Avis Southern Africa Anmeldelser 151

I actually came across these reviews after completing our South Africa trip using a Tank 300 from JNB, and I have to say I’m genuinely surprised by some of the comments. Our experience with the team was completely positive from start to finish.

Communication in the lead-up to the trip was excellent, with every question answered promptly and professionally. The vehicle itself was practically brand new, extremely well prepared, and equipped with everything we could possibly have needed for the journey.

At the end of the rental, the deposit was returned exactly as promised with no issues whatsoever. Overall, a fantastic experience and we will absolutely be using them again in the future.

Very disappointing and worrying experience with Avis Safari Rental.
We rented a 4x4 for a family trip in South Africa, expecting a reliable, safe vehicle properly prepared for this kind of journey. Unfortunately, the experience was extremely poor.
Within the first few days, we encountered serious tyre problems. One tyre was in such poor condition that it punctured after only three days. The other two spare tyres did not allow us to travel safely or with peace of mind. A garage later confirmed that their condition was very concerning. We were travelling with my pregnant wife and my 9-year-old daughter: this was not a minor inconvenience, but a real safety issue.
We also had another very practical problem: the system used to secure the spare wheel underneath the vehicle was not working properly. As a result, we had to travel with a spare wheel inside the boot, which is completely abnormal for a vehicle supposedly prepared for a 4x4 trip.
The tents were not waterproof either. We could not sleep properly when it rained, because water was coming into the tents. We were told this was due to unusual weather conditions, but from our perspective, the equipment provided was simply not suitable and not properly maintained.
Because of these severely degraded travel conditions, we even returned the vehicle one day earlier than planned. Despite all this, the company only offered very limited compensation, equivalent to approximately 200 euros, and only after many follow-ups. This amount does not reflect the problems we experienced, the safety risk, or the impact on our family trip.
I am deeply disappointed by this experience. When renting a 4x4 for travel in South Africa, safety, tyre condition, waterproof tents and serious customer service should be non-negotiable.
Beware of this company. Based on our experience, I would clearly advise renting elsewhere.

Poor complaint handling despite valid issues!
We rented a fully equipped 4x4 camper from Avis Safari Rental Johannesburg (Dec 2025 – Jan 2026).

Unfortunately, the camper setup was structurally leaking during the rainy season. The rooftop tent and mattress became wet during every rainfall, rendering the vehicle unusable for its intended purpose for approximately 5–6 consecutive days. We had to dry the mattress, wash covers and air out the vehicle, yet the issue reoccurred each time it rained. Visible cracks in the camper structure suggested this was not an isolated defect.

A replacement vehicle was arranged, but the agreed swap location (Aberfoyle) was not honoured. Communication regarding timing was limited, and the driver was over 1,100 km away when the swap was scheduled. This caused disruption to our itinerary and uncertainty during a key part of our trip.

In addition, cross-border documentation that was expected to be in order at departure was not available and was only provided after repeated follow-up several days later.

The security deposit was refunded, but only after active follow-up on our side.

The most disappointing part, however, has been the complete lack of response regarding compensation. Despite multiple emails, calls and a formal complaint submitted via Avis corporate, no substantive reply has been received to date.

While the vehicle itself performed mechanically, the handling of the issue and the absence of proper complaint resolution ultimately shaped our experience.

Picked an AVIS car up in J'burg after no sleep on an overnight flight, and no instructions to video and photograph the condition of the car, just waved off. Returned it 10 days later in Durban and a guy pointed out a scratch I couldn't see. We had looked after the car and cleaned it before our return, we had not scratched it. We were then asked to complete a complaints form in the office, without my glasses on. I just wrote in the box they showed me. We were tricked, it turns out it was a form to consent for a valet. No Avis staff member had mentioned a Valet or shown us why. Surely EVERY hire car needs fully cleaning before being used again - thats the nature of hiring a car and should be included in the price. But if we had known we could have got a valet done alot cheaper than £59. Except the staff hadn't completed anything on the form. No boxes had been ticked about a scratch or a valet proving they had not communicated what the form was with us and it was not an agreement at all, just a scam. They took £59 out our account, and still fighting to be reimbursed. Awful communication by Avis staff at both ends. We then hired exactly the same car from Cape Town AVIS, and returned it, cleaned it before returning and had no problem. So it was clearly poor service in J'burg and Durban, not us and how we drove or cleaned the car. Don't risk it - use another car hire company.

