Avis Rent A Car

Do you want to avoid being overcharged?

If the answer to this is “yes”, then read on....

You would think that the price you are quoted for something would be the price you pay, wouldn’t you? Wrong – in the case of car hire from Avis. Let me explain.

In September this year we went on holiday to Cape Town in South Africa. We needed to hire a car for 9 days, so I naturally did some research on the internet. I obtained quotes from all the major companies, and Avis came out as one of the cheapest. I was quoted 1937 Rand (approximately £129) for the total cost of the hire. I confirmed that this included insurance, VAT, etc..

Because Avis is a well-known company with a good reputation, I decided to make the booking. The booking form on the internet was easy to use, and I received an e-mail confirmation of my booking the same day. I was given a booking reference number which I could use to cancel the booking if I needed to.

Collecting the car at the airport was a breeze. The collection point was next to the terminal building, the staff were extremely helpful and friendly, and within a few minutes we were on our way. They even knew the guest house where we were staying and provided excellent directions.

The car was what we had ordered, and was spotlessly clean inside and out. We had no problems during our rental, and dropping it back at the end was even easier than collecting it.

No complaints, so far. My discontentment started when I received the final invoice (which incidentally was mailed from the UK and arrived promptly). Instead of the 1937 Rand we had been quoted, the charge was 2061.46 Rand. Based on the exchange rate we got from our credit card at the time, this was an additional £8.30.

I immediately contacted Avis by e-mail, and eventually received an explanation. The extra charges were

Vehicle License Fee 13.15 Rand(taxable)
9% Airport Fee 96.08 Rand (taxable)
Sales Tax 14% 15.29 Rand

which were NOT included in the figure quoted on the internet.

I sent an e-mail back to Customer Services, pointing out that these costs should have been included in the 1937 Rand quoted on the web-site. Naturally, I expected the rate to be total amount payable - if there were additional costs these should have been made clear to me at the time I made the booking.

I am still waiting for a reply to this, and have recently sent a reminder. Although the sum of money involved is not huge, there is a principle involved. I believe that Avis should have been more honest in its quotation, and not add on unexpected extras.

I will be pursuing this further, so watch this space...

If I have any news, I’ll update this opinion.