRE / CARTRAWLER a refund for the unused 4 days. The amount should be 70.7 Euros (17.67 x 4 days). I was in touch with the agent Sile of TrawlerCustomer service who confirmed on December 14th that I should received the refund and that would take at least 25 working days to process. Since the email, I have not received any form of correspondance not a refund despite several reminders (3rd & 11 Feb, 1 March). We are now 14 April, 4 months after. I look forward to a positive outcome of my request. Yours sincerely,
Frank Couraud

My flight was canceled and i called cartrawler to please hold my car reservation that had already been paid in full. They said to call Budget desk in Costa Rica. I called them and they said thye could do nothing. I called back to cartrawler and they said i was past my pickup time so no refund. I explained i was following their advice. They offered to modify my rental and add 800 dollars. I wanted to rent for 2 less days. So asked for refund. They said i was past time of rental by 1 hour and was responsible for all money. I paid for car for 16 days and they would not hold for 2 days then took all my money and now no rental car. Stranded in foreign land. Dont ever use Cartwaler. They are criminals!

In May of 2020 we booked a rental car along with our flight on AlaskaAir, but as the summer went on we had to change plans and canceled the car rental. We were told the amount we paid would be held and applied to any future rental for the next 24 month. In August 2020 I tried booking with CarTrawler again, first using the link they had emailed us (many different days & times) unsuccessfully, then I started calling their customer service. Spoke with 3 different people on 3 different days and received 3 different excuses, placed on hold for 10-15 min, and still no help in booking a car nor getting our money returned.
We have another trip planned for March 2021 and needed a rental car, so I tried to see if the problem at CarTrawler had been fixed. After 6 unsuccessful attempts over several days, including sending them a 'chat' message of having trouble, I called them.
I spoke with Mohamed on Feb 3 he said there was a technical problem with my voucher and that I would be receiving an email the following day that would allow me to successfully book a car.  He tried to explain about Hertz being different from the other companies. The new link looked similar to what I saw the previous 3 days, but I trusted that the problem had been resolved.  On Jan 4 I tried replying to their email to let them know that the link they sent me in the email Jan 4 did not work in allowing me to successfully book a car with the applied credit voucher.
Please find attached screenshots of what I was working with in today's booking attempt.  Again, Hertz shows the full voucher amount being applied and the other's only $1.  When I proceeded to purchase what showed to be a booking for $491.94; once I hit confirm the amount changed to $888.94. I have contacted my credit card company and canceled the $888.94 charge. I have also called Alaska Air and shared my very disappointing experience.  I have lost track of how many days and hours I have lost trying to book with this company, it has been extremely frustrating.

Hello,

Name: Benton Augustave
Email: [protected]@gmail.com

The issue: Cartrawler won't refund me my money even when I file a cancellation request 1 hour before car pick up.

Backstory:
I booked a car with that company (ref#: lc533 231 240) to pick up in Saint Lucia.
Got into some issues regarding my Saint Lucia visa and I redirect my flight to another destination.

My efforts:
1. I called sixt and was unable to get help because I didn't booked with them directly.
2. I wasn't able to call the helpdesk because it's a Saint Lucia number and I was in Miami airport. My phone is not international.
3. I emailed them to notify them and no one replies
4. I made a cancellation claim online (claim#: 016 19 014). I filed the claim 1 hour before the pick up time. My pick up time was 3:00 pm. I filed at 2:09 pm.

5. I received several emailed telling me that my claim is dismissed because I missed the pick up window and I should sent them evidence of flights cancellation.

Just I notify them that I didn't miss the window and sent them evidence pictures of the cancellation i did 1 hour before pick up. I sent all the evidence they asked for including my Claim number. Airline Tickets and exchanges. . Passport stamp and everything I have is attached in this note.

6: I asked to talk to a supervisor and they hung up on me 2 time.
Finally they said they'll have someone call me. Nothing.

They are still denying me my refund.

Please help.

Please see the attached evidences.

DO528326720 This my booking and I have not receiving my funds yet

Reservation/Reference Number: MT423038040
Status: Confirmed
Driver Name: Simon Lascelles
Pickup Date: 2019-08-27T23:55:00
Return Date: 2019-09-03T16:45:00
Pickup Location: Malta - Airport
Return Location: Malta - Airport

On arrival told the car I had booked was not availabe and advised to book another car. As yet I still have not received the full refund of the original booking.

I cancelled my booking GB503339440 on Sep 9th. I have no way to contact Cartrawler. No customer service contact on their websites, call their UK number +44 [protected] and said technical issues. I am not sure this is a scam company or not. The only thing I want is to get my refund back, (today is Oct 5th, more than 20 business days as per the cancellation confirmation). Otherwise, I will write more review to alert all tavellers.

Hello
Hi,
I cancelled my booking 20 workings days ago (14/07/2020)!
When I cancelled the booking I was warned that the refund amount should be processed within the next 20 business days. Today (11/08/2020) is exactly the 20th business day but I didn't receive my money yet! Why?

I have paid 83.82 GBP!
Where is my money?

My booking number is: ES504044120

I have attached all proofs regarding the booking and cancelling.

Thank you!

I had a reservation for a Hertz car to pick up at Heathrow April 4, 2020 and return to the same location April 10, 2020. Reservation # GB698252310. Due to the Covid 19 travel restrictions, our journey was cancelled. I cancelled this rental on 3 March, 2020 and was counter-offered a voucher that would be valued at around $200, an increase from the slightly less than $150 I had already paid on my credit car. I accepted this offer.

However, my health seriously deteriorated to the point that I do not expect to take long-distance journeys in the near future. I therefore requested a refund of my original deposit to the Visa card that was used, but my email was returned undeliverable. My daughter, Kathy Eidson, was the designated driver on the reservation. If I look up my reservation on your site, it says "reservation cancelled". No refund has been made.

I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter. Should you require further information please contact me by email at [protected]@aol.com. Thank you, Elizabeth Richell