Argus Car Hire

Followed MSE advice on car hire and ended up booking through Argus Car Hire - lots of scare stories on the web about Argus but nothing recent.
Going in a few weeks so still option to cancel.
Appreciate MSE users advice / experience please?

Comments

  • bagand96
    bagand96 Posts: 6,049
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    What exactly worries you?

    Argus aren't actually a car rental company, just a re-seller. Your hire company will be named on your rental voucher. Obviously people's experiences can vary based on hire companies and locations.

    Are you fully aware of what exactly your hire includes and what it doesn't? A lot of the time people aren't and this is what can cause issues. I.e. you will probably be asked to put a large deposit on a credit card. And you may get the big upsell pressure at the desk to upgrade to an all-inclusive zero excess cover. What's fuel policy?
  • Thanks for reply

    2 concerns based on web chatter

    - the hire car company state the booking was cancelled so you have to pay on arrival and then go through a protracted reclaim process
    - the agent Argus actually bill for the damage deposit rather than the hire care company keeping it on card

    Appreciate responses?
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,349
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    JonBon wrote: »
    Thanks for reply

    2 concerns based on web chatter

    - the hire car company state the booking was cancelled so you have to pay on arrival and then go through a protracted reclaim process
    - the agent Argus actually bill for the damage deposit rather than the hire care company keeping it on card

    Appreciate responses?

    As bagand says

    depends on the hire company and location and what you think is covered, compared to what is covered
  • Harald
    Harald Posts: 205
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    Argus car hire deliberately misselling excess insurance, saying it covers every excess possible while it's simply not true.
    For example - tyre damage. Insurance they selling covers up to 80 quid, while thieves from Inter Rent charges £460 for single Vauxhall Corsa tyre!!!
  • People be careful of this company.....

    Its a rip off. I tried to make a booking and their system wouldn't accept it. Then I had a second attempt and again it failed. Then on the next day all of a sudden it accepted my second one!!!! The booking was for a car for July 31 until Aug 7th. When the +ve reply came in i did not check the dates on it and why would I if up untill then their bookings were correct. When i got to Athens the lady at the desk couldn't find my reservation (ofcourse) and she found a reservation of mine from the 9th till the 12 of August!!!!!dates i wouldn't even be in Greece. But the odd thing was that the price i payed for 7 days was reflecting for only those 3 days. When i pointed this out to the desk people they couldn't do anything about it so i had to make a new booking with an extra cost of €157. I wrote a letter to argus car hire and they answered that everything was in order and that i should be at the airport on time on the 9th to pick my car!!!!!They didn't even bother to read what i was saying. After that treatment i was veeeery annoyed and i wrote to them again and again even on their facebook page. They kept on saying that it was me who did a wrong booking. I can understand if one would make a mistake once but 4 times is practically impossible. When i mentioned a lawsuit they immediately replied saying that everything was in order on their behalf but they would return my €30 front pay. When i told them that i need the whole extra amount they said no because the price i paid was correct for 3 days (even the most expensive company wouldn't charge that much) the man from agus car hire even made a booking to prove to me that the price was right and although he booked it for the next day, in order to be expensive, he couldn't really reach the price I paid but still they had the nerve to sent it to me (a screenshot) I immediately send them a propper booking with the correct 7 dates were THE PRICE WAS MATCHING what I paid......they never replied. Then i decited to take the to court and i asked for an address and an addressie. The address they send me but an addressie they never did, the reason being that probably somebody acted on his/her own and they couldn't pach it up to management. Now me and my lawyer are working on sewing the company and we are gathering all the facts. We also asked from other people who had similar experiences to contact us with facts amounts dates etc and -not surprisingly- they are a lot. (Who ever is interested please contact me)Having said that I have to tell you that they had a lady on facebook, named Sarah with no surname whom she tried to answer my questions and when I asked her questions back too.....she couldn't handle it and she referred to copy paste answers.
    Please contact me in order to be included / new law suit with all the details, dates location etc.
    What a company!
  • Are you the policeman from 'Allo 'Allo?
  • I used Argus Car Hire to book my 10 day car hire from Brescia airport in Italy in advance to try and avoid on the spot airport car hire rates on 15th August this year. The name Argus Car Hire is misleading for the start as they don’t hire you a car, they are a comparison site and a middle man and not a hire company. I have learnt you must read and understand the lengthy hire terms not only from the car hire company you eventually choose on the Argus site but also the Argus terms and conditions.

