CarTrawler review: Car Trawler/ EasyJet Car hire

My family and I have recently returned from Crete, and although we had a good experience with EasyJet in general, unfortunately the car hire booked in conjunction with our flights was not a pleasant experience at all.

We originally booked a 'Peugeot 208 or similar' classed as an 'Economy' sized vehicle. When we arrived to collect the car we were given a Fiat Panda, classed as a 'Mini' sized car on most listings. We believe we were intentionally offered the car one size below our requirements in order to encourage us to pay to upgrade - we did not!

When we returned the vehicle, we highlighted a vertical scratch on the front bumper, it was clear that this damage was the result of a key (or similar uniform object) intentionally dragged upwards through the paint work to cause damage, and was not caused through normal use. We were charged an unjustifiable amount of EUR 477.40 for repairs, which we were repeatedly told we would be able to reclaim once we got home by contacting our booking agent CarTrawler, even though we continued to state we did not have excess insurance. Although I can not prove it - I am convinced this damage was caused by someone Abbycar deployed. The Accident Report Form we later received was incorrect and not signed and we have requested an amendment and correct completion, but so far no one has provided this.

I understand there is very little I can do about this now, but the reason I am writing to complain is because we booked our hire car through EasyJet as we believed the companies they used were reputable. The logos used to entice the customer are all large, well-known brands with good reputations. It is obvious from checking reviews of Abbycar that they are not to be trusted (and the general reviews for Cartrawler are no better) so therefore the customer review rating of 7.4 as advertised on the listing on the EasyJet website is hugely misleading. Although the small print throughout your site indicates that you are booking car hire with CarTrawler, all customer fronted pages and printouts are EasyJet branded and are again hugely misleading.

After a brief browse of the information offered by the Advertising Standards Authority I would consider that the information provided on the EasyJet website to be misleading, as is the customer review score (source unknown).

I am sure my complaint will simply be added to a pile of similarly disgruntled passengers/customers and I have very little faith that I will even receive a non-automated response from any of them; all three companies involved have received their cut of our money and now they will hide behind their terms and conditions and small print as all large corporations do.