Avis Southern Africa Reviews 

Still waiting for holding deposit to be released/returned. Rented vehicle from Avise @ Durban Airport. Vehicle was returned Sunday 15 March 2026 - still no release of deposit. Seems like it was not a holding deposit but the amount went straight off my banking account. NO FEEDBACK from customer services after 3 emails and one week.

Car was clean.
Communication was an issue. E-Mail support did not find my booking even tough I provided name, address, rental location, booking number, etc. There is no WhatsApp and international call is difficult if you are not from SA. Aside that service was good. What I really liked is that I could shift my rental from 7 AM to 7 AM to 9 PM to 9 PM. The 24HR policy is really good.

Would give Minus zero star .
Pick car up .
No paperwork now issued at counter .
On going to where car parked .
Pointed out damage to wheels to staff .
Told we don’t class that as damaged.
On returning car .
Staff claims wheel damage does count .
Now received a bill from Avis Cape Town .
But still no paperwork.
Have emailed Avis Cape Town airport.
And as you expect.
NO REPLY.
Steer clear .
Plenty other companies to rent thou at airport

I got a car from my insurance and now AVIS dropped off the car and day after a called to say I owe them money for 2018 and to my surprise oli took a car 5yrs ago they never picked it up was no issue now in 2026 I owe them how so... When I call they taking pillar to post and I have requested the documents to prove that I owe them no one can supply me with information and the only thing they can say to me is they need to collect the car since I owe them... This car is authorised by my insurance so why do I have to return the car because it has nothing to do with my personal account?

As longstanding and loyal client of Avis Car rental South Africa, we have traditionally received friendly and efficient service from all Avis staff. We are currently working on a large project in Cape Town South Africa and needed to extend our car rental by two weeks. We communicated this to our travel agent and were advised by Avis that we needed to swop vehicles because the rental was longer than 30 days. Our agent booked a new car with Avis and communicated our specific vehicle needs to Avis. On arriving at Avis none of the staff understood why we were returning the car and no replacement car was available? On asking why we’d been asked to come in at a specific time to swop vehicles, I was aggressively ‘lectured’ by the acting supervisor Lihle Jongilanga that they had no instructions from our travel agent and that we should just keep the vehicle we’d had for the past month. Our very competent travel agent confirmed this was nonsense and that the specific needs ( covered boot area) had been communicated. On relaying this Mr Jongilanga became quite defensive and aggressive, raising his voice quite unecessarily - not the kind of service or attitude we had come to expect from Avis South Africa! An hour later, it appears that a car with the specifications we requested has been available all the time, so we are unsure what the issue and aggressiveness has been about. After 30 years of support, this incident has left a bad taste and we’ll need to think about whether our company using Avis again?

Avis Cape Town

Terrible Service, Manager should not work in service and still waiting for my rental deposit.

Numerous emails, calls and promises!

I would not trust Avis South Africa. I was charged double the price of what was in my rental agreement, this included a point to point rental, unlimited mileage, there was no damage or anything done to the vehicle and it was returned to the agreed drop off point with a full tank of gas. I approached Avis about this and they were unable to explain any of the extra charges and yet did nothing to refund any of those extra charges. I spoke with multiple different people but no one offered any help

Money trap and false claims of service online.
1) Attemped to book online, Website claimed no vehicles available for dec 31 to Jan 20 2026
2) Same Day got a lift to Int Airport Cape Town and had lots off choice of cars in class I wanted.
because its was cheaper on line, having to drive in to get a car cost me twice as much in rental.
Why , because Your web site and staff lie.
3) I requested full coverage for any and all out off pocket, cost me an extra 4,054 ZAR, which aparantly does not cover anything.
4) You added a further 4,300 ZAR "AS A DEPOSIT" that i was told would be returned to me. All lies, I never got my deposit back.
5) You then charged me a further ZAR 436 after I returned to the USA for repairs ,
6) I sent you more than 1 email requesting proof off costs of repair recieved no rep[ly
7) I further asked by emails what ZAR 4,054 covered, just what was i paying for, what coverage did this extra money money buy me.

