Renting a car

G

guest2013-1

guest
Joined
Aug 22, 2003
Messages
19,800
Reaction score
13
Since when is the deposit AND excess (just in case there's an accident) held on your credit card?

I had to "pay" R9000 which included the excess AND deposit for the rental. Last time I rented was 2003, so things might have changed, but I'm considering giving back the car and trying a different company (First car Rental through CMH)

Looking to spend max R140 a day
 
They pretty much reserve as much as they anticipate your spend to be...
I always take all the excess waivers.
 
Some of them just check that your card is in order by running a transaction for R1.
Some just block off the reserve amount.
Some take the reserve amount and refund it to you the remainder to you once the car is returned.
I've never heard of any taking the reserve amount and excess amount before...
 
heartbroken said:
we always rent from First Car for our company, they were always the cheapest for us.
Click to expand...

They are one of our clients but I will never use them again after I hired a Ford Ikon from their OR Thambo office and only that night in a massive highveld thunderstorm did I discover, while leaving Ponte Tower in Berea, that only one headlight was working..... I was NOT impressed and when I handed the car back to them and asked them how they can rent out an unroadworthy vehicle they simply shrugged their shoulders........

Only use Budget and Avis now...... hired a Polo from Budget for Argus week this year in CPT and I think they only put 6 grand hold on my card.......... been like this for many years now.
 
Yea I'm driving a Chevy Spark Lite at the moment. My knees physically pain after a 15 minute drive, and it's not because it's uncomfortable, it's just because of the pedals...

I've had it for almost a week now, have done at least 100km's and the fuel gauge is still at "F"... I'm worried the fuel gauge isn't working properly...
 
what class car were you renting? R9k sounds insane.

I usually use Dollar/Thrifty, R5k holding transaction, but it never comes off the card, it's just for authorisation
 
AcidRaZor said:
I've had it for almost a week now, have done at least 100km's and the fuel gauge is still at "F"... I'm worried the fuel gauge isn't working properly...
Click to expand...
Hahaha! That happened to me in PE (also a spark). After about a week and a half I was like WTF is wrong with this gauge :D
 
I usually Tempest Car Hire when traveling. No credit card BS there. You pay for the rental amount up front and give them a holding deposit of R2-3.5k depending on vehicle you hire.

You return the vehicle spotless, you get your money back within three days.

Great service too.
 
AcidRaZor said:
Yea I'm driving a Chevy Spark Lite at the moment. My knees physically pain after a 15 minute drive, and it's not because it's uncomfortable, it's just because of the pedals...

I've had it for almost a week now, have done at least 100km's and the fuel gauge is still at "F"... I'm worried the fuel gauge isn't working properly...
Click to expand...

lol. i was in a hyundai i10 a few weeks back. same story. and the tank is only 35L. :wtf:
 
flashsa said:
They are one of our clients but I will never use them again after I hired a Ford Ikon from their OR Thambo office and only that night in a massive highveld thunderstorm did I discover, while leaving Ponte Tower in Berea, that only one headlight was working..... I was NOT impressed and when I handed the car back to them and asked them how they can rent out an unroadworthy vehicle they simply shrugged their shoulders........

Only use Budget and Avis now...... hired a Polo from Budget for Argus week this year in CPT and I think they only put 6 grand hold on my card.......... been like this for many years now.
Click to expand...

^ Added to my "rental car check list". I will make sure to check next time - I always check for physical damage and the tires, but not the electronics. Thanks for the heads up.
 
heartbroken said:
^ Added to my "rental car check list". I will make sure to check next time - I always check for physical damage and the tires, but not the electronics. Thanks for the heads up.
Click to expand...

I couldn't see where I was driving on the highway that night.... remember clipping a couple of kerbs as well as without proper headlights I could not see where the lanes were. Next morning I checked and the hubcaps on the LHS were mashed properly.

I dared them to charge me for damage. They never did......
 
Most if not all mainstream car hire companies will immediately "Block" R3000-5000 on your card as excess. This is over the daily rental amount which might be as little as R100 per day with an average of R170 for the smallest POS econobox .
Trouble is 1. Your remaining credit is frozen for the duration of the rental and you risk getting your card declined "because it reaches its limit" perhaps during a romantic dinner when it's time to pay and 2. it takes a couple of days for the credit to be "unblocked" when you return the vehicle and pay the total rental.
It's Fscking inconvenient sometimes - Hertz, Budget, Avis, Europcar, Imperial, and others whose name escapes me are all complicit. Even the smaller companies will keep back a deposit. Cape Scenic car hire for example*R3000)
Even the company Kulula uses (and booking a vehicle through kulula is a value preposition most of the time) will charge an excess on your card depending on the value of the rental. Of course when you start renting big ticket items like Mercs, and BMWs and Mini vans then you could be staring at a huge credit card holding deposit. I can remember as far back as 1995 when the VW combi of Avis was considered such a hijack risk the deposit required was usually your first born kid.
 
Last edited:
Hosehead said:
Most if not all mainstream car hire companies will immediately "Block" R3000-5000 on your card as excess. This is over the daily rental amount which might be as little as R100 per day with an average of R170 for the smallest POS econobox .
Trouble is 1. Your remaining credit is frozen for the duration of the rental and you risk getting your card declined "because it reaches its limit" perhaps during a romantic dinner when it's time to pay and 2. it takes a couple of days for the credit to be "unblocked" when you return the vehicle and pay the total rental.
It's Fscking inconvenient sometimes - Hertz, Budget, Avis, Europcar, Imperial, and others whose name escapes me are all complicit. Even the smaller companies will keep back a deposit. Cape Scenic car hire for example*R3000)
Even the company Kulula uses (and booking a vehicle through kulula is a value preposition most of the time) will charge an excess on your card depending on the value of the rental. Of course when you start renting big ticket items like Mercs, and BMWs and Mini vans then you could be staring at a huge credit card holding deposit. I can remember as far back as 1995 when the VW combi of Avis was considered such a hijack risk the deposit required was usually your first born kid.
Click to expand...

Yea I know they take a deposit. But they took a deposit AND the excess just "in case" there's an accident. It is very inconvenient yes, but more annoying than inconvenient. I already paid the rental fee's upfront so that's not why they're keeping the hold on my card. Just a bit silly I think.

The fuel gauge officially moved from "F"!!!! lol
 
grav80 said:
Congrats, well done!!!


:D
Click to expand...

I was getting worried it was broken dude, you have no idea. It's right next to the "F" line, but still :D

Usually by this time I would have had to put in petrol.... I miss my Audi :(
 
AcidRaZor said:
I was getting worried it was broken dude, you have no idea. It's right next to the "F" line, but still :D

Usually by this time I would have had to put in petrol.... I miss my Audi :(
Click to expand...

When you return the car, fill up yourself but only to the point where the gauge shows it is full. If you return it empty they fill it all the way to the capacity of the fuel tank and charge you accordingly.

I know... you only save a couple of bucks but they screw you any way they can (e.g. R300 admin fee to transfer a ticket to your name) so I like to return the favour.
 
Hosehead said:
It should be illegal.
Click to expand...

I disagree. It's all about risk. If a client smashes a car and they have maxed out their credit card between driving the car off the rental floor and the accident - imagine how difficult it will be for the rental company to recoup the excess?

A large portion of our population is financially vrot and without the holds on credit cards, rental companies would have to fork out massive amounts on debt collection. This cost would then have to be passed on in the form of increased rental rates.

I never use my credit card... it is just there for emergencies. so they can put a 20k hold on it, I don't care... it falls away a couple of days after handing the car back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X