South African Car Rentals
Discussion
I used First car rental
Found them very good. I rented from their lot at the air port.
I dont think you need to worry about hijackers but you do need to be wary of coming across "accidents". When I was there there were reports of guys setting up fake accidents. Unsuspecting person pulls over to help and suddenly they are robbed of their possessions. Wont happen in town like, too many people. Its the less frequented roads out towards the Nuclear Plant at Koeberg.
I was in and around Cape Town and Camps Bay... Trust me an M3 will be a fairly ordinary machine. Sat in the beach front restaurants in camps bay you'd see all sorts go by. Lambo's, Ferraris, Audi R8's, AMG Mercs. A drive up in the hills reveals many many expensive homes and I saw a classic ferrari (probably worth a couple of million) sat on a low loader outside someones house, not guarded! I remember seeing some really old boy easing himself into his bright red 599 GTO for a sunday drive. The Water Front has numerous high end car dealers, one was selling Rolls Royces and Pagani's!
I was also told, a bit of folding money can often sort little altercations with the police. Though I never got to try that out, one guy I know did when he was pulled for drink driving and they let him off. Probably the exception rather than the rule though.
Found them very good. I rented from their lot at the air port.
I dont think you need to worry about hijackers but you do need to be wary of coming across "accidents". When I was there there were reports of guys setting up fake accidents. Unsuspecting person pulls over to help and suddenly they are robbed of their possessions. Wont happen in town like, too many people. Its the less frequented roads out towards the Nuclear Plant at Koeberg.
I was in and around Cape Town and Camps Bay... Trust me an M3 will be a fairly ordinary machine. Sat in the beach front restaurants in camps bay you'd see all sorts go by. Lambo's, Ferraris, Audi R8's, AMG Mercs. A drive up in the hills reveals many many expensive homes and I saw a classic ferrari (probably worth a couple of million) sat on a low loader outside someones house, not guarded! I remember seeing some really old boy easing himself into his bright red 599 GTO for a sunday drive. The Water Front has numerous high end car dealers, one was selling Rolls Royces and Pagani's!
I was also told, a bit of folding money can often sort little altercations with the police. Though I never got to try that out, one guy I know did when he was pulled for drink driving and they let him off. Probably the exception rather than the rule though.
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Wednesday 16th July 13:00
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Wednesday 16th July 13:01
Otispunkmeyer said:
The Water Front has numerous high end car dealers
In March this year I saw a sign for a McLaren dealer around the V&A Waterfront. 
.As to dangers, having correct addresses is a very good thing for ones rental satnav, as if it is slightly incorrect you could end up driving round a township in your hire car instead of arriving at a hotel! Or so a man who knows a man who had a dog who knew a man at the pub - told me
. I passed a Cobra for hire during my stay, which I assume was this
http://www.adventurebookings.co.za/product-detail/...
Edited by RichardD on Wednesday 16th July 13:19
No experience of the rental car company OP but travelled extensively in SA and had no issues.
Western Cape and CT is defiantly a different kettle of fish to say Johannesburg, just apply some common sense (like anywhere in the world to be fair) and you'll have a great time. I had a Toyota Corolla when last in CT, I guess you could argue a fancy marque could draw un wanted attention potentially. The roads are generally very good, I did hit a pothole much further up north at speed and totally f
ked the wheel.
Despite the negative opinions try not to go in siege mode, it's a holiday after all. The gap between the haves and have nots is huge, you'd have to actively seek out some of the areas you may not come back out of, you shouldn't for example be driving along and suddenly find yourself in the middle of a township.
Western Cape and CT is defiantly a different kettle of fish to say Johannesburg, just apply some common sense (like anywhere in the world to be fair) and you'll have a great time. I had a Toyota Corolla when last in CT, I guess you could argue a fancy marque could draw un wanted attention potentially. The roads are generally very good, I did hit a pothole much further up north at speed and totally f
ked the wheel.Despite the negative opinions try not to go in siege mode, it's a holiday after all. The gap between the haves and have nots is huge, you'd have to actively seek out some of the areas you may not come back out of, you shouldn't for example be driving along and suddenly find yourself in the middle of a township.
a311 said:
<snip>
you'd have to actively seek out some of the areas you may not come back out of, you shouldn't for example be driving along and suddenly find yourself in the middle of a township.
Oddly enough, this very thing happened to me when I went back to East London after 12 years or so absence.you'd have to actively seek out some of the areas you may not come back out of, you shouldn't for example be driving along and suddenly find yourself in the middle of a township.
In an area I knew (used to know!) relatively well, the road layout had been changed to accomodate a new township, and I found myself driving slap bang into it without any warning.
But as you say, this is unlikely to happen to the Op.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff