WARNING! CarTrawler / Argus Car Hire

A question about : WARNING! CarTrawler / Argus Car Hire

CarTrawler / Argus Car Hire / Pepe Car - Rental Scam when taking a security deposit.

I just returned from a trip to Barcelona. I booked car hire from the UK through Argus Car Hire arguscarhire.com which is also called CarTrawler and had a very eye-opening experience which cost me dear in my wallet.

They use a company called Pepe car hire in Barcelona. What CarTrawler do when you arrive is take a 680 Euro deposit in case of an accident. Even if you have already taken out full collision and excess insurance cover, they will still BILL your credit card by at least 680 Euro.

While this might not seem like a problem, note that they do not HOLD this amount, but they actually BILL your account, the transaction goes through. What this means is that when they 'refund' you the 680 euros back after you return the car, you will only recover the exchange rate value for the deposit back on your card, plus commission.

I lost Ј40 on the return exchange rate by hiring my car for two days. This conversion was almost as much as the car hire itself.

I complained to Argus Car Hire (CarTrawler) about this incident but was told that this was part of their policy!!! Can you believe it? You lose about Ј40 just by letting them take a compulsory deposit for your car at the time of hire!!

Completely barmy, so I would avoid this company at all costs.

This was their exact reply to my complaint (names and numbers removed):

CarTrawler Ref: xxx-xxxxxx,
Thank you very much for your correspondence in relation to the experience you had when renting with Pepe Car.com through CarTrawler.

I am very sorry for the length of time that it has taken to resolve this case for you, however, on this occassion I am unable to offer you a refund for the loss incured due to currency fluctuations.

The reason for this is due to the fact that this deposit is advised in our terms and conditons (which are present at the end of your rental voucher). Payment Method (Driver must have one of the following credit cards when collecting vehicle)

I understand that this may not be the outcome that you were hoping for, however, I hope that this has helped to resolve this matter to your satisfaction.

Alternatively, if you would like to discuss this on the telephone, please do not hesitate to contact me on my direct number xxxxx x xxxxxxx (available during business hours 09.00hrs / 17.00hrs).

Kindest Regards

xxxx xxxxxxx
xxxxx x xxxxxxx

Best answers:

