Argus Car Hire
Argus Car Hire is a Dublin-based online car rental comparison and booking aggregator, founded in 1959. It aggregates rates from 1,700+ suppliers across 50,000+ global locations, serving individual leisure and business travelers via a self-serve website and mobile app.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1959
- HeadquartersDublin, Ireland
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Argus Car Hire does
Argus Car Hire is a privately held car rental price comparison and booking aggregator founded in 1959 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company operates a self-serve online platform that aggregates inventory from over 1,700 car rental suppliers across 50,000+ global locations, enabling individual travelers and holidaymakers to search, compare, and book rental vehicles in a single interface. Its core technology is a search aggregation engine that pulls rates and availability from major international brands — including Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Budget, Europcar, Thrifty, and Alamo — as well as long-tail regional and independent operators, and presents them in unified comparison results.
The platform serves a horizontal consumer segment: leisure and business travelers needing airport pickups, city transportation, and road-trip vehicles across destinations in Europe, North America, Africa, and Oceania. Distribution is direct-to-consumer through the arguscarhire.com website and a mobile application that offers exclusive deals, paperless vouchers, and phone-based pickup. The company monetizes via marketplace commissions and referral fees paid by car rental suppliers on bookings completed through the platform; it does not publish fixed pricing and offers free cancellation on bookings alongside 24/7 customer support.
With a headcount of 11–50 employees and no disclosed funding, revenue, ownership, or M&A activity, Argus Car Hire presents the profile of a mature, founder-led niche operator. Its founder, Gregory Turley, remains associated with the business. The company's principal strategic assets are the breadth of its supplier network, the global scope of its location coverage, and the cumulative scale of 8,000,000+ served holidaymakers, which together sustain organic search and direct traffic in the car rental comparison category.
Argus Car Hire firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Argus Car Hire
- Website
- https://arguscarhire.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1959
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Argus Car Hire is a Dublin-based online car rental comparison and booking aggregator, founded in 1959. It aggregates rates from 1,700+ suppliers across 50,000+ global locations, serving individual leisure and business travelers via a self-serve website and mobile app.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Argus Car Hire industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Car Rental Marketplace
- NAICS
- Passenger Car Rental and Leasing (53211), Passenger Car Rental (532111)
- SIC
- Services-Auto Rental & Leasing (No Drivers) (7510)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Car Rental & Car-Sharing Booking Platforms (BPAMAIAF)
Keywords
Where Argus Car Hire is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Dublin
- HQ country
- Ireland
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
Argus Car Hire business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations
Revenue model
- Booking commissions and referral fees: Argus Car Hire operates as a car rental price comparison aggregator, earning revenue through commissions and referral fees from car rental suppliers (including Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Budget, Europcar, Thrifty, Alamo) when customers book through the platform.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels1 record
Argus Car Hire product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Argus Car Hire operates an online price-comparison and booking platform that aggregates car rental inventory from more than 1,700 suppliers across 50,000+ pickup locations worldwide, enabling consumers to search, compare, and reserve vehicle rentals. The platform acts as a marketplace intermediary, passing bookings through to partnered rental brands such as Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Budget, Europcar, Thrifty, and Alamo.
Product overview
Argus Car Hire is a single unified car rental comparison and booking platform. The service aggregates car rental options from over 1,700 suppliers across 50,000+ global locations, allowing holidaymakers to search, compare prices, and book rental vehicles. The core product offering includes the website-based search and booking engine with integrated features such as free cancellation, 24/7 customer support, and a mobile application providing exclusive deals and paperless vouchers. No distinct sub-products, modules, or separately branded offerings are identified in the provided source data.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Argus Car Hire Comparison and Booking Platform An online car rental comparison and booking platform that aggregates 1,700+ global suppliers across 50,000+ locations, allowing individual travelers to compare rental rates and book vehicles with providers such as Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Budget, Europcar, Thrifty, and Alamo.
- Argus Car Hire Mobile App Mobile application providing travelers with on-the-go access to search, compare, and book car rentals through the Argus Car Hire supplier network.
Companies that use Argus Car Hire
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Argus Car Hire technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Argus Car Hire partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- HertzcoreMajor international car rental brand featured in Argus Car Hire's comparison network. Hertz vehicles are displayed alongside other suppliers when customers search for rentals, allowing Argus users to compare Hertz rates with competitors.
- AviscoreGlobal car rental company included in Argus Car Hire's supplier network. Avis vehicles and rates are presented to customers during the comparison search process.
- EnterprisecoreEnterprise Rent-A-Car brand featured in the Argus Car Hire comparison platform, enabling customers to compare Enterprise pricing against other suppliers.
