CarRental8 Reviews 

This company has just stole my money, denying pick up on arrival and then denying refund

I was hit with additional charges after rental return, which I got to know after receiving an 'e-receipt' email from the car rental company Budget. The additional charges amounted to 20% of what I'd paid for the entire rental!

I spent enormous amounts of time chasing after Budget who finally gave the break up of the additional charges: "concession recovery fee"; "energy recovery fee"; and GST. They claimed they charged this because the rental amount I had prepaid to CarRental8 did not fully cover these "fees"...even though the Budget voucher sent with the original rental booking confirmation email from CarRental8 stated "Estimated taxes & fees due at pickup: 0" (ZERO).

After Budget washed their hands of the issue I entered into email correspondence with CarRental8 customer service. I will acknowledge that their customer service is quick to respond although I wasted weeks dealing with one of their service agents who kept stalling and finally claimed that they had spoken with Budget and the additional charges were due to 1 day's extra rental arising from late return! (I had supposedly picked up the car at 2.22 pm on Sep 2 and returned it at 2.36 pm on Sep 7 - 14 minutes late). This was false because I had parked the car at the rental return location well in time but by the time the Budget inspector had finished examining the cars in the queue ahead of me and came to me a lot of time elapsed. EVEN IF I had returned the car 14 minutes late (which wasn't the case), Budget's website clearly states that there is no penalty for returns up to 29 minutes late.

Eventually though, there was resolution. My case was escalated to a CarRental8 supervisor who arranged with Budget for refund of the additional charges. My overall experience was rather frustrating, being given the run around post-rental, and with mixed messages on the additional charges from Budget and CarRental8. I do appreciate however that someone up the hierarchy in CarRental8 was able to take an independent view and although belatedly, did the right thing.

This started as a 1* review that I've amended to 4* because I CarRental8 do have an internal service structure for investigations and complaints. I will use them in future, with the precaution that I'll establish carefully at the time of pickup that no additional "fees" will be sprung on me by the rental company.

SCAM
Do not go near!! I paid £170 for 2 day car rental then received no email confirmation or instructions how to pick up / where to pick up car.
Any attempts to contact ph number issues did not connect
Had to reorder & pay another hire company to get to where I needed.
Carrental8.com will NOT refund me and are APPAULING with any kind of communication. My advice DO NOT USE!!

2 hours waiting in a queue to collect a car we had already reserved at Budget furteventura. Guy on the desk just walked off whilst we were still in line. No explanation for crazy queueing times, can only assume they’ve rented out more cars than they physically have. Bad service from this big company. A very tired toddler meant we eventually had to rent a car from another company as it was so late, just so we could get to our hotel! Now we need a refund but Car Rental8 are not communicating. Looks like I need to do a chargeback with my Card Company.

This company is such a scam, just go directly withe th provider and proper insurance. The insurance they provide is insufficient and hard to get compensated for, not to mention their slow response time.

Do not go near this company. They completely ghost you, if anything goes wrong with your booking you are on your own.

Edit: They did reach out then gaslit me for trying to get my money back through my credit card so they said they couldn't refund me but then they fought the credit card recall and got their money back. Awful.

Further edit- many thanks indeed for addressing this issue. It was not Car Rental 8's fault that there was no child seat available at the local site...thank you for contacting the rental company and requesting a waiver in these circumstances...we genuinely were not able to proceed with our booking through no choice of our own and we are very pleased to say we have now received a full refund. We are really grateful to you for listening and responding to our request and it has hugely restored my faith in your customer service. Thank you.

Edit- thank you for your response and for looking into it. Our booking reference is 916425196.

I am absolutely dismayed with the treatment we have had from this company.
Through them we booked a car with a child seat for a weekend trip. We arrived in the evening, during a storm, me pregnant and with our 2 year old daughter. We were told they had no child car seat available and there was nothing they could do.

It would have been illegal and absolutely unsafe to drive the car we had hired without a child seat for our daughter. We had absolutely no choice but to cancel our booking and go to the next car rental desk where fortunately they were able to assist us with a car seat and a new booking so we were not stranded without accommodation for the night, 2.5 hours' drive from our destination.

