One way car hire in South Africa

The direction point is worth exploiting. Operators regularly need vehicles moved back towards the cities that generate bookings, and a one way that helps them do that can carry a much smaller fee than the same route in reverse. Ask about both directions before you fix the itinerary.

One way hire is most straightforward between the big centres and their airports: Johannesburg and OR Tambo, Cape Town and Cape Town International, Durban and King Shaka, plus Port Elizabeth, George, East London and Bloemfontein.

Common itineraries:

• Cape Town to Port Elizabeth along the Garden Route, which is the classic South African one way and usually well served.
• Johannesburg to Cape Town, long but frequently priced sensibly because of fleet flows.
• Johannesburg to Nelspruit for Kruger trips, then flying home.
• Durban to Johannesburg after a coastal holiday.

Small towns are harder. A drop-off in a town with a single small branch, or no branch at all, is either expensive or impossible.

1. The drop-off fee in rand, quoted for your exact route, class and dates.
2. Whether the fee is refundable if you change the return branch.
3. Whether the mileage terms change. A one way sometimes switches to a different mileage basis, so check whether unlimited still applies.
4. The exact return branch address and its hours. A city branch and an airport branch in the same city are different return locations.
5. The fuel policy, and where you can refuel near the return branch.
6. Whether the vehicle class is available at the return end, which occasionally forces a change.

Get all of it on the booking confirmation, not just the drop-off fee.

• Compare directions. The same route can cost very differently each way.
• Use large branches at both ends. Airport to airport is usually the cheapest structure.
• Ask about repositioning offers. Operators sometimes discount heavily when they need a vehicle moved.
• Book earlier. One way availability and fees both worsen close to the date.
• Compare against the round trip honestly. Driving back adds fuel, tolls, an extra day or two of rental and your time. On a Garden Route trip the one way fee often loses that comparison and wins.
• Check whether a flight plus a local rental at the far end beats the one way. On very long routes it sometimes does.

A one way rental does not change the rest of the agreement, but it interacts with several parts of it:

• Mileage. Long one ways eat allowances. Price an unlimited product.
• Fuel. Full to full still applies, so plan a fill near the return branch in a city you do not know.
• Late return. The return time still runs 24 hours from collection, and a long drive on the final day leaves no margin.
• Cross-border. A one way into another country is a different matter entirely and needs written authorisation, where it is permitted at all.

For a trip that ends at an airport, give yourself a full extra hour beyond what feels necessary. Unfamiliar return bays and busy holiday queues are where one way trips go wrong.