Argus Car Hire / Car Trawler - avoid or take the risk

drmw

Booked a car a couple of months ago through this company for a holiday taken last week in Lanzarote. Price was (apparently!) good, booking was simple, communication was good.

Then it all fell apart. No person at the appointed place when we landed, so needed to find the ultimate hire company (Orlando) myself.

The paperwork presented at the office includes a "supplied full, return empty" fuel policy, so I had to pay out 55 Euro, half the rental cost again for petrol I wouldn't use (1/3 of a tank would have been fine and in fact I don't believe the car in question would hold 55 Euro of fuel anyway).

Then I see the car - over 73,000 kilometers, filthy inside & out, dented and scraped, smelled like an ashtray inside, a definite MOT failure on several fronts had it been UK based and to top it all, I had to pay the parking ticket to get it out of the airport.

Determined not to let this spoil my holiday and bearing in mind it's 9.30 on a Sunday night, reluctantly accepted this.

Came back, emailed Car Trawler - didn't ask for any refund, mainly advised them that their service is being let down by shoddy operators at the other end - Car Trawler obviously make a profit so will drive a hard deal with the hire companies in return for which we as customers get the absolute dregs in terms of car. And ripped off for fuel.

All I asked was a specific reply and not the usual platitudes about how important my business is.

All I got was an abrupt "Here are the terms & conditions, we cannot refund the petrol fee and take up issue with Orlando Car Hire about the car" - and of course they hoped I would remain a customer of Car Trawler.

So - if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Car Trawler / Argus Car Hire (and their other aliases) - avoid. You will get the worst car the actual hirer has available (which could be ok if you are lucky, but a big gamble) and the simple fact is that Car Trawler - sadly - don't want to know.

Caveat Emptor

aferg

this company does not care about its clients, just your money. they have hundreds of dodgy websites out there, all offering the same cars at the same price - the fields for entering your rental details look exactly the same on all of them. they are a broker and don't care at all about service, they don't even provide a number for customer service and if you look around, they get some of the worst reviews for car rental on the web. they work with all the rental companies but of course, push the cheapest ones like orlando in this case so you end up getting a crappy car and crappy service but they don't care, they have your money and thats it.

holiday autos and car hire 3000 use orlando too in the canaries. having been burnt a couple of times in the past i always avoid any company that doesnt show you the brand of the car rental company up front before you have to give them your credit card number. it is a total red flag, if the companies they used were reputable why wouldnt they tell you who your car hire was with before you pay them? this is why. they get your money days, weeks or months before yor pick up your car, after that you are on your own. these brokers usually appear cheaper than the rental companies you would recognise - this is why - they use the bottom feeders, it looks cheap but then you get old dirty damaged and often completely unsafe cars and get hit with compulsory fuel or insurance or get damage charges after you return the car. avis or hertz or europcar dont make you fork out for fuel unless you dont return the car full. i wont book with anyone who wont tell me which car hire company it is with before they ask for my money.

Coullio

I have just been ripped off my Argus/Car Trawler, only 95 euros to pay (we also had to pay 29 euros for a child booster seat)!! We landed up paying 259 euros. This is the last time I hire a car off the internet again and will hire one once we arrive at the resort. Thing is we already paid 9.50 euros deposit & £33.39 for CWD Insurance. Its about time these things got regulated internationally.