Book Cartrawler Reviews 114

Dont do this! They use every trick to make you pay a lot of extra money on pick-up.

Very disappointing experience with Sicily by Car at Verona Airport.

I had a confirmed reservation made through CarTrawler and arrived on time to pick up the vehicle. However, the staff refused to provide the car because I did not have a credit card in my name, even though this requirement was not clearly communicated during the booking process.

I was left stranded at the airport since 3 AM with a 5-year-old child, which is completely unacceptable. No alternative solution was offered, no flexibility, and no real assistance from the staff.

Despite having paid for the booking, I received no service.

This situation caused significant stress and inconvenience, and I strongly believe customers should be clearly informed about such strict requirements in advance.

I do not recommend this company

Be very careful with this company. They have an opaque “security” check and if you fail they keep your entire rental cost. After a number of unhelpful replies from Ahmed and Osama from the Customer Care team, I learned this the hard way. They have refused to provide contract verbiage to support this business practice. Beware.

I had a problem with a rental change and tried contacting Cartrawler support, but it was very hard to get a real person on the phone. Emails took ages to get any reply, and when they did respond it wasn’t helpful.

Do not use…. I booked a car hire with them and never got my car when I complained they didn’t want to pay me back and was protecting the car rental company instead of the customer
Service is non existent They are Very very BAD

We booked car trawler taxi transfers from Malaga airport to hotel in Benalmádena and return journey via Ryanair app.
No problem when we arrived at Malaga airport, taxi waiting as arranged.
However, the taxi failed to arrive for return journey to airport and after waiting some time we had to take and pay for another taxi as we would have missed our flight home.
No communication from taxi company and it was left to us to make a complaint.
We have been reimbursed for return journey.but only explanation was driver had an incident. and yet they didn’t think to automatically refund us.
Would never use or recommend to anyone

TERRIBLE COMPANY Booked transfer through Ryanair and wanted to change return transfer hotel pickup time. On the booking confirmation it says you do it online but you can’t. It said on the confirmation booking passed to Mozio so called them and they said we can’t change pickup time as Cartrawler hasn’t paid them! The contact phone takes you around the houses. After 2hours of getting nowhere I cancelled and booked a taxi which was cheaper than the transfer. So ended up paying twice for return transfer.

Booked a car through Eurowings for collection in Germany. I paid the extra insurance when booking, to waive the excess. When trying to collect the car, they said they did not recognise the insurance I took out when booking and that I needed to pay €203 extra for the insurance (I had only paid £154 for the car and insurance up front). After many calls and emails, I still have no refund. Absolute scammers, should not be in business!

Absolutely the worst company ever, scammers and incredibly toxic. Avoid at any costs

Quick update: Refund received from CarTrawler after follow-up. Thanks to those who advised the EU Small Claims route—preparing the claim helped resolve this quickly.

CarTrawler kept my full prepaid amount even after Europcar confirmed a refund — I’ve started EU Small Claims today.

CarTrawler sits between Jet2 and Europcar as a commission-based intermediary. In my case, they didn’t just keep a commission — they kept the entire booking amount after classifying me as a “no-show” because I couldn’t show a return flight at the desk. That requirement is impossible when you’re moving to the country where the rental was supposed to happen, which was my situation.

Europcar acknowledged this at the counter and later by email, confirmed the hire failed on their side, said they weren’t holding funds, and that I should receive a full refund.
CarTrawler still refused, repeatedly quoting generic T&Cs. If they’re an intermediary, at most, they should keep a commission — not everything. Keeping the full amount feels like unfair retention and deeply undermines trust.

I’ve started the EU Small Claims process in Dublin today against Etrawler Unlimited Company (trading as CarTrawler).

If you’re in the same situation, here’s the fast path

Gather proof: your voucher/terms, the supplier’s email confirming refund/that they hold no funds, and CarTrawler’s refusals (emails/chats).

File EU Small Claims (Ireland – Dublin) against Etrawler Unlimited Company (t/a CarTrawler) at their registered Dublin address.

Form choices: Claim Basis = Services → Claim Goods = Other Services. Claim amount = your prepaid total (principal).

Case Party Information (Defendant)
Party Type: Registered Company
Role in Case: Defendant / Respondent
CRO Number: 93433
Name: Etrawler Unlimited Company
Trading As: CarTrawler
Solicitor Firm: (leave blank — you’re a Litigant in Person)
Solicitor Address / Email: (leave blank)

Address of Party (Company)
Registered Office: Yes
Address Line 1: Classon House
Address Line 2: Dundrum Business Park
Address Line 3: Dundrum Road
Town/City: Dublin
County: Dublin
Post Code (Eircode): D14 X9F9
Country: Ireland
Email: customercare
Telephone: +353 1 499 960
Mobile Phone: (leave blank)
Contact Consent: No

Explain clearly: service not provided; supplier accepted responsibility and confirmed refund; intermediary kept the full payment.

Screening first: the Small Claims Office must accept your claim before you pay anything.

After acceptance: pay the €25 fee only then, and upload your documents (or send them by email if instructed).

Outcome: once served, many cases settle quickly — refund + fee + statutory interest — without needing a lawyer.

CarTrawler’s handling here is not how a fair intermediary behaves. If your supplier has confirmed a refund but the broker keeps your money, stop the back-and-forth emails and use EU Small Claims.

