Auto Rental advice needed

[Tamsy]

Gosh, that does sound stressful.

I used Bluu Car rental on my last trip and they were fantastic! I organised delivery of the rental car at Hoedspruit to where I was in the morning, and they were prompt and so efficient.

[charbel]

I am renting a car for 8 days in Capetown and 14 days in Kruger. I read many reviews and concluded that the best choices might be Avis, Thrifty, Europcar or Budget. Thrifty has the best prices among those. Any advice about this?
I know we need to read the small letters, not leave space for them to charge for fuel etc.
I want to know more about the reliability of these companies, considering your previous experiences, especially Thrifty, which has the best prices among the ones I surveyed

I thank you in advance

Cheers
Charbel

[charbel]

Also, if anyone knows of other local companies that do good service, it would be good to know.
We will rent the car in O.R. Tambo and deliver it back there, and the same in Cape Town airport.

Cheers
Charbel

[FinMari]

Hi charbel!

We have tried different car rental companies in South Africa, but nowadays we use only Avis

The reason is reliability
- you get what you have booked
- they do not try to make money of you = at the counter sell a windscreen cover for a vehicle, which windscreen was already damaged (one other big name)
- they have so many locations around South Africa = our last trip we had a big puncture at Phalaborwa. A staff member arrived from Phalaborwa airport to our guest lodge -> ordered replacement vehicle for next morning. If you have any problems at Kruger NP, they have an office at Skukuza airport (only rental dealer inside Kruger)
- For me, when on holiday I do not want to be worried about a rental vehicle -> we rather pay a tiny bit more

If you any other questions about renting a vehicle, please just ask

[arks]

I second FinMari's recommendation of Avis. After using other companies, and various consolidators, I have now been using Avis exclusively for some years for all the reasons that FinMari gives. Avis is proactive and customer oriented and well worth the price. Peace of mind is worth (far) more than saving a few rands!

[charbel]

Dear Arks and FinMari,
Thanks! In the end the friend I am traveling with, who rented the car and will mostly drive it, made the reservations in First for Capetown and Bluu for Kruger.... Let's see what happens....

Cheers
Charbel

[JeanniR]

Hi Dubius

Recommendation for vehicle hire:
SUV's and Bakkies are best.
Either Toyota Fortuner / Hilux, Ford Everest / Ranger - All four have lots of space and are high enough to make game viewing easier, also great on the roads to and from Kruger as well as within

[Melaka]

We usually hire a RAV4 which does the job well.

[dubius]

Hi people
I did not phrase that too well - really wanted recommendations for rental companies to get SUV or bakkie
Grahame

[FinMari]

Hi people
I did not phrase that too well - really wanted recommendations for rental companies to get SUV or bakkie
Grahame

Hi Grahame!

A lot of discussion here https://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=5100

In my experience - use Avis!
I wrote

The reason is reliability
- you get what you have booked
- they do not try to make money of you = at the counter sell a windscreen cover for a vehicle, which windscreen was already damaged (one other big name)
- they have so many locations around South Africa = our last trip we had a big puncture at Phalaborwa. A staff member arrived from Phalaborwa airport to our guest lodge -> ordered replacement vehicle for next morning. If you have any problems at Kruger NP, they have an office at Skukuza airport (only rental dealer inside Kruger)
- For me, when on holiday I do not want to be worried about a rental vehicle -> we rather pay a tiny bit more

[Melaka]

Like FinMari we've had good experience with Avis both at O R Tambo and Skukuza. The flights from/to O R Tambo to Nelspruit do not fit very well with (Virgin) arrival and departure times for LHR. We would rather fly but may have to drive when we go in April.

[Yoda]

I usually use Avis, but they have become very very expensive
For my trip in October I used Bluu (formerly Bidvest) and they were a lot more reasonable. And we had very good service from them

[dubius]

Thanks all
Spent most of yesterday on the phone
We'll be in the park 22..28 Jan with Fortuner from Avis.
Is the yellow ribbon still a thing?
Stop and say hello - even though we usually have a Bird Watching Please Pass sticker in the rear window!
Grahame

[Elsa]

Well done on getting the car booked and sorted!

Is the yellow ribbon still a thing?

It is, unfortunately not as much as in the past but do fly yours and hopefully you will meet some others.
Have a wonderful trip.

[FinMari]

Has something change also other Avis depots

We had very strange situation with Avis this time. The rental was from KMIA, where we returned the vehicle on Monday September 11th 2023. We have booked the vehicle online with Amex. Usually we have seen the charge in the CC account already when we at back home. Not this time. Nothing for four weeks

On October 10th SO received an email from Avis, we should pay direct to South African bank account International bankings are very expensive -> SO sent an response: What???

Nothing in two weeks either in Amex account or email. Then on October 27th SO received email, where his telephone number was asked so they can explain the bill Yep, we know we have to pay the rental but why not with CC

Finally on this Monday, we got the response

Please note that we are at the head office and not at the branch. We don’t debit money from the card without us communicating with the customer. When the account is handed over to direct billing we loose all card details because are not allowed to have them unless the customers offers us.

What When SO locked in his Avis account, the CC information was there

We were offered to pay by bank transfer or by CC (Internet link)

We have used Avis last years from O.R.Tambo, Cape Town Airport and Skukuza. This is the first time to meet this kind of situation