CarQ Reviews 

Friendly staff. Very helpful. Fast collection and return. Highly recommend

Instead of apologising, the customer service representative keeps going on and on, trying to justify themselves by saying things like I was 20 minutes late, bla bla bla.

Yes, I admit it — the mistake was mine and I apologise for that. However, renting a car from a company with an average Trustpilot score of 2.9 was clearly not a wise decision.
____________________

In line with my principles of transparency, I am sharing here the response I wrote to this disrespectful company.Let alone being just one hour late — even if I had arrived six hours late, a reasonable and professional company would still show flexibility and provide the service, even during high season.
And here we were, on top of everything, in the lowest season possible.

I have paid in full for the service, and on top of that, your colleague is not even offering a refund. This is nothing but outright theft.
In my eyes, you are now a dishonest company.

If you are satisfied with having people who represent your brand in this manner, that is entirely your choice. As for me, I have been renting cars 5–10 times every year for over 20 years, and I know very well how to distinguish good companies from bad ones.

I also take responsibility by sharing my experiences publicly, so that others do not become victims of the same practices.
With this mindset and way of operating, your company will go bankrupt sooner or later — take this as a warning.

I hade booking for 14 days, and fully paid. Due to weather conditions aircraft landed to different airport. As soon as I landed i informed rental company of the situation. And explained that I will pick the car when I get to the location or following day. I was informed that they will cancel my booking and issue refund. They avenualy issued refund but charged me cancellation fee.
Left me in without car in different country.
Avoid this company

I picked up the car and literally drove in 4 days, less than 5 Km in total, because I was sick during vacation and had to stay inside. When I returned the car they told me that it needs more gas, I said this is not possible because it cannot be for less than 5km to burn 2/8 as they claimed. She said in the contract it shows 6/8 and now 4/6. Unfortunately I was not careful enough during the pick up to spot the mistake so I went to the closest gas station and added 10 EUR of fuel.

Besides this, when I picked up the car no one was there and I had to wait. Another customer almost lost her flight because at the same time she was waiting to drop her car. On the day of the drop off no one was there again. It took them 30 mins to come.

I rent to HER x4 times per year, it was the first time to rent from them and surely the last one. Cherry on the top, they said all is good with the car but it will take them a month to unblock the CC. When I said why don’t you cancel now they said we do not do that. I do not recommend them, completely unprofessional.

Avoid. We rented a car in Heraklion near the airport. The first car we got had a broken brake that made a noise, which the lady from the rental office described as "normal". We requested replacement. The second car we got was dirty inside. We were asked to return the car washed (I have never got such a request before), we only agreed we will not clean the interior, taking into account the state the car was in when we got it. We had no chance to discuss this replacement any longer as the ladies rushed out and closed the office.
Then we had a question but it was impossible to contact the office at the number provided in the contract.

My experience with CarQ was absolutely unacceptable. The company’s only intention was to force me into purchasing full insurance, completely disregarding proper customer service. They refused to accept my payment card, even though it was valid and stored on my mobile device, and they refused to release the vehicle simply because I declined the additional insurance.

The result? I never received the car I had already paid for, and I was forced to spend an additional €95 with another company (Advance), which provided a vehicle instantly and without any issues whatsoever.

On top of that, due to the delay and unnecessary hassle caused by CarQ, I missed an important business appointment.

As an executive in a tourism group with strong experience in the car rental sector, I can confidently say that CarQ’s behavior is unprofessional, unacceptable, and far below industry standards.

I strongly advise everyone to avoid CarQ. The company uses pressure tactics and shows complete disregard for the customer.

We arrived at the Car Q rental office in Fort Lauderdale, near the airport, on time and looked for the office, which turned out to be in the run-down and unsafe back store of two other rental companies. No one was there. It looked like an illegal place. We called a number on the reservation, and someone answered. We asked when someone would be there and where our rental car was. He told us he was at the Miami office and asked for our credit card number, claiming we absolutely had to pay for additional insurance costing around $400 USD or we wouldn't get a car. We told him we had already paid for insurance when we made the reservation and that we already had rental car protection in the US with our Canadian insurance policy. But he wouldn't listen and absolutely insisted on our credit card number, otherwise no car. We told him to send someone there with the car, and we would discuss the insurance in person with the representative on site. It sounded like a scam, so we absolutely did not give him our credit card number over the phone, and therefore the guy refused to show up at the "rental office/backstore." We also called "Economy Booking" but received no help. They simply canceled our reservation. We were stuck at the illegal rental office without a car and absolutely had to get to Tampa Bay that same day for an appointment. We made several calls to find cars, but everything was booked and no cars were available. After more than three hours of fumbling, we finally found a car nearby at "Economy Rental Car." It took 10 minutes, and we left with a car. The staff were very welcoming and the place was clean and safe. Therefore, we absolutely do not recommend "Car Q Rental" nor "Economic Rental," as they offered us no help whatsoever with our problem.