• Sorry to hear about that but as you will eventually find out you are flogging a dead horse. I am afraid that car hire has gone the same way as air travel, to get the lowest fare you actually pay more. "Most" companies now charge for a full tank of fuel, charge if you damage the underside of the car, or get a flat tyre. And the one that really sticks with me is charging for breakdown. So if there badly maintained car goes belly up on you while you have it you have to pay yourself to get it taken back to them.
• Well, I organise car hire quite a lot and this is the first time I have come across a company that actually makes the transaction on the credit card for the security deposit rather than simply putting a hold on it.
  I'm not sure if they are creaming money from this transaction in the form of currency exchange commission - My guess is that they are considering the amount, especially over my 36 hour rental. If so, this is a very dodgy practice.
  We all know that so-called 0% commission for foreign exchange isn't really 0% as the company makes money by setting the exchange rate in their favour. It's quite likely this is what CarTrawler / Argus Car Hire are doing when you hire a 'cheap deal' from them.
  For a car hire company to be making money off their customer's deposit given in good faith is below the belt in my opinion.
• Dear Sir / Madam,
  Following your recent post on Money Saving Supermarket, I am sorry to hear of your experience concerning charges applied by your car rental provider for the security deposit. The normal policy is indeed for the Car Rental Provider to hold the deposit on your credit card and not to actually apply this charge.
  If you have lost on funds between the amount charged and credited to your account, we would be happy to refund you the difference. In order to refund you any difference we would require a copy of your credit card statement to show the charge applied and the credit provided. So that this matter can be dealt with promptly please email your statement to my direct email address foloughlin@cartrawler.com. Also if you could provide me with your booking details:
  Name of reservation
  Booking Ref
  Dates
  Location
  Car Rental Provider
  I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience so I can assist you further.
  Kind regards,
  Fergus O’Loughlin
  Senior Customer Care Agent
  +353 1 4999 625
• I rented a car in Bordeaux from this supplier. I booked in their exoctic/ special class a mini. When the booking came it then said it was a Citreon DS3. Well I thought its not what I booked but its similar.
  When I arrived they gave me a C3 picasso. I refused the car and asked where the car I booked was? They told me this was all they had take it or leave it. Of course Argus had already had my money by this point.
  I tryed to complain when I got back after being forced to take the car. Its an email only complaint/ hope you will get fed up and we can just rip you off , type service.
  They after a month finally replied telling me that this picasso/ postman pat van was more expensive to rent and impying that I got a good deal. Just like to point out a c3 picasso costs about Ј10000 and a DS3 about Ј14000. So they are talking rubbish. They offered me Ј15 as a goodwill gesture/ insult.
  These people are taking money for cars they dont have to rent and then fob you off with junk cars that nobody else wants to rent.
  Think twice before you book with this lot!!!!!!!!
• I had a similar experience with a company called Marbesol, based at Malaga Airport (I made the booking through 121carhire.com). Unknown to me, they actually billed my credit card for the €800 deposit. Together with the additional transaction for the refund, I ended up paying Ј40 in charges. Avoid this company!
• To be fair, even Hertz to offer me a drastically different car even though I 'checked in' and confirmed the booking online.
  I ordered a BMW sports model and they offered me a Mini when I arrived.
  When I didn't quite appreciate the joke, they took it further by offering me some kind of Berlingo type vehicle.
  Next a BMW automatic.
  Finally we settled on a brand new Volvo.
  So, whilst they annoyed us in the beginning, we were all friends at the end.
  This was at Malaga airport.
  No issues with deposits.
• Small update -
  I have been back in touch with CarTrawler following the response here by a customer manager. The original person I dealt with has offered to refund the amount I lost from the currency fluctuations affecting the deposit being refunded on my card.
  I'm still a little confused as to what their policy actually is. The manager that posted his reply here says that the funds should only be held and not billed on the card. However the personal reply I received says they wouldn't normally refund because the terms & conditions are set out clearly in the policy when we hire their cars.
  I'm trying to get a clearer picture of this and will update in due course!
• Okay, final update on this thread for me -
  CarTrawler got back in touch with me and offered to refund me the loss I incurred as a result of the currency fluctuation when Pepe Car in Barcelona *charged* the card for a security deposit instead of *holding* it. - So I now have the refund.
  It's all been fully explained to me now, so here it is...
  First of all, CarTrawler aren't responsible for what Pepe Car did. The fault was actually with the car hire company themselves who are not supposed to charge the card. They are only supposed to hold the funds. So watch out for that when you lumber in there after your flight. Check to make sure they are only going to hold the funds.
  CarTrawler/Argus are just the agent that find the best deals with the car hire companies and I was wrong to conclude that they were the bad guys in all of this. They refunded as a gesture of goodwill.
  So there you have it!
• I' have been renting a car for 8 days last week using Auto Europe who leads me to PEPECAR rent car... Price was good and affordable on the web, but when arrived at Madrid Airport we first had the surprise to have to catch a shuttle to bring us to the Hilton Madrid where PepeCar is located ( 2 miles away from the airport)...
  Next when we arrived there, 2 people only were there to serve 5 customers queuing...
  It took almost 15 minutes for each customer to get the contract done, even if it should have been prepared as already WEB prepaid .
  The other surprise was to be charge upfront 700 euros for the the Gas ( 100 Euros) for a car containing only 80 euros Gas, and 600 Euros for the caution. Yes you read well !!! they charge you the caution upfront...
  They cross charge the 600 euros back when you return the car...
  This means they make my money to work for their account during 10 days for an 8 days rent...
  In addition to that you can imagine you do not leave the car back with empty gas, since you do not want to push the car....
  So you leave a minimum of 10 euros plus the 20 euros charged for no Gas ( 80 Euros the car could contain against 100 Euros charged) .... I did complain as you can imagine, they say it's written in the rental contract which I have never seen since I came from AutoEurope org, and no such thing was mentioned..
  Strange way to make business I told them....
  when I return the car, they also tried to charged me something missing in the car that we never seen...
