Car Hire Labs - www.carhirelabs.com

My wife and I rented a car in Sicily this August (2017). We had a very slight accident that cost us almost 700 euros covered by the insurance coverage for franchises with carhirelabs.com. I paid the full amount of the local renter. As per contract with carhirelabs.com I submitted ALL the documents requested to carhirelabs.com the first days of September 2017 and I was told "full refund within 60 days". To date 10 January 2018 the reimbursement has not arrived, the technical assistance no longer answers and there is no more Italian.

We were overcharged when collecting our rental in USA in August 2017: we were forced to pay an extra US$184 for roadside cover that our carhirelabs voucher stated we had already paid for. A simple mix up perhaps, but carhirelabs did not respond to any messages we sent them on social media or by email. We were missold a product and then ignored when we tried to contact them so things could be resolved. Don't use them.

I booked car on this website and this company cooperated with King´s Rental Corfu.

Bad communication and no clear term and conditionals .

Charge me extra money after my holiday with my bank account direct debit.

Never again use this car rental . Rubish company.

Tip:

Best way to rent car : pay more for rent car directly on airport from company with good opinion.

I have used a lot of different car hire companies over the years, but this was by far the worst experience I have had, which is saying something given how unscrupulous car hire companies can be!

As usual, I searched for the cheapest car hire and Car Hire Labs offered the best price - €46 for 5 days’ car hire in Ireland plus €40 for an infant car seat. I paid €5 up front and would have to pay the remaining €81 locally. I got the voucher through promptly and all seemed well, but unfortunately shortly before travel I had an accident and was unable to drive. So, I tried calling Car Hire Labs to change the lead driver to my wife’s name, but could never get through on the phone – always being greeted with the automated message that their lines were open 7am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, even though I was calling during those hours! Fortunately, they allow you to make changes on their website, so that is what I did, and I was delighted to receive an updated voucher the next day, confirming that the changes had been agreed with the rental agent.

However, when I went to the Easirent desk to collect the car and showed them the voucher, they had no record of the changes ever being made. They double-checked their emails and even called head office, but they were adamant that they had never been contacted about the change. They then said I had 2 options if I wanted to rent the car:

1. Call Car Hire Labs to explain the situation and get them to email Easirent with the confirmation of the changes.

2. To pay an extra €25 to add my wife as a named driver.

I tried to call but, as usual, just got the automated message. Thus, I was left with the only option being to pay the extra €25 if I wanted to rent the car.

Unfortunately, this was not the only nasty surprise – as other reviewers have remarked, I was then charged a different price to the one that had been agreed with Car Hire Labs. Instead of €81, they were charging me €128 (€103 for the car hire and care seat, plus €25 for an extra driver). I tried to argue with Easirent and showed them the voucher which clearly stated the price to pay locally was €81, but they said I would have to take it up with Car Hire Labs and that they would not release a car to me unless I paid the €128.

I was stuck and had no option but to pay the €128 - €47 more than had been agreed with Car Hire Labs!

As soon as we got to the hotel, I sent an email to Car Hire Labs and asked them for an urgent solution. On the day we were due to drop the car back, they had still not replied so I sent a follow up email. It has now been 8 days and I have had no response at all.

The last time I went on their website, I noticed their slogan, “WE CARe ABOUT YOU”. I had to laugh!! I can’t remember a company ever caring so little about its customers!!!

I cannot urge anyone strongly enough to avoid this awful company at all costs. They may seem to offer the cheapest price, but you cannot have any confidence that this is what you will actually be charged. It is clearly not a one-off either – just look at some of the other reviews (I wish I had) and you will see that this is quite a common occurrence. And if you need to contact them about anything, they will not answer the phone nor respond to emails.

I reserved a car for Gatwick airport through carhirelabs.com, they booked it with Easirent. I noticed I set a wrong pickup time, so I modified my reservation, got an email from them with the reservation reference number, confirming the change.

On the day of pickup I called Easirent to check if the car was ready, they said they couldn't find my reservation in the system. Called carhirelabs, they were out of office for a holiday. Called Easirent again, they again could not find it. Emailed carhirelabs, they finally replied, saying everything is fine on their end and that I should contact Easirent's reservation office with the reservation number. I called Easirent again, told the same reservation number, they said they would contact their booking office and asked me to call backn in "literally 5 minutes". I called back in 5 minutes, nobody picked up. Called back in 10 - same. Called back again later - nobody was picking up.

I ended up making a separate booking with another company. After the trip I contacted carhirelabs, asking to reimburse me. At first they blamed me that I booked at the wrong time (doh, I changed it in their system). After I cleared that out, they started saying that the car was ready at the Easirent and I didn't show up at their office, I was marked in their system as a no-show. Well, that's not what they were telling me on the day of booking on the phone - so why would I go all the way to their office for a car reservation that they could not find in their system? The way I see it, I had a contract with them, they failed to reserve me a car and kept my deposit.

TL;DR Reserved a car through carhirelabs.com, they booked with Easirent. Car was not ready, they kept the deposit.

BEWARE! Car Hire Lab is based in Estonia. If you book with them they will send you a confirmation email, but they will never sent you an actual voucher which you can show to a car rental company in order to get your car. They don't answer emails and if you call the customer service (if you manage to reach them) you will get a horrible lady who will tell you to check your spam folder (which obviously had nothing in it) and that they can't do anything else. I have reported them to the European Consumer Protection Authorities. Don't fall for it

He realizado una reserva la semana pasada por un coche de lujo y me dieron en la agencia otro coche de categoria inferior. Ellos se negan a rembolsarme el total de la reserva. El motivo es que solo son intermediarios...no os aconsejo pasar por ellos

careful "confirmed booking" doesn´t mean "confirmed booking" I had to learn the hard way ......

Best

Really good company. Very usable and straightforward website and booking process. Quickly received a voucher and had answers to my questions. Will use them again!

Got to Alicante to Centauro and they said carhirelabs had cancelled my voucher. I said I had the voucher and they sent another one via email day before. Centauri was adamant it was cancelled even though I had paid up ages ago. I got an automatic car but it cost me 200 euros extra. They insisted as I was short notice I had to have their extra ins although I already had my own. Centauri are usually ok with me having my own. Carhirelabs were hapoy to give me back what I paid them but I was 200 out. They said there was a mistake somewhere but wouldn't honour the mistake. I would never chance using them again. I have never had trouble like this before. Its not worth the risk