Book earlier,
the recommended period is not less than two months before your travelling
to Rwanda.
Book straight through a rental company’s website.
The amount saved by booking through a third-party website like kayak and booking.com is not worth the hassle it will create if anything goes wrong while travelling, such as rescheduling, delayed, or cancelled flights.
Pre-pay when you can to save money,
but make sure your travel programme is well planned and confirmed. No one expects to be cancelled or rescheduled, however, things happen when travelling. Pre-paying makes it very difficult if not impossible to rearrange your rental.
Book appropriately,
if you have 4 people large in stature, don’t hire a compact vehicle like
Rav4, you are subjected to getting a Toyota land cruiser Prado TX, land cruiser V8/VX/GX.
The aforementioned vehicle will offer enough space and comfort to travel conveniently on
your Rwanda self-drive trip.
If you plan on upgrading to a better vehicle, reserve a full-size car.
The upgrade would be notably less than if you reserved a compact. For instance, if you think of upgrading from a Landcruiser Prado TX to a Landcruiser V8, it will be around 10$ per day compared to 20$ per day if you had booked a compact vehicle like a Toyota Rav4.
What to expect at the pick up of the Vehicle?
Be patient
As you get out of the airport terminal, you will have to be calm. The car rental personnel will be waiting for you with an airport sign printed in your name. Since there is always a crowd gathered around the waiting area, you will have to look around until you see
the driver with your airport sign. Patience is also exercised when signing the car rental contract, read it properly and ask in case you have a query. Inspect the car and let the car rental staff explain every detail about the rental car and contract.
Questions:
The car rental personnel or driver will ask you some questions like your itinerary and the time you intend to drop off the car. He will further solicit a few documents
like a driver’s license and passport.
Rental Process:
The rental operators normally ask for a small fee of the total amount of the entire rental to be deposited to confirm your reservation. The deposit fee varies from company to company. Your visa card or credit card must be ready and available.
Most rental companies accept electronic transfers. The driver delivering the car to the airport might come with the electronic payment machines or take you to their offices to make the transaction. Before you set off for your journey, you must wait till the transaction is reflected on the account of the rental company as a way of confirming your payment of the rental services. You never know the operator might deny and hence make a double payment.
Inspect the vehicle for all the damages and scratches on the vehicle before you set off.
Make an effort to take pictures to act as records.
Know if the rental vehicle is insured. Look at the insurance certificate sticker on the vehicle
to see if it is valid. The insurance must be comprehensive covering collision damage, third
party and theft.
Get familiar with the car. Let the car rental staff inform you about the different features of the car and how they work. In case you change your mind, you can hire a car with a driver in Kigali