Pick up was fairly easy and the same for dropping off the car. I was initially worried about the whole process due to lots of negative reviews - So i did buy extra insurance separately for this trip through RAC.

I was nervous of not getting my money back for deposit as I was made to feel like I wouldnt through the reviews and when picking up and dropping off it was a little anxiety driven. But all in all very smooth and easy to sort. One issue was I received a text as I was coming through the airport saying I would get charged if I didnt get my car within the hour I had said I was collecting but customs took so long to clear - it seemed 5 planes all landed at once and only 2 members of staff eventually were doing passport control so on collection I was running to try and get to the place in a mad panic as I didnt want an additional charge - bare in mind it was only like 1pm so they were not shutting so I couldnt understand that and also not told prior to booking this could happen.
The lady who served me at the reception was very lovely though and she did make me feel a little less stressed. She went around car making note of any issues then advised I also video the car too and take photos myself which I did just incase.

Small company , really helpful and friendly, cheaper cdw block on Credit card. They get straight back to you with any queries. Really pleased with the whole experience. So much better than other recent experiences with different company.

Deposit returned in One day after we returned the car

I booked a Volkswagen Polo with minimal mileage, but instead I was offered a terrible Citroen in technically poor condition (engine operation, lights are terrible, mileage more than 67,000). When I asked to provide another car, the manager was rude, refused and ran away, leaving me in the dark in an unknown place. The advance payment was not returned.

Absolutely terrible experience. I rented a car from this company in August 2025 in Santorini and they didn't refunded my €750 deposit yet — even though the car was returned in perfect condition and no issues were reported.

Their policy clearly says the deposit will be released or refunded within 30 days after the rental, but it’s now October and I still haven’t received my money. They ignore emails and show zero professionalism.

It feels like a scam — taking customers’ money and hoping they’ll just give up. I strongly advise everyone to avoid this company at all costs. There are many other rental agencies on Santorini that treat their clients honestly and professionally.

My review is the exact carbon copy of Ant’s dated 6th Aug 2025…

We arrived in the evening so it was dark. When checking in, the guy at the front desk insisted I have a choice to either pay 100 EUR to cover ANY damage to the vehicle or a refundable 750 EUR deposit assuming there’s no damage.

I was supposed to have a Renault Megane Diesel but the guy couldn’t start the car up as someone had apparently filled it up with Petrol so they quickly gave me a knackerd 8 year old black Nissan Pulsar reg: YTK 3062 which had lots of scratches/scuffs. It also had about 43,000km on the clock so it’s been around Santorini a few times!

It was claimed that a full inspection had been made and I was offered a daylight lamp to do my own inspection. I did a thorough 360 visual check of every defect and even found a chip on the windscreen which wasn’t on the inspection sheet.

Upon return in daylight, the lady behind the desk – I think her name was ‘Maria’ did a real thorough check of the vehicle and then came back into the office looking for a file. After looking for about 5-10 mins, they found a file and pulled out several rental agreements then she presented me with her problem… she claimed there were scratches and scuffs under the front bumper lip but wasn’t recorded on the inspection sheets for the previous 2 x agreements therefore saying that I was responsible for the damage.

Unfortunately I didn’t inspect the underside of the car (who would?) so I couldn’t prove it was there before I rented the car. This is an exact repeat of Ant’s experience. No matter what you say, they will not back out claiming that you agreed and signed the agreement with no damage upon collection therefore blaming you for the damage. The whole scenario seemed scripted and the staff are all briefed to charge you for previous damage and catch you out.

Fortunately I had taken out Car Hire Excess Insurance for just over £10 which covers any excess loss which I have now claimed back apart from the foreign transaction fee because I used a credit card to cover the damage.

They are complete scammers, ripping tourists off. Please do not use this company and should be closed down. You might be lucky and get away with it but check under the car too. We also nearly missed our flight due to this mess. What a disappointment to end what was a lovely holiday.

**UPDATE**
The reply from them is automated - you can find the same response in some of the other reviews listed here. They didn't contact me at all.

amazing service, brand new cars

Paid for the extra insurance premium when booking, then told when I picked up the car in Santorini that the extra cover doesn’t cover accidents or damage to car, and the agent wanted me to pay again.
The car was very damaged so had to film every little mark as I knew where this going.
Surprise surprise when I returned car they tried to make me pay for previous damage,luckily I had filmed beforehand
Be very vigilant with this car hire company

No problem.
People are nice
Take insurance with careQ is better

Automax Corfu Car Rental
We already had bought total risks insurance upon reservation and they were very insistent on trying to sell another insurance. Then, they were asking for 70€ payment because we went one hour sooner, but it was them that phoned us to go sooner. When we said we would wait the extra hour they said they would cancel our reservation. They were very aggressive in language and non verbal. Finally when we were calling the police, the manager came and rent the car as contracted. Additionally, and quite importantly, the collecting point is not at the airport.

It was great! Communication, timeline, car, all perfect

Very easy process! Everything went smooth with no problems. Good car, few miles! 10/10