Not only did the rental company fail to apologise for our inconvenience and refuse to offer any compensation or advice, when we advised Car rental 8 of the situation they refused to give us any refund whatsoever and instead charged us the full £260 rental fee despite being unable to provide the service we, the customer, had paid for in good faith and expected.
Their explanation was that it says in the small print car seats may not be locally available. This absolutely negates the point of offering a child seat if you have to take your own in case they don't have one. We have rented cars multiple times with a child seat and have never once had an issue before.
However, if it is the case that they cannot be guaranteed at local site then so be it ...but there also needs to be a clause that in this instance the customer has the right to claim a refund. If the company can only offer you a non-functioning car with no wheels or no engine...you would be entitled to a refund. A car seat for a child is not an optional extra. It is a necessity.
How did we have an option but to cancel? My 11kg small child legally needs to travel safely. How and why am I being put in a position to risk her life or lose my entire booking and be charged the full fee? We had to pay all over again for a new car and booking..so we have paid twice. No apology, no compensation, nobody cares.
I feel so let down and honestly outraged that a company could care so little and take payment for a service they absolutely could not and did not provide to the customer. It is absolutely shocking.

Scam. I Paid 50euros in advance for car rental. The flight was in 2 hours delay, they cancelled the booking. (info from RentSmart24 who might be scammer too).
No answer to phone call

never used services from this company
we had to pay twice as much for the car when we picked it up.
We had already paid for the car and were supposed to pay 0 krónur when it was picked up at Kastrup airport.
paid for the car for extra insurance, but was still charged for the car at the rental car company in advance
It's not the fault of the car rental company in Kastrup.
I have to pay for the car and insurance again to get the rental car.

Be very weary of rental companies like this. They advertise things like flexible cancelation, free amendments, etc. but in fact that is not the case. When I tried to merely just change a pick-up location it did not allow me to do so and had absolutely nothing available in any of the surrounding areas. Then when I spoke to CS to just have them cancel the reservation since we couldn't make ANY amendments to the trip, they wanted to charge me a $75 cancelation fee. A customer should not be penalized when the company fails to uphold their end of what they advertise. Stick with booking directly through the rental car companies and avoid these types of websites.

Due to a passport issue I couldn’t travel and wanted to change the main driver name on the booking. They were uncontactable prior to the booking time starting. When I did contact them, they said that they couldn’t change the name as the start time had passed. I will never booked with them or autoeurope again!!

Update - spoke to CarRental8 on 3 occasions. Spoke to the manager who was apologetic and I am hopeful they will get me a full refund. This review will be updated if needed.

New Update - They have charged me £150 cancellation fee and refunded the remaining £157. This is simply not good enough for me. All I wanted to do was change the drivers name. We would have kept the booking. This should surely be so simple. They blamed Sixt, but they had no problem if the company I booked with changed the name. I want £150 fully refunded or I will take this matter further.

My honest warning - book directly with the car hire companies and they are much easier and helpful to deal with. Sixt are always great.

Response to CarRental8 reply. Booking number 918648796

Update on 17/10/25 - I have spoken to Sixt. They have put a note on the system that will allow the cancellation fee to be refunded. However, this fee must be refunded by the booking company.
Please go ahead and refund the £150. Reference - 12111130 is on the system. I will then update this review.

The agent at the Thrifty Car Retal counter informed me that the vehicle I had rented through CarRental8 was unavailable. I was offered a different vehicle that I would need to pay for because I would be renting this one through Thrifty Car Rental, and that because the vehicle reserved through CarRental8 was unavailable I would be reimbursed for that charge (vehicle rental) by CarRental8 (for a vehicle I never used or received). I used a different credit card and drove off in a different vehicle rented from Thrifty. I was charged for both vehicles. I have been trying to dispute the charge, so far unsuccessfully because evidently CarRental8 has a no refund policy. No refund on a car I was told was unavailable and never picked up. So I'm out for the car I rented through CR8. CR8 should make sure cars reserved are available. Beware.

This company is not only unprofessional – they are dishonest.

I booked a car through Carrental8 and went to the Green Motion office on time after more than 2 hours of travel. I had two valid credit cards in my name (£1,000 and £1,600 available) but they refused to give me the car because I didn’t have a single card with a £2,500 limit. This unreasonable condition was not clearly stated when I booked.