Deceptive business practices – legal action may be necessary
We are Swedish customers who prepaid a car rental via CarTrawler/Norwegian (provider: Goldcar, Milan). Despite presenting valid ID (passport and driver’s license), the car was withheld due to a sudden and undocumented demand for a national ID card — not stated in the rental terms.

We rebooked a new car with the same dates at a much higher cost, based on CarTrawler's assurance that a refund would be possible. After over six months of delays and contradictory responses, our claim was rejected.

This appears to be a recurring pattern, with many similar reports. We filed a claim through the Small Claims Court in Dublin, and after service of process, CarTrawler quickly refunded the full amount, including interest and court fees. Please note this is for EU citizens.

We share this to prevent others from being misled and having their holidays ruined.

If you’ve experienced the same:

You can file a complaint using the EU Small Claims Procedure. It costs €25, is handled entirely in writing, and you take no risk — you won’t be liable for the company’s legal costs if you lose. No lawyer is required.

More info & form: Search for european small claims procedure

CarTrawler company details for the form:

Company name: Etrawler Unlimited Company (trading as CarTrawler)

Company registration no.: 93433

Registered address: Classon House, Dundrum Business Park, Dundrum, Dublin, Ireland

Court where we filed our claim:
Dublin District Small Claims Office
First Floor, Áras Uí Dhálaigh, Inns Quay, Dublin 7, Ireland
Email can be found online.

TLDL;
-Made contract with cartrawler (full AXA insurance + car from GoldCar)
-GoldCar laughs at this contract and demands their own insurance, or else I can continue walking. No car without their own insurance.
-When returning car, GoldCar refuses to refund insurance, still laughs at CarTrawler document as it's not their contract. "We have nothing to do with this contract"
-CarTrawler refuses to refund, as it's written on contract that nothing extra should be paid.

By far the worst experience I’ve ever had. I was scammed out of 3500 SEK for no reason. Even the Swedish National Board for Consumer Disputes (ARN) tried to contact the company for over a month and they never replied. Please stay away and book directly with the companies instead. They have better deals, terms, and agreements

Booked an Airport Transfer from Malaga Airport through Ryanair who use Cartrawler. Flight was delay 1 1/2 hours. Called company four times in the next hour and each time was told the driver was 5 minutes away. On the fifth call we were told they couldn't contact the driver. We had to pay for an airport taxi and have tried to get a refund from Cartrawler or Ryanair but neither interested. We were told the driver was there but couldn't wait when we wrote to complain yet this was never mentioned in any of the five calls to them, It is a total scam. There are plenty of reviews on other platforms. Read and under no circumstances use either for your airport transfer. Hopefully you are reading this before you book and not after you have been ripped off.

Terrible, STAY AWAY FROM THEM, coz they are too good at scamming and disappearing, and you will never get back your money.
They don’t have any contact number, just the “whatsaapp”, online support and the never-respond email address. They charged me for my full rental + car insurance, after few months of dispute, i was merely able to receive partial refund but did not return my insurance fee of CA$60. I attempted to connect with them a several times but never success.

Absolutely terrible. They still owe me £500
Customer service did not respond after weeks. Arrived at airport with two young children (2 and 3) to be told there are no car seats to put them in! Stranded, out of pocket and dealt with poorly. Avoid.

Stay away from them, they did not provide me the car oj the day with no preoper reson I have to soent £400 on the airport to find another car delaer. They have not give me refund either. Horrible horrible rude customer service. Just same reply over and over zero investigation. Scammers

Stay away from this company. I booked a car through them to be provided by auto union in Jamaica. When I got there Auto Union tried to charge extra insurance and when I questioned this they refused to give me the car which I had fully paid for. They potentially left me and my daughter stranded with 2 hours drive at 4pm. I had to find another company to rent a car. Car trawler has not refunded my money and are refusing a further amount to compensate Auto Union.

Avoid!! They changed my car hire to a location over an hour away and the customer service online and at the call centre is awful. The only option was for me to cancel and book with another company, while these thieves took 5 days to process a refund. A terrible company with atrocious customer service that I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Avoid at all costs.

Long version: I booked on their holidayautos.com website in the UK. I searched for my pick up location and dates and was given a list of vehicles with daily prices. I selected a mid-range vehicle and paid online. When I opened the confirmation email the pick up location was over an hours' drive away from my requested location. Madness! I immediately used the online 'Manage Booking' option to amend the location, but was told there are no vehicles available at my preferred location. So - basically - the Holiday Autos / car trawler website fraudulently sold me a car hire service they knew they couldn't provide, took full payment, and when I asked for an immediate refund I was told by the chat function and then the customer service call line that I was at fault for accepting the car hire AND that I would have to wait 5 days for the refund to be processed. Such a cynical, dishonest business. They hide behind legalese, saying that on the payment page it would have shown a summary of the pick up address, but it definitely was not clear. And more to the point - what on earth is a car hire company doing re-locating a hire request to an hour away?! That is not a reasonable alternative, it's outrageous. How many customers can travel an hour to pick up the hire car? It is so so so cynical that it just stinks of corporate greed and an intention to deceive. The 'customer service' people were just patronisingly reciting corporate chapter and verse. I know I'll get the money back eventually but I am sick and tired of big companies bullying consumers... they take our payment immediately and then expect us to wait a week to get it back when they are the ones at fault. Avoid like the plague and tell as many people as you can to blacklist these corporate bullies.

I booked a car in advance. They cancelled my booking just because I was late. And never pay me back