Key Post: South Africa Car Hire

Could anyone suggest a reliable company offering car hire in South Africa?
Need something with plenty of room (5 people travelling together), I would prefer a 4X4 but none of the companies I've tried so far can supply one!
We hope to travel over there in early January which is peak holiday season so I want to book something fairly quickly.
Also if any one has been there your suggestions for 'must-sees' would be very helpful in planning our trip.
At the moment the plan is to fly into Jo'burg, drive to Capetown (along the Garden Route I think it's called) and fly home from Capetown after three weeks in total.

As I said- suggestions welcome
Regards
Arrowman

Re: South Africa Car Hire

Arrowman,
Sorry, cant help you on the vehicle hire aspect except to say when I went travelling there a few years ago - I had to buy an international driving permit - don't know if that's still the case i'm sure the tourism board will help you on that one (satour).
As far as things to see are concerned - personally speaking, I found the garden route to be one of the most scenic areas in the world. SA is a great country for hiking (if you're into that kind of thing). If your itinerary is not too rigid - i'd recommend spending the bulk of your time in Capetown and around the Cape area. A trip to the top of table mountain in Capetown (on foot or by cablecar). for 'sundowners' (a few drinks whilst watching the sun go down out to sea) is a must. Or a visit to an Ostrich farm and a chance to ride an ostrich in 'oudtshoorn' (not too far a drive from the garden route). If you need further info on things to do or see on a budget - try either the 'lonely planet' or 'rough guide' guide books. If however you're not on a strict budget I guess the hotels will be a mine of information.

enjoy!

PS if you manage to rent a vehicle with a spare seat - give me a shout

Re: South Africa Car Hire

Try Skycars (Tel: 01 842 8200). I used them before, and thought their service was good. They act as agents for the major car hire companies, but the rates they quote are all inclusive (CDW, LDW, etc.).

Thanks- to sort out the insurance!

Thanks for the link rory - i'm working on the car hire at the moment.

I also need to arrange travel insurance for the trip. The travel agent with whom i booked the flights offered me insurance but i read somewhere on AAM that its cheaper to sort out indepenantly.

I had a feeling there was a thread devoted to holiday insurance in the 'Good Deals/ Bad Deals' section but I couldn't find it (could have swore it was once a 'sticky topic')
Can anyone direct me to it??

Also any further tips on what to do or see out in S Africa for the first three weeks in January would be very helpful!

Cheers,

Arrowman

Re: Thanks- to sort out the insurance!

Hi Arrowman - It's at the top of the forum.

South Africa

The winelands, especially around Stellenbosch/Franschoek is worth seeing..was there last easter and stayed in the Franschoek House Hotel..fab and the food was the best I've tasted. Helicopter ride around Cape Town is also worthwhile. A great idea is to rent a mobile phone at the airport and make all your calls this way..costs next to nothing and is sooo handy. Distances are vast and we drove from Jo'burg to Kruger National Park (also excellent) but I wouldnt do it again. The second time we flew to Port Elizabeth and did the Garden Route from there to Cape Town. One word of warning...BEWARE of the sun. I got a bad burning on my legs and was out of action for 3/4 days and I'm sensible in the sun...it's hotter than youd thinkFinally, go to Robben Island for the history of it. You'll have a ball..enjoy!

Re: South Africa

I found www.rentacar-southafrica.com to be very good ... Rental is with National (so major company) it's just discounted rates - same T&Cs as normal far as I could make out.

These were the best rates that I could find.

I would advise getting a decent car as the distances are very big and the cheapest classes of car they offer are really rather small.

Fuel is about 75% of the cost here so not a fantastic bargain.

South Africa Car Rental Deals

Used a website at: comparecarrentalsouthafrica.com before and they were very good on pricing and availability if that helps. Also you can browse a few companies offers on one website.
Have a great trip

Give me some tables of the good price of it?

Only comment I have is that we did our car rental from home via our local travel agents. My understanding is that doing it from here gets the mileage included, but renting locally in SA means that you pay extra for the miles.

As noted previously on this thread, the distances that you travel can be enormous - 7-800Km per day is a shortish trip.

I booked a car in SA through Holidayautos.ie, which turned out to be Hertz. I'd certainly check Holiday autos for prices and use it as a benchmark for any location as it is pretty straightforward in what is included and what is not. Holidayautos offer excess insurance that is much cheaper than you pay at the counter, Axa Ireland also have a annual policy for excess insurance that is a good deal if you have a car for more than a few days.

We used hertz from Jo'burg airport. Got some kind of special deal at the time.

One thing. When you give the car back make sure they see exact fuel in return vehicle. When we got back home they charged our CC for tank of fuel, even though it was one tick from full. Took a while to get money back from them.

Be carefull with your luggage when flying as I had clothes taken from mine after checking in at the airport in Jo'burg to return home.