Renting a car for your Uganda vacation? Learn how to save money on that rental car with these easy tips. Renting a car for a Uganda vacation just makes sense. It saves you money that you’d be spending on taxi rides and keeps you from being reliant upon the schedule (or unpredictable schedule) of public transportation.
But the entire process involved in renting a car can be daunting for both first-timers and veteran travelers alike. Here are however some valuable things to know about how to rent a car in Uganda and East Africa entirely – Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda:
- Use a credit card or cash when picking up the car
Renting a car from Road trip Uganda is a breeze, but make sure you use a credit card or cash when picking up your wheels. When you use a debit card, an authorization amount will be charged, and a substantial (i.e. potentially hundreds of dollars) additional incremental hold will be assessed as well.
Rental car companies used to check your credit score when you used a debit card to make sure you can pay any charges, though that policy has recently been changing among most of the larger rental companies.
If you prefer to rent a car using a debit card, call ahead or check online to see what the policy is so you don’t wind up with a hold on funds that you weren’t expecting.
- Keep drivers to a minimum
Whether you’re going on a family vacation or a getaway with some friends, keep the number of drivers to a minimum. For every additional driver, you’ll need to pay a daily fee, whether or not they actually end up driving during the rental period. Sometimes, though, rental companies will waive the fee for corporate rentals or a spouse or domestic partner, but you’ll want to double-check to see what their policy is, as it varies by Rental Company.
If you’re just traveling with your partner on a honeymoon or any other vacation, it’s also a wise decision to move with your driving license such that you can drive yourselves and save some money you would have given to a driver.
- Try not to rent a car at the airport
When thinking about how to rent a car, the question of where to rent a car from is just as important. It is advisable to book your car rental before flying in to Uganda. We know it’s easy to just pick up a car at the airport, but what you may not realize is that you are most likely to get a car from wrong people hence ending up being robbed. You can get around this by simply hailing a cab to take you to the car rental shop that isn’t on airport grounds, and then hire a car from an authorized rental company. If you’re renting a car on 4×4 Car Hire Uganda, you can actually see where our rental place is as it’s always published there.
- Fill up the tank while driving the car
Your vacation was a blast, but now it’s time to return the car in and head home. The only problem is you brought the car back with an empty tank. It is advisable to bring back the car after filling it up the tank to match the exact fuel you found in before setting off for your thrilling tour in Uganda.
Could you let the rental company fill it up for you? Absolutely, but you could wind up paying two, three or four times the going price per gallon. We can all spare 10 minutes and top off the tank before returning the car. Even if you’re already pulling into the airport, it’s worth your time to turn around and find a local petrol station to fill up at.
- Bring your own (possible) extras
Sometimes you need more than just a car for the trip, and rental car companies are great about having extras available for rent for your vacation. To save the convenience fee, you can bring some of the extras with you from home.
For instance, instead of using the GPS from the agency you rent from; just use the maps app on your phone for navigation, as long as it won’t kill your data plan.
Or you can even carry your own GPS provided you have one, and also request for a map from your company as most national parks are in remote areas where internet access is a total problem.