NOW CLAIM IT WAS 20% UNDERFILLED ON RETURN AFTER DRIVING FROM THE BP - FILLED TO FIRST CLICK - TO THE DROP OFF.
Returned car to CPT with full tank - filled up at the BP not a mile from the return. Booking was for 1 month. First car no power to carry three people and exchanged. Second car a bit knocked about and the Police pointed out worn tyres. Exchanged. Third car, like the previous two returned with full tanks and evidenced. Printer wasn't working at return (common issue) so I have a photograph of AVIS' screen showing all paid, nothing due! And yes, it has been sent to you! Emails not responded to and claimed refuelling charge. Send a follow up email and all you get is thanks for your follow up email. Shocking service and whilst not a huge amount, if every customer is charged this way...Maybe if someone actually looks at this I can get this sorted and get my refund [T8941DD4C] COMPLAINT ra126003172 As Mr T says, thank you for your attention to this matter.
NOW CLAIM IT WAS 20% UNDERFILLED ON RETURN AFTER DRIVING FROM THE BP - FILLED TO FIRST CLICK - TO THE DROP OFF.

First time using this branch, certainly the last time. Billed for existing damages that were reported, with photo's, BEFORE taking the vehicle. What's the point of taking a bunch of photos of damages and loading them on the app on pre inspection, if they will bill YOU for existing damages? Very disappointing!

Avis Capetown International Airport are still at these scams siting fraudulent damage claims & scratches to your returned rental car & refusing to refund your initial deposit. Warning take many, many photos & get a signed statement on any damage, however small, when you pick up a rental car from Avis - you simply cannot trust them - in fact don't use them at all.

I never had good experiences with Avis they always charged me more than rightfully but this time even though I booked INSURANCE that covered me for ANY WHEEL DAMAGE whatsoever they charged me an insane amount for tire covers that got stolen from my car in Cape Town. Clearly I was not supposed to be charged anything because of the theft as it says it right in the insurance details. I never got that money back despite a bunch of contact on my end and honestly that is such a scam I don’t know what to do anymore. Never rent with that company ever.

Still waiting for holding deposit to be released/returned. Rented vehicle from Avise @ Durban Airport. Vehicle was returned Sunday 15 March 2026 - still no release of deposit. Seems like it was not a holding deposit but the amount went straight off my banking account. NO FEEDBACK from customer services after 3 emails and one week.

Car was clean.
Communication was an issue. E-Mail support did not find my booking even tough I provided name, address, rental location, booking number, etc. There is no WhatsApp and international call is difficult if you are not from SA. Aside that service was good. What I really liked is that I could shift my rental from 7 AM to 7 AM to 9 PM to 9 PM. The 24HR policy is really good.

Would give Minus zero star .
Pick car up .
No paperwork now issued at counter .
On going to where car parked .
Pointed out damage to wheels to staff .
Told we don’t class that as damaged.
On returning car .
Staff claims wheel damage does count .
Now received a bill from Avis Cape Town .
But still no paperwork.
Have emailed Avis Cape Town airport.
And as you expect.
NO REPLY.
Steer clear .
Plenty other companies to rent thou at airport

Do not rent with Avis on South Africa, especially in Amanzimtoti. I have rented cars for 30 years in all over the world and this is the worse car rental service malfunction I have seen so far. They will make you sign the rental contract on a tablet but will not be able to send it to you by email or just print it, as their system is not working. You can insist and request this document as many time you like, they will tell you yes but will be on any case completely incompetent to fix the problem. So you will have no possibility to provide this document in case of police control, or just to confirm rental agreement clauses such as insurance, maximum mileage, cost, etc.. That makes things important if you have a damage which was my case. A small damage occured on the car due to a stone on a dirt road. In this case, the will debit your account for the entire deposit without considering the insurance you have on your contract, that you do not have as they were not able to provide it to you. I deeply regret to have rented with Avis in Amanzimtoti.

