Many people approach Car Rental as a lowest-price-possible contest rather than to concentrate on the value of the deal they eventually would get, in terms of what type of car, whether it has air conditioning and automatic gear shifting functionalities as well as the type of service they are buying.
The fact is, Car Rental in both developed and developing countries has now become a very competitive activity yet rates differences for comparable quality and services are relatively small, sometimes as small as $10 to $20 in developed countries and $45 to $120 in developing African countries like Uganda where cars are scarce. On our recent travel to Uganda, we tried out our look and looked for the best deals on car rental in Uganda and indeed am now acquainted with more ways on how to get the best and save on your next trip. After contacting various car rental agencies, we zeroed down with CarRentalUganda.com, a well established agency and here are the tips on how to how to save on your next trip;
- Use the internet – It is advisable to book your rental car early enough on most parts of Africa. The quick way to start on your process is by using Google and look out for possible car rental agencies. Though most car rental agencies are offline we had luck and we found out about 10 agencies and they really offered great deals.
- Look out for discount coupons – this is hard! we only found CarHireUganda.com to be with coupons that can be used to save a few dollars from 1 – 5. Remember these are many beers that you can save. You can find the coupons here http://www.carhireuganda.com/specials.html
- Buy Gas from major urban areas – It is is advised to buy plenty of gas in urban areas. The more you travel into remote areas, the more expensive prices you will find at the gas stations.
- Unlimited Mileage – Always ask your agents whether they can get you a car on unlimited mileage. This will help you save more if compared with limited mileage.
- Make sure that you get a fully inclusive price for your rental car. In Uganda most agencies, their rental fees are all inclusive except fuel. Always look out for that deal! Remember your rental price may not include drop charges for remote destinations and gasoline.
- Avoid Late Returns – Like everywhere else, in Africa you should also get ready to pay the late return charges in case you returned the car late after the agreed upon time.
Nobody likes to pay higher prices more than supposed to do, thus you are recommended to first shop around, browse the internet and check the various rates available at different car hire companies, or even Internet at comparison sites can simplify the task. Make sure you compare apples to apples and not apples to pears.