The modern traveler of today is experienced in doing internet searches with regard to their holiday car rental needs and knows how to search for affordable car hire in South Africa and other countries they wish to visit. Since there are so many car rental companies in South Africa, you will find the first few pages of Google covered by hundreds of car rental companies in South Africa, all vying for first place on the initial Search Engine Results Page in Google. The international traveler has not only become wise in his or her internet searches for car rental South Africa, but has also become price conscious due to the tough economic times that we are all experiencing. So it’s no wonder that the term ‘cheap car hire in South Africa’ is being used in different forms as the main keyword or key phrase in finding affordable car hire in South Africa.
The danger when looking for cheap car hire in South Africa is that potential clients will not know if the company they have found is reputable, real or merely a virtual company on the internet. Another concern is what the cars look like and what condition they are in. There are many questions that go through the heads of the potential client: Is the car properly insured and will I be covered with this cheap rental company in the same way as with larger, better branded companies? Will the excess be sky-high or will it come at an affordable price?
Yet another question: How will the renter be able to pay, as the norm is when renting a car in South Africa, using a valid driver’s license, passport or identity document and a valid credit card? These are normally the only ways of securing a car. In our research throughout the South African car rental industry the main obstacle we came across is that potential clients need to be in possession of a credit card when they hire a car.
Coupled with the worldwide credit crunch and the economic downturn, there is a tendency in Europe to phase out credit cards in major retail stores throughout Europe, with the result that many who are travelling to South Africa are arriving on our shores without a credit card yet still need to hire transport to get around. After all, self drive car hire is still the best way to see South Africa. Drive Africa did its own searches to find car rental companies that offered cheap car rental without credit cards and car hire companies that offered cheap car rental using debit cards. We only came up with small, dubious companies in the major towns in South Africa such as Cape Town and Johannesburg. Interestingly enough, these businesses were not found on the internet.
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