Car hire without a credit card in South Africa

by Cheréne Pienaar on 10 January 2012

It’s no secret that booking a car with Drive South Africa is as easy as driving an automatic; you simply need to turn the key (click on link) and drive (make that booking!) To make things even easier for you, some car rental companies now accept debit cards. Car hire without a credit card is now possible!

The rules are the same

The terms and conditions are the same as when booking with a credit card; the card holder must be the renter and the card is not transferable. This simply means that the card holder and the primary driver must be the same person and needs to be present at the time of collecting the vehicle.

According to Drive South Africa sales manager Ellena van Tonder, it used to be the case that only credit cards are accepted as payment to book a car at Drive South Africa. But things are a lot easier for business people and leisure travellers alike with the possibility of car hire without a credit card in South Africa. “Car Rental options were very limited to clients who did not own a credit card. We are very excited about the prospect of car rental now being accessible to a larger audience” Van Tonder said.

How payment works

In case something happens to the vehicle, we add an additional day's rental and a tank of fuel to your bill as a refundable surety charge. Any expenses for extras will also be billed. In addition to this the excess amount will be added to the rental deposit and charged as one amount. We will require your account details so that we are able to refund the surety charge to your account once you have safely returned the vehicle.

But remember...

Please note that rental by debit card is only available on selected vehicles, please speak to your rental consultant to indicate the options available to you. If making an enquiry or reservation via our website, please clearly indicate that you are in possession of a debit card to avoid disappointment.

If you wish to rent a car without a credit card, you can do so by either calling our call centre, or if you have a debit or cheque card with raised digits, then the reservation can be made online. If you do not have a card with raised digits, payment must be made by EFT. You must have a South African issued debit or cheque card with sufficient funds available to cover the surety charges explained above, when you collect the rental car.

Debit and cheque cards are also accepted from the following South African banks:

1. Nedbank

2. Standard Bank

3. First National Bank

4. ABSA

5. Capitec

6. Mercantile Bank

Make that booking with your debit card and reap the rewards of quick and easy car rental in South Africa.

Cheréne Pienaar

Cheréne Pienaar Born and bred in Bloemfontein, this Free state gal is an obsessive reader and hiker and loves discovering... all the time. As an e-marketing assistant and copywriter she believes social media is the future and plans to conquer Africa one word at a time.

View all posts by Cheréne Pienaar

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2 Responses on this page.Add your own

sophonia says:

25 Feb 2012

Can u please email me the list of cars available for debit card payments and the rates because I want to book having an idea how much to pay
Is Rental a good idea? says:

28 Feb 2012

There are many factors that shape the competitive landscape of the car rental industry. Competition comes from two main sources throughout the chain. On the vacation consumer’s end of the spectrum, competition is fierce not only because the market is saturated and well guarded by industry leader Enterprise, but competitors operate at a cost disadvantage along with smaller market shares since Enterprise has established a network of dealers over 90 percent the leisure segment. On the corporate segment, on the other hand, competition is very strong at the airports since that segment is under tight supervision by Hertz. Because the industry underwent a massive economic downfall in recent years, it has upgraded the scale of competition within most of the companies that survived. Competitively speaking, the rental car industry is a war-zone as most rental agencies including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis among the major players engage in a battle of the fittest.