Car Rental in Namibia
 

I am leaving for Namibia on August 18th - to see my daughter who is teaching in northern Namibia. Her sister and I will be joining her for 2 weeks driving around the country. I have finished all my bookings - wish I had found Cardboard Box first - but they finished up my bookings. Now the car rental. I am overwhelmed in how to do this. Also what to do about CDW etc. I have VISA and AMEX if that makes a difference. I also saw on one blog about buying excess insurance for about $100 dollars - is this worth it? My understanding from my daughter is that the roads that we will travel will mostly be paved, maybe some gravel. Any help will be greatly appreciated. thanks

Cardboard Box will also arrange for a car rental at competitive rates. I used CB for some things but not for car rental because they wanted the money up front. After checking the usual suspects (Avis, Hertz, Thrifty, Budget, AutoEurope), I went with Budget based on the lowest price. I had Collision Damage Waiver and Theft Protection included, which I suggest you get; I don't think you need more than that. I don't believe your credit cards will provide coverage for Namibia but you can call them to check. Some of the main roads are paved, but you will no doubt drive on gravel roads. They are not bad to drive on but you don't want to go too fast. Given that you will drive on those types of roads, I suggest you make sure you have two spares (I think some companies do that). I thought driving in Namibia was relatively easy. Unless you're in downtown Windhoek, you won't be bothered by traffic and it is likely you will sometimes drive for miles without seeing another car. Hope you enjoy your trip. Steve

thanks for the info - i will check into it all. I will post of post-trip review since I will cover a lot of territory in a country i know little about!

A few more comments re car rental:

- my Canadian Visa and Amex would cover the CDW in Namibia provided the retail value of the vehicle (new) was NOT greater than $65,000US; the vehicle was NOT a pick up truck and you did NOT drive on non-public roads (private access roads to hotels were exempt). I'm very glad I knew the fine print because the rental car company wanted to give us a Toyota Hilux but it can be converted to a pick up truck so our CDW would have been void and we wouldn't have known.

- the car rental company insurance terms and conditions are incredibly onerous (we rented via a large multinational that starts with "H" - still arguing with them so keeping my name and their name out of correspondence). The CDW they offer doesn't even cover everything as the list of exemptions is quite specific...for example, if you damage the car on a gravel road and no other car is involved, it is assumed you were driving recklessly and is not covered. Also, if you require assistance on a weekend, the charges will be double (and a Weekend is considered Friday to Monday -yes, 4 days!).

- the car rental company (well, at least the one we used) is very particular about scratches and chips on the vehicle - especially if you don't buy their CDW so I recommend you do a detailed photographic study of the vehicle when you pick it up for comparison at drop off if there is a problem (a great piece of advice I learned here)

- If you are driving on gravel the likelihood of a flat tire is quite high - the rental agent told us 50% of their customers get a flat. Recommend you fully acquaint yourself with how to change a tire before you leave and check the vehicle you rent for jack, spare, etc. If you are driving on a lot of gravel (we did) as mentioned above I suggest you take a second spare - I wish we had (we had two flats) but the rental agent said it was unnecessary as "we are everywhere" - well, they weren't.

In the Bradt Namibia book (a really helpful guidebook) there is reference to one rental company that offers 100% CDW and good rates - it is offered via Expert Africa (I think the author of the book has an interest in that company) - I did not check them out and can't vouch for them, but it might be an interesting bit of research to do.

http://www.expertafrica.com/

Good to hear you'll be writing a report! Namibia doesn't get quite the number of posts other countries do.