Bronwen Jones
The triumvirate of car hire power is set to be broken with the re-emergence of international rival Hertz into the overcrowded South African market in 1997, but industry insiders already expect the company to tout the same prices as current leaders Budget, Avis and Imperial.
Nicola, who answers the toll-free line at Avis, said: ‘The top three keep the same prices.’ She didn’t add that these prices are almost double what the smaller companies charge.
There is a tremendous choice of car hire in South Africa, each with a stack of add-ons that no one warns you about at the time of hiring. And, because the only simple way to hire a car is with a credit card with a large limit, the user signs away her or his rights and hopes there does not have to be too much of an argument later.
Take the basic cost of a small car for 24 hours’ use in Cape Town. The figure I’m quoted starts at R55 a day and 59 cents/km. As, bar a short trip within Cape Town, I’m only travelling between airport and city, the cost including 95km of driving, with VAT, should be R118,85.
But, that’s before the extras. The unexplained R6 contract fee, R8,77 which seems to be for picking the car up at the airport, the compulsory R31 insurance. And at no stage is a visitor to Cape Town told there is no obvious place to refuel on the way back to the airport. So that’s R29,36.
My final bill for a day’s hire in the Mother City came to R216,92. I used Economy ‘ a collection of small companies that work together and cannot afford offices at the airport.
They meet you from your flight and walk you to the car. While you’ve already given all your details to your travel agent, you have to fill in a form again ‘ and authorise them to take R2 500 off your credit card if necessary … in case you steal or damage the car? There is also a ridiculously long checklist of items that come with the car ‘ I sign it after the young man assures me everything on the list is actually there.
When you return the car there is no one to meet you and to confirm that there is no damage to the vehicle. It is left in a public carpark with the keys in the glove box.
The cost of an A class vehicle (Toyota Corolla 1300 or similar) with Budget was R105 a day and R1,10/km. Thus the same basic cost would have been R223,63 before insurance.
I asked the travel agent why she only told me about Budget initially and she said, totally unabashed: ‘They pay us more commission.’
As to insurance, what’s on offer is not very good from any of the companies. And it is possible that the insurance on your own vehicle would cover you in some instances for a hire car, but you really need a lawyer to work out that much small print.
Whatever form of insurance you accept, there is also a hefty compulsory excess to pay in the event of a claim ‘ between about R2 000 and R9 000. Look at the fine print for even more vicious extras. Budget declares: ‘A double excess is payable on weekend rentals in the event of an accident/write-off.’ That could be an extra R18 000 on your weekend.
Or, if someone steals the car and crashes it? ‘The hirer will be liable for the full damage to or loss of the vehicle in the event of an accident occurring where the vehicle was not being driven by the hirer.’
Essentially, if anything bad happens to the car there’s such a large excess involved, it would be far safer and cheaper not to drive at all.
Comparative rentals for A group cars are: Weel Rent, R58 a day, R30 insurance and 63 cents/km; Panther Rent-a-Car, R59 a day, R30 insurance and 69 cents/km; Avis, R107 a day, R37 insurance, R1,08/km; and Alisa (partner of Hertz), R68 a day, R11 insurance and 85 cents/km