I plan to find any and all consumer web sites here and in SA where i will provide negative feed back with the above information,.

fraudulent business hiding behind car rentals business, they kept my deposit , while i was still fruastrated asking them to pay it back , they went to my credit card and debited another deposit, these was 10 days after i rented their mechanical broken car. They are NOW holding 2 of my deposits and talking 14 days turn around time while already they have had my deposit for 12 days todate. NEVER USE AVIS SOUTH AFRICANS , THEY ARE SCAMMERS

Whilst we did have a long wait in cals town airport for our hire care (pre-booked)
They were very helpful.
When we had a puncture Matseliso Motsoane was particularly helpful, even checking in on us to ensure the recovery vehicle has arrived and Malingbo was great at roadside. I have also had an update this morning that they will send a car to exchange with ours, with it departing at six am and them then confirming the time of arrival (given the unknown/traffic). Will commit in due course re charges made to us having read reviews. They did say at the time we would be charged given there's a spare and requisite tools in the car when I know the UK AA have always told me that the likelihood of me changing a tire given the strength required is nil and they would definitely not have advised me to change one on the motorway.

I was double charged and to top it all my deposit still withheld. No one answers phones by PE Airport. Should i fly down again to go argue my case. Bad bad service there!

Avoid renting a car from Avis Rental at pietermaritzburg Oribi Airport! There are likely to scam you out of your deposit. When you try to get it back, they'll make excuses about their finances department not authorizing payment, and you'll be left begging for your money. Had a terrible experience and wouldn't recommend them to anyone

A 1 star rating is still too much for avis or tambo,I would not recommend it at all they are demanding a large sum of money from my fiancé claiming there's scratches and a dent on the bonnet already when we received the car there was already a scratch,mind you he received an email after boarding the plane,people please stay far away from avis,this company needs to be shut down and they are also knows for not returning people's deposit even without any damage on the car it's really such a shame and very disgusting!!!!

Not so reliable customer service but no overcharge.

Shocking. Do not use.

After renting from Avis for over 30 years, I am now done with this unethical company. I rented a car in Cape Town and the Lady who served me looked like she has had ZERO customer facing training. A miserable and surly attitude as well. Seriously Avis...
I had to pay a R3000.00 deposit which she said would be paid back in 7 - 10 days MAX.
What a liar - it is now 16 days and zip.
I mailed the CEO and not a response at all. Mailed customer service (or lack thereof) and their response is Contact your Bank - not our problem...
Well they say the fish rots from the head first.
I also rented a car in JHB on 5-7 October and no problem getting the deposit back.
Final comment - Avis doesn't care - Go somewhere else.

I paid online for car rental and they took from the card again at arrival. Stay away they are stealing money

We had arranged a rental car via Trailfinders for our trip along the garden route. The staff were very friendly in the office and asked if we wanted to pay for a full tank of petrol or return the car full. We opted to return the car with a full tank of petrol. As we were dropping off the car at Port Elizabeth they said we would need to pay the one way fee which we were away off but that would be debited from our credit card security deposit. Following the return of the car they said everything was fine and we thought nothing of it until we received an invoice for Avis SafeDrive, Extended Roadside Assistance and a Contract fee which were never asked if we required or given the choice as to whether we wanted it or not. I have since complained but as I signed the document they put in front of me that is my fault. I would never use Avis again they should be clear and upfront about any additional services especially when we didn’t do the original booking so had no idea as to the cost.

Unethical and near criminal. Made a finger fault to charge R95000 on our Business Account, if I had not stopped the card it would have gone through and heaven know how long to get it back, due to a "finger fault" Then they billed Fuel, despite the fact the car was filled at the airport (they reversed that) The consequence and cost of having the 3 cards cancelled & replaced due to their negligence and time to alter other beneficiaries as a result of having to cancel the cards, is seemingly not their problems and "they will not be held accountable for it"

I rented a compact car from OR TAMBO airport for 6 days, and they basically scared me into taking additional insurance to cover collision or highjacking, stolen car for a total cost of $404.53. Ridiculous and a total ripoff!