I got a car from my insurance and now AVIS dropped off the car and day after a called to say I owe them money for 2018 and to my surprise oli took a car 5yrs ago they never picked it up was no issue now in 2026 I owe them how so... When I call they taking pillar to post and I have requested the documents to prove that I owe them no one can supply me with information and the only thing they can say to me is they need to collect the car since I owe them... This car is authorised by my insurance so why do I have to return the car because it has nothing to do with my personal account?

As longstanding and loyal client of Avis Car rental South Africa, we have traditionally received friendly and efficient service from all Avis staff. We are currently working on a large project in Cape Town South Africa and needed to extend our car rental by two weeks. We communicated this to our travel agent and were advised by Avis that we needed to swop vehicles because the rental was longer than 30 days. Our agent booked a new car with Avis and communicated our specific vehicle needs to Avis. On arriving at Avis none of the staff understood why we were returning the car and no replacement car was available? On asking why we’d been asked to come in at a specific time to swop vehicles, I was aggressively ‘lectured’ by the acting supervisor Lihle Jongilanga that they had no instructions from our travel agent and that we should just keep the vehicle we’d had for the past month. Our very competent travel agent confirmed this was nonsense and that the specific needs ( covered boot area) had been communicated. On relaying this Mr Jongilanga became quite defensive and aggressive, raising his voice quite unecessarily - not the kind of service or attitude we had come to expect from Avis South Africa! An hour later, it appears that a car with the specifications we requested has been available all the time, so we are unsure what the issue and aggressiveness has been about. After 30 years of support, this incident has left a bad taste and we’ll need to think about whether our company using Avis again?

Avis Cape Town

Terrible Service, Manager should not work in service and still waiting for my rental deposit.

Numerous emails, calls and promises!

I would not trust Avis South Africa. I was charged double the price of what was in my rental agreement, this included a point to point rental, unlimited mileage, there was no damage or anything done to the vehicle and it was returned to the agreed drop off point with a full tank of gas. I approached Avis about this and they were unable to explain any of the extra charges and yet did nothing to refund any of those extra charges. I spoke with multiple different people but no one offered any help

Money trap and false claims of service online.
1) Attemped to book online, Website claimed no vehicles available for dec 31 to Jan 20 2026
2) Same Day got a lift to Int Airport Cape Town and had lots off choice of cars in class I wanted.
because its was cheaper on line, having to drive in to get a car cost me twice as much in rental.
Why , because Your web site and staff lie.
3) I requested full coverage for any and all out off pocket, cost me an extra 4,054 ZAR, which aparantly does not cover anything.
4) You added a further 4,300 ZAR "AS A DEPOSIT" that i was told would be returned to me. All lies, I never got my deposit back.
5) You then charged me a further ZAR 436 after I returned to the USA for repairs ,
6) I sent you more than 1 email requesting proof off costs of repair recieved no rep[ly
7) I further asked by emails what ZAR 4,054 covered, just what was i paying for, what coverage did this extra money money buy me.

I plan to find any and all consumer web sites here and in SA where i will provide negative feed back with the above information,.

fraudulent business hiding behind car rentals business, they kept my deposit , while i was still fruastrated asking them to pay it back , they went to my credit card and debited another deposit, these was 10 days after i rented their mechanical broken car. They are NOW holding 2 of my deposits and talking 14 days turn around time while already they have had my deposit for 12 days todate. NEVER USE AVIS SOUTH AFRICANS , THEY ARE SCAMMERS

Whilst we did have a long wait in cals town airport for our hire care (pre-booked)
They were very helpful.
When we had a puncture Matseliso Motsoane was particularly helpful, even checking in on us to ensure the recovery vehicle has arrived and Malingbo was great at roadside. I have also had an update this morning that they will send a car to exchange with ours, with it departing at six am and them then confirming the time of arrival (given the unknown/traffic). Will commit in due course re charges made to us having read reviews. They did say at the time we would be charged given there's a spare and requisite tools in the car when I know the UK AA have always told me that the likelihood of me changing a tire given the strength required is nil and they would definitely not have advised me to change one on the motorway.

I was double charged and to top it all my deposit still withheld. No one answers phones by PE Airport. Should i fly down again to go argue my case. Bad bad service there!