Questions about hiring here

For payment, usually yes. For the security hold, often no, and that is the one that stops you driving away. Policy varies by company and sometimes by branch, so get it confirmed in writing when you book and take a second card if you have one. The card must also be in the name of the driver on the agreement, which catches out couples who book on one card and send the other person to collect.

Commonly R3 500 to R8 000 on a standard car, and up to R15 000 on something large or where you kept the full excess. It is a hold rather than a charge, but you cannot spend it, and release after return usually takes seven to twenty-one working days. If you are travelling on a card with a modest limit, that hold can quietly ruin a restaurant bill in week two.

On a hire of three days or more in and around Durban, in our opinion yes, almost always. The middle tier at R120 to R220 a day typically brings your exposure from twenty-odd thousand down to the R3 000 to R6 000 band, which is the difference between an irritating week and a serious one. Read its exclusions first, because tyres, glass and the undercarriage are usually carved out.

Yes, for any hired vehicle leaving South Africa. Request it when you book, allow five working days and longer in December, expect a fee around R500 to R900, and check the registration number on the letter matches the car you are actually given. Carry rand in small notes for the road use charge and the third-party insurance sold at the post.

Gravel depends entirely on the agreement, and many standard contracts exclude unproclaimed roads in a way that voids cover rather than merely reducing it. Sani Pass above the border post is a 4x4 route and no standard hire car is permitted on it. The tracker in the car records where you went, so this is not a clause you can quietly ignore.

Most branches and the airport have a key box or designated return lanes, and the drop is allowed. The risk is that nobody inspects the car while you are there, so do the full photograph sequence in the bay, include the surroundings and the key going into the box, note the time, and keep it all until the final statement has cleared. If an attendant is there, ask for a signed return slip even if they say it is unnecessary.

Write rather than telephone. Quote the agreement number and the return date, ask for the damage assessment, the repair quotation and the photographs the claim rests on, and attach your own dated return sequence. Most of these are sloppiness rather than dishonesty, and evidence resolves sloppiness fast. If it does not move and the amount is serious, the consumer protection route is available and the company is aware of that.

It is the best money you can spend before a purchase. A week in the class you are considering, doing your own commute up the hill, with your own shopping in the boot and your own passengers in the back, tells you things a dealership loop cannot. Pay attention to how the seat feels after two hours, the over-the-shoulder visibility in a parking garage, and whether the aircon copes with February. Then decide.