  Lastly, People were very long to serve, and really not nice to customers..... For returning the car which such slow people and distance away from the airport, you should arrive there 3 hours before your flight departure... This is the worst renting car company behavior I have ever seen in my life...
  Avoid them...
• They really are a bunch of sharks - I was charged by Argus/Cartrawler despite the car hire company (Avis) confirming that they had cancelled the order with no cost to them. It is very difficult to know who to complain to or who to deal with as there are so many companies involved. Now I won't be using Moneysupermarket, Argus or Cartrawler or even Avis. It is so difficult to contact any of them as well. All the numbers are premium/high cost and emails only possible through an endless menu system and form filling thing. And of course they only reply weeks later. HOPELESS! There is bad customer service from one company alone and then there is bad customer service from 4 companies none of which will take responsibility.
• I had the worst experience with Car Trawler even BEFORE I used the car. Their customer service number for MENA (Middle East and North Africa) is not busy, not a web of instructions. it is simply OUT OF SERVICE.
  This way they guarantee that you will never get your money back since you cannot cal them to cancel or modify your booking.
  The car rental company (Budget) were amazing, yet they told me they have no power to do anything about it.
  Avoid Car Trawler at all costs.
• I would like other forum members to be aware of our experience with the firm CARTRAWLER in July/August 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 answer phone 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 Marona 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.
• https://www.citer.fr/node/9?ville=SAI...=tous&x=66&y=8 close at 18.30
  IMHO car trawler shouldn't have accepted your booking. Perhaps discuss with the credit card company that you booked with your dissatisfaction with car trawler.
• I have just returned from a golfing trip to Florida. Had booked an Intermediate size car to be collectedin terminal at Tampa airport through Argus car hire. When email booking voucher arrived it said I was to collect my car from SIXT on 5th level of terminal. I have travelled through Tampa airport many times and never seen a SIXT desk. Transpired their office was 2 miles from the airport with a shuttle service to their office on W Cypress Street. When I arrived they said they had no intermediate cars available, only car they could provide was a Dodge caravan! Travelling on my own this was not acceptable and I refused. They then suggested a Nissan Verso which "had just been returned". How convenient I thought. They also put a charge on my credit card to cover for possible excess in event of damage to the car although they were aware that I had insurance cover for this. I then had to negotiate my way to their office again through very busy traffic when I returned the car at the end of my holiday. I have to say the return was very efficient and I was taken by shuttle bus to the airport. However I had specifically booked to collect my car in terminal to avoid the delays and difficulties of waiting for shuttle bus etc. After a long day travelling I did not appreciate the almost 2 hours it took to get on my way to my destination.
  I have sent an email complaint to Argus Car Hire/Car Trawler but so far had no response.
  I would add my name to the others on this forum who advise you avoid Argus Car Hire. Surprised that with so many complaints about them, they are still included on Money Supermarket web search list.
• I had an awful experience with Argus Car Hire/Cartrawler, too and they just don't give a damn.
  My strong advice is don't necessarily go for the cheapest deal. Car hire is a jungle - and these beasts are among the worst.
• I recently picked up a car booked through Car Trawler at Alicante airport. The initial price through CarTrawler was Ј80 for 7 days hire that included the usual Collision Damage Waiver, theft protection etc....a very good price!
  When we arrived at the Budget desk we were charged an additional Ј316! Astonished I asked why and was told that these are the agreed charges with CarTrawler. The alternative is to be charged an excess of Ј1500 to cover any damage to the vehicle. Left with no choice in my mind I complained bitterly and was told to take this up with CarTrawler on my return.
  Once back in the UK I made my complaint to CarTrawler and was told that since I had agreed to the charges at the Budget desk they are unable to refund anything.
  I am amazed and am still trying to recoup some of these charges.. after all I wanted to hire the car not buy it!!
  My advice just don't use them. There are plenty of posts on forums warning you but up to now I have not accessed them...I will in the future
• They say "unlimited milleage, no extra fees" ...be extremely careful!!!!! I had lots of hidden fees but when I called them they sounded disinterested and told me to contact the car hire company Awful customer experience. I will certainly stay away from them. I recommend going direct to the rental car company instead. Peace of mind.
• I booked a hire car through CarTrawler (badged as 121carhire.com) at Barcelona airport. They in turn booked me with "FireFly" who are apparently owned by Hertz. I arrived at Barcelona at 2pm on 2nd August 2014 to find the Firefly desk out in the blazing heat, mobbed with very grumpy people and operating a ticket system. I got ticket C65. They were currently serving B23 meaning that there were 142 people in front of me in the queue. They seemed to be serving around one customer every 5-10 minutes. Calculating I wasn't going to get a hire car that day I rented a car in less than 15 minutes for about the same money from EuropCar in the blissful cool of the airport.
  Now CarTrawler are telling me that because I asked for a full refund 5 minutes after the allotted collection time (never mind that the agency they selected was incapable of delivering) I am not eligible for a full refund. We'll see....
• This company is very dishonest. They quoted me the full price in $AU, then charged me in EURO's, after I made the choice and paid based on being quoted in $AU. (I have documented proof of all this, which I sent twice to Argus/cartrawler)
  Then, at Avis at Dubrovnik 'double charged' me for the rental and more.
  When I complained to Argus, and sent they all the documentation and proof, Pedro Benza emails me after weeks just sending me the Avis receipt, and did not address anything I mentioned, writing he hoped 'it was to my satisfaction'.
  Then I rang him, explained things, and resent in 'point form' so that he could understand, and then still did not address the issues and both times totally ignored all the proof and evidence stating he hoped it was to 'my satisfaction'...
  This company and those they deal with, are very clearly dishonest and are scamming the public. I lost $AU370 on top of the 'full price' I paid allegedly to Argus, which was $AU264, but was quoted $AU169.
  If you want to be 'nicely and politely' scammed by some oily sleazy company, then use them.
  I will be taking it further, there must be some authority I can complain to, as I have all the documented proof...