Stewie Mac

Yes there is, both a separate desk inside in the main rental area, or if you're feeling brave there's a Gold office in the lot. If it's your first time renting at JNB then head to the main rental area and use the Gold desk there, but if you're coming from domestic arrivals it's quicker to take the first bridge to the parkade and then head up to level 2, go into the garage and you'll see the yellow Hertz office.

kxc262

Yep there is a Gold counter - make sure you tell the counter agents that you are PC too for that upgrade.
Also, I filled up the car before I returned it and was not charge the 20 RND refueling fee.

pineapple_juice

Just got back from JNB where I rented with Hertz. There wasn't really any obvious gold sign / priority queue at their main counters, but they told me to proceed directly to their parking area where I found a dedicated Gold service / President's Circle counter in a small separate building. My name was on the screen and keys ready. I had booked a Corolla Auto (car group D: CCAR) and got a Ford Kuga (group E, SFAR). Very happy with the upgrade, for my 2+ weeks rental. When asked for a credit card authorization, surprisingly my AMEX (that I had booked with) was not accepted. Had to swipe a VISA card instead. Anyway...

My rental was prepaid, and the additional charges were:
- tourist levy 1% (ZAR 35)
- "cont fee" (ZAR 79)
- fuel (charged ZAR 870 for a full tank)
- road tolls (about ZAR 100)

Overall a smooth experience with Hertz. After returning the car, my wife realised she had left her phone in the vehicle. At this point we were behind airport security and near the gates. Panic! Called her phone, a Hertz rep responded, and luckily we were able to make arrangements for the phone to be sent thru security in no time. Kudos to the helpful Hertz team at JNB!!! There is alot of fuss about theft and dishonesty at OR Tambo, but this really shows the opposite.

Will definitely use Hertz again. Also, the rates were by far better than AVIS on my travel dates.

hockeyinsider

What was driving in South Africa like? Did you need a GPS device?

I presume zero points were received for this rental.

Ditto

I had a similar experience with Hertz CPT after forgetting my wallet in the car, I didn't get as far as security as the agent checking in the car came running after me once she noticed it.

pineapple_juice

The car came with integrated GPS. Did I need it? — Yes. What is driving in South Africa like? — Love it.

I don't collect Hertz points, but chose to credit points to my SAS Eurobonus.

jason8612

Do you recall the $ amount hold that they placed on your card?

jackal

Driving in South Africa reminds me a lot of driving in Australia (if you've never been to Australia, then you can probably compare driving outside of cities in South Africa to be somewhat like driving in rural Arizona/New Mexico/Utah--think lightly-trafficked two-lane roads, except on the opposite side, which is easy to get used to). Driving in JNB and CPT reminds me quite a bit of driving in/through major Australian cities, albeit with significantly more visible pockets (or, sadly, really more like large swaths) of poverty, but you won't really have any reason to be in the poorer and/or more dangerous areas.

As far as safety in your car goes, use caution and be smart about where you go and what is visible (on you and in your car) and my impression is that the risk is reasonably low. (My experience is based on two visits and a sum of about seven weeks in the country and driving the breadth of the country from Kruger to Cape Town.)

hockeyinsider

No issue with road safety or theft? South Africa's high carjacking rates would make me nervous of renting without good insurance.

pineapple_juice

Unfortunately, I don't remember. But i think it was somwhere between ZAR 10,000-30,000

Ditto

The hold amount is dependant on the car category and the insurance you take with them.

Always have at least CDW & TP insurance, either via the rental agency, via a 3rd party or via your credit card, no reason to be nervous, just be aware of your surroundings.

nldogbert

Hi,

Just completed a rental at the CPT station - they did recognize my PC status though only given a one car upgrade ( as per the rule) - could not get a higher upgrade, but since it was only for 3 days I was fine. Although initially when I collected the car and was getting charged, I noticed that my rate was much higher than the rate I had reserved. The agent helping me could not figure out why but luckily a manager appeared at that moment and I overheard that it was something to do with some contract opening fees (which is due to the different system used by Hertz and theirs)... anyway, after some manual changes, the rate was a couple of ZAR lower than what I had.
Upon returning, the car, I was told everything was fine by the check-out attendant. However, upon returning home, I saw an email of the invoice and in there there was an additional charge for fuel (which the check-out agent confirmed when I returned it to be OK).
I was just wondering is this common? I luckily do still have the invoice of my fuel - I did proactively write to customer service to inquire about this but still no response.

Cheers!

ps: Also just checked my account today - although the rental was recorded, no points were given - which I did a retro claim now too.

Ditto

Never had such an issue with Hertz, the only fee usually added if you book from outside ZA is a "contract fee" which is something like R70

Their customer service can be slow at times, I'd suggest nagging them through their FB page or write to [email protected]

nldogbert

Hi,

I was wondering if there is another email address which I can use? I sent up a reminder to my original email adding the above email, but after 2 weeks I am still not getting any response. If none, I will just go to the counter when I am back in CPT end of April to nag at them. It is a small amount, but for me it is the principle of it - if I get the green light that all is OK but later get charged for it, this makes it quite untrustable (wondering if they took the car for a spin after I dropped it)

Cheers!

nldogbert

Just to update, after about 2+ weeks waiting for a response, I finally received one. Did manage to settle the issue - which during the back/forth emailing after their first response went quite fast and issue was solved within a day.
Although I found it strange that it was solved based on 'goodwill' when it clearly was not me asking for an exception and more that it was a fact I was presenting - did not bother to response or correct.

Cheers!