    I paid my £159.30 for my Maggiore car rental voucher and read the terms and conditions on the Argus Car Hire website. I understood I would have to have sufficient credit remaining on my credit card, a full driving license with no major endorsements, a valid passport for main driver and VERY importantly a printed copy of my voucher. I heeded the warning in capital letters as shown below amongst their terms and conditions. I had noticed on the voucher I received it stated a UK photocard would need to be presented but was confident that my existing paper license with no endorsements would be fine as it had worked last year when hiring a car in Europe and there was no mention of a photocard on the Argus Car Rental website terms and conditions and anyway I had my passport with my photograph:

    “IN THE EVENT OF A FAILURE TO PRESENT THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS AND/OR CREDIT CARD, THE CAR HIRE SUPPLIER MAY REFUSE TO RELEASE THE CAR AND NO REFUND WILL BE GIVEN. FOR CAR HIRE, ON THE PICK-UP OF YOUR CAR, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO PRESENT (I) A FULL DRIVING LICENSE FROM YOUR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN (BOTH PARTS IN THE CASE OF A LICENSE ISSUED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM WHICH IS ISSUED IN TWO PARTS), (II) YOUR VALID PASSPORT AND A VALID CREDIT CARD IN THE NAME OF THE PERSON LISTED AS THE MAIN DRIVER ON THE BOOKING WITH SUFFICIENT AVAILABLE FUNDS TO COVER THE EXCESS ON ANY INSURANCE POLICY RELATED TO THE CAR HIRE (AS APPLICABLE), AND (III) A PRINTED COPY OF YOUR VOUCHER. PLEASE REVIEW YOUR TRANSPORTATION CONDITIONS FOR ANY FURTHER AND/OR ALTERNATIVE REQUIREMENTS OF THE TRANSPORTATION SUPPLIER AND/OR LOCAL LAW. FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE UNITED KINGDOM PROOF OF ADDRESS MAY ALSO BE REQUIRE.”

    On arrival at the airport I presented my pile of required documents at the Maggiore desk to be told my driving license was not good enough. Flabbergasted I enquired why as it has been accepted by many other car hire companies in recent times. The reply was “next please”. I was left standing at the desk with my family in stunned silence.

    I could not help but notice the next couple with a small baby were then faced with rejection because they turned up more than two hours later than the booking time because of a delayed flight. They lost their money with no chance of a refund.

    I then chased around the airport car hire desks and all would accept my existing driving license for car hire if I wanted to hire a car from them.

    I spent the next two hours trying to resolve my dilemma with Argus Car Hire Customer Service on the telephone who suggested I might get the DVLA to fax over any information Maggiore required but the situation was proving hopeless. As time progressed I realised all the car rental desks were busy, with people waiting at some desks for cars to become available. It was then I realised Maggiore had the chance to release cars and resell them as they became available from unsuspecting travelers like myself. Inevitably I had no choice but to hire the cheapest car I could find from another company costing me a further £382.27. No problem with the car license I had.

    It appears to me to be a great scam to offer cheap prices but to catch people out on strict conditions and then keep your money when you have had no use of a car.

    Reading through the terms and conditions Argus car hire want it all their own. They provide lots of opportunities for customers to forfeit their fees and they don’t want to take any responsibility.

    “Argus Car Hire is not responsible and shall have no liability if the car rental supplier's terms and conditions available on this booking engine have been or are changed by the car rental supplier.”

    “In the event of a flight cancellation or delay, CarTrawler will not be responsible for providing any refunds.”

    I have tried to get a refund from Argus Car Rental but they point me to their terms and conditions. Researching elsewhere online there are many that have fallen foul of strict and unreasonable terms and conditions of Argus Car Hire and they just keep your money.

    I conclude Argus are prompt to use any number of their conditions to avoid honouring the hire contract and then they will not provide a refund even though you have had no use of a car. Any flight can be delayed and this would easily render your voucher worthless.

    Watch out for extra charges at the desk when you arrive!
  • I booked a car yesterday with Argus and tried to pick it up today. The car was booked to drive a disabled person around for appointments etc. for a few days, so I would be the named driver and they agreed to pay for the cost of the vehicle and the insurance on their card. I rarely use a credit card so don't carry one as a matter of fact. The person was with me with their CCard and proof of ID. Still the rental company refused to accept the card and due to a hospital appointment looming I had to cancel the whole transaction.

    I contacted Argus today to have the funds refunded. Disgustingly, they refused as it's their policy that charges have to be made on a CCard and the card has to be in the named driver's name.

    I've used other car hire companies before and never had any problems such as this and find it ridiculous, that we were unable to resolve the issue especially if the other representative was there also.

    any advice would be most appreciated.
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