Official Statement:

Drive South Africa no longer offering Vehicle Buybacks

Date: 1 January 2009

Drive South Africa regrets to inform that we no longer offer buybacks as one of our self-drive products. This is due to the liquidation and closure of Twende Overland Services (Twende), the company which has operated buybacks since 2006.

Twende, a separately owned and run company, was contracted to Drive South Africa to receive buyback referrals from the Drive South Africa website since 2006. These website enquiries were sent directly onto Twende, and any buyback deals that arose from these enquiries were entered into between the buyback client and Twende directly.

Drive South Africa acted solely as a referring agent for Twende over these 2 years, and received commission for any business Twende generated from referrals sent via the Drive South Africa website.

Whilst those visiting the buyback section of the DSA website, may have had the initial impression that they would be dealing with Drive South Africa, anyone who made an enquiry via the website, would soon learn that they would be transacting and dealing with Twende in all aspects of the buyback arrangement. In hindsight, we regret that we did not make this fact clearer to people browsing our website.

While we hope that the above information explains the reason for buybacks no longer being offered by Drive South Africa, the question remains:

What about those buyback clients that were affected by the closure of Twende?

Drive South Africa was first notified of Twende's closure and subsequent liquidation on Friday the 31st of October 2008. We had no prior knowledge or warning of this. It is still unknown to Drive South Africa the cause of Twende's liquidation.

We discovered shortly after the liquidation of Twende, that a number of a buyback clients were affected by the closure of Twende.

On further investigations, we were informed that all the Twende clients who were entered into a contract with Twende at the time of liquidation, would be exempted from their obligation to sell the vehicle back to Twende, and would therefore be able to either keep or sell their vehicle privately.

Although not entirely satisfied with this decision, Drive South Africa did feel that it gave affected clients a fair opportunity to limit their losses, because in most cases, the market value of a vehicle upon buyback is greater than the contracted buyback price. This would put clients in a position to recoup all or most of their money, provided they had the time to do so.

Subsequently we received notice of certain clients who were unhappy with this outcome and were not prepared or able to sell their vehicle privately.

On hearing of these clients, Drive South Africa has made the decision to step in, and honour the buyback agreements that these clients had with Twende.

Steve Conradie , Drive South Africa director said: "This had been a most unfortunate incident. Drive South Africa values each and every client - direct or indirect. We are just as shocked at the sudden closure of Twende and will endeavour to assist Twende’s clients where possible."

Buyback clients affected by the Twende liquidation can contact Steve Conradie at steve@drivesouthafrica.co.za or 021 423 1912.

Drive South Africa continues to offer its service of car hire, 4x4 hire and camper hire to all destinations around Southern Africa.