When I asked for a refund, Carrental8 repeatedly refused. Now, to make things worse, they are lying to my bank by claiming that “the client contacted us after the pick-up time because they did not check out their rental.” Have proof of paper for this, just received today.
👉 This is 100% false. I was there on time, ready to collect the vehicle, and the supplier refused to hand it over.

They are deliberately misrepresenting the situation to keep my money. This is not just bad service — it’s fraudulent behaviour. They advertise cheap prices that are too good to be true, hide critical conditions deep in the small print, and when things go wrong, they twist the facts to avoid responsibility.

⚠️ Be warned: Carrental8 will take your money, refuse service, and then lie to protect themselves. I have already filed a dispute with my bank and will continue sharing this story and all evidence publicly to warn others.

Avoid this company at all costs — they do not deserve anyone’s trust.

2nd EDIT: after their SECOND reply under this review, only then did this company actually reach out to me. They asked me to explain what happened (which I have done over calls and emails 100's of times now) and ultimately, they told me the same message - that a refund cannot be processed. Why contact me if you are going to waste my time yet again and not give me any refund? So bad it's funny at this point.

EDIT: The company's reply below is simply to make them look better. They have not contacted me still 3 weeks later.

Awful. Rented a car with them and paid in full. When I got to the car rental agency, they denied my car because on the bank card I was paying with - I had an initial of my first name "A" instead of my name "Anna" followed by my surname. Despite me showing them on my banking app my full name, and offering various different forms of ID they denied it. Never have I been denied a car because my bank card didn't show my first name on it!!

Called car rental 8 and they kept hanging up on me. One guy eventually said I would be getting a refund but it never came. Every time I called I would be placed on hold and then hung up on.
280£ gone. Ended up going with a different rental agency on the spot there for a decent price.

Completely out of my control on what I could do. Scammers

I waited till last minute to book directly with a rental company like I typically do, however prices jumped to ridiculous amounts.

I stumbled across Carrental8 and was hesitant due to the appearance of the website, and the low prices offered for rentals. Reviews seemed hit or miss so I decided to book.

A budget confirmation was emailed immediately after payment confirmation. The reservation number was retrievable on their app and website.

The pick-up and drop-off was fast and efficient. No difference at all compared to booking directly with the rental company.

I’d give a solid 5/5.

Having raised some issues during a recent trip to Italy, was given assurances the matter would be investigated.

A long time later there’s still no update, resolution, or other, just silence.

Have a case number open for what it’s worth.

As requested, case number is 24082226.

If I could give no stars I would. On arrival, the company required a credit card on file but would not accept the same credit card used to pay for the rental itself. When a non- lead passenger offered a credit card, that was not acceptable. Instead, the only solution was to pay the additional insurance of €200. The car itself was in poor condition- dents, scratches and stains all over. The fuel tank was only 1/3 full (despite the policy being to accept and deliver the car with 1/2 tank). No one was at desk to return keys - despite kiosk opening at 8am. We had to call customer office to instruct their staff to open the kiosk which they eventually did (at 8.20) which impacted our return flight.

Beware their cancellation policy: even if you cancel several days ahead of time they still charge you $75 or 10% (whichever is higher) cancellation fee.
This seems pretty unsual, I never had to pay cancellation fee for car rental and yet they make no effort letting you know that you will be charged right at reservation time with a hefty cancellation fee attached. I'm sure it's tugged somewhere in the policy small letters.
Edit: adjusted rating as they refunded the cancellation fee as a courtesy after I posted this review

So far not good.

Booking number: 610632892

Booked a very cheap looking deal online. Went to go pick up and Avant told me I had booked it for the following week by accident.
They then advised me to modify my booking via carrentals website as they had a car for me. Went onto Carrental8 websites and it couldn't find my booking, when I had the email and booking number. I then tried to call them but to no avail. I then emailed them and am yet to get a response and that was 48 hours ago. I have since emailed them to cancel my booking as I went straight through Avant.

Of course, no response.

From what I can see, if everything goes smoothly its fine, albeit not the cost you initally think. As soon as something goes wrong, they are impossible to get hold of and unlikely to refund even if they offer no service and get plenty of time.

I made the booking on Friday and still don't even have a confirmation email!!

Better off avoiding and going straight through the main companies.

I paid for a car that the rental agency didn't have and refused to do the refund of my money. I had to file a chargeback for them to answer my emails. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT book with them there is no costumer support.