- BudgetcoreBudget rent-a-car brand included in Argus Car Hire's supplier network, offering customers another budget-oriented rental option in comparison results.
- EuropcarcoreEuropean car rental company featured in Argus Car Hire's comparison network, particularly relevant for customers renting in European destinations.
- ThriftycoreThrifty Car Rental brand available through Argus Car Hire's platform, offering customers an additional mid-range rental option.
- AlamocoreAlamo Rent A Car brand integrated into Argus Car Hire's comparison platform, expanding customer choice in the rental booking process.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Argus Car Hire competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- DiscoverCars.com: DiscoverCars is a car rental comparison and booking aggregator that aggregates rates from multiple suppliers across global destinations. It directly competes with Argus Car Hire in the same niche of car rental price comparison and offers a similar self-serve online booking experience.
- Rentalcars.com: Rentalcars.com is a Booking Holdings-owned car rental comparison and booking platform serving global travelers. It competes head-to-head with Argus in aggregating rates from major rental brands and offers a similar comparison/booking experience with the backing of a much larger parent company.
- AutoSlash: AutoSlash is a car rental discount and comparison platform that helps travelers find low rates across multiple rental suppliers. It is comparable to Argus as a car rental comparison specialist, though it differentiates through a stronger emphasis on coupons and loyalty-program stacking.
- EconomyBookings: EconomyBookings is an online car rental booking aggregator focused on budget and economy rental options across global destinations. It is directly comparable to Argus as a multi-supplier car rental comparison and booking platform targeting leisure travelers.
Others
- CarTrawler: CarTrawler is a B2B travel technology platform that provides car rental comparison and booking technology to online travel agencies, airlines, and travel brands. Given that asset URLs in Argus's source data point to cartrawler.com domains, CarTrawler is likely a technology partner/platform provider rather than a direct competitor, enabling Argus's booking engine.
Broad incumbents
- Kayak: Kayak is a major meta-search travel platform owned by Booking Holdings that aggregates prices across flights, hotels, and car rentals. It competes with Argus on car rental comparison but operates at a much larger scale and across multiple travel verticals, making it a broad incumbent in the same space.
- Skyscanner: Skyscanner is a global travel meta-search engine owned by Trip.com Group that compares prices across flights, hotels, and car rentals. It overlaps with Argus on car rental comparison as part of a broader multi-vertical travel offering, making it a broad incumbent rather than a direct specialist competitor.
- Tripadvisor: Tripadvisor operates a major travel meta-search and review platform that includes car rental comparison and booking alongside hotels, flights, restaurants, and attractions. It is a broad incumbent in the comparison/booking space and competes with Argus for travelers' car rental booking decisions.
- Booking.com: Booking.com is the world's largest online travel agency and offers car rental booking alongside its core hotel business. It competes with Argus for car rental bookings as part of a much broader portfolio, and its scale and direct traffic make it a formidable broad incumbent in the same car rental booking category.
Emerging players
- Momondo: Momondo is a travel meta-search engine that compares prices across flights, hotels, and car rentals with a focus on emerging and leisure markets. It overlaps with Argus on car rental comparison, particularly in European destinations, and operates as a broader but still-developing player in the comparison space.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks1 record
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Argus Car Hire social profiles
Digital presenceArgus Car Hire financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Argus Car Hire leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Argus Car Hire funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Argus Car Hire M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Argus Car Hire
What does Argus Car Hire do?
Argus Car Hire operates an online price-comparison and booking platform that aggregates car rental inventory from more than 1,700 suppliers across 50,000+ pickup locations worldwide, enabling consumers to search, compare, and reserve vehicle rentals. The platform acts as a marketplace intermediary, passing bookings through to partnered rental brands such as Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Budget, Europcar, Thrifty, and Alamo.
When was Argus Car Hire founded?
Argus Car Hire was founded in 1959. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Argus Car Hire based?
Argus Car Hire is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, in the Europe region.
How does Argus Car Hire make money?
One revenue line is on record: booking commissions and referral fees.
Who are Argus Car Hire's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are DiscoverCars.com, Rentalcars.com, AutoSlash and EconomyBookings. CarTrawler is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are Kayak, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor and Booking.com. Momondo is listed as an emerging player.
Does Argus Car Hire have an API?
No public API is recorded for Argus Car Hire.
What industry is Argus Car Hire in?
Argus Car Hire's product category is Car Rental Marketplace. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAIAF, Car Rental & Car-Sharing Booking Platforms. Its NAICS code is 53211 and its SIC code is 7510.