Argus car hire/ Broken down hire vehicle

Dontpanic86

Hi there,

Can anyone offer any advice please. I recently hired a car in New Zealand via Argus car hire. We picked up the car, it wasn't the model we were promised and was very tatty and the engine light was on, I insisted on swapping the car. We got the car we wanted and 6 days into the trip it broke down. We phoned the car hire company in Christchurch, NZ and they said they would arrange for a mechanic, we were left waiting for hours with no contact from either the car hire firm or a mechanic. We eventually hired another car from Hertz for $1000. The car hire company said they would refund us for the broken down car but we had to contact Argus. I have spent several weeks speaking to Argus who are dismissive and say they can no issue a refund, I have spoken again to the car hire company in NZ who say Argus have to authorise the refund - I'm going round in circles and getting very frustrated. Argus seem to misunderstanding, say they can't pay for the new car hire (didn't even ask them that!). Can anyone advise how I escalate this further please?

Thanks in advance