Tolls and e-tolls in a hire car in South Africa

South Africa's national routes carry mainline and ramp plazas operated under SANRAL (sanral.co.za) and, on some routes, under concessionaires.

How they work:

• You stop at the boom and pay before it lifts.
• Cards and cash are both accepted at most plazas.
• Fees vary by plaza and vehicle class. A bakkie or minibus can be charged at a higher class than a car.
• Fees are reviewed periodically, so check sanral.co.za for current amounts on your route rather than a figure from a travel blog.

Budget for these on any long drