Car in S. Africa
 

Hi,
I am looking to rent a car for about five days to drive from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town. Cars seem to be pretty expensive. Any ideas for how to get a car for a good price with unlimited mileage?
Thanks.

Try and book before you arrive, we had toruble in Cape Town on a Friday getting car. Ended up getting one at Avis at the Holiday Inn - Waterfron.

Definitely book before you leave home. The rates are better and it is easier to get unlimited kilometers.

You may be getting hit with a one-way drop off fee (rental car companies generally prefer that you return the car to its place of pick up since it helps them manage inventory). You may find that a car from an agency with a more expensive daily rate (e.g., Hertz or Avis) does not charge a drop-off fee and may average lower.

You might try Autoeurope. They now offer rentals in South Africa (I think it has to be for 3 days or more). We have usually received an Avis car thru Autoeurope in both Europe and South Africa.

I am a big fan of AutoEurope and just returned from SA and Namibia about 10 days ago. While AutoEurope had been using Avis, they are now using National Alamo. In Namibia it was my understanding that we would be picking up our car at the airport, but rather we were met at the airport, had to wait for passengers from other incoming flights, and only then were transported into Windhoek to process the paperwork and get the vehicle. All in all, it was two and a half hours from the time our flight landed until we took possession of our car.

At the Cape Town airport, the National Alamo pickup location is at the extreme far end of all the rental car companies, making it a very long walk to either pick up or drop off a vehicle and return to the terminal.

I'm still a big fan of AutoEurope, but I miss the days of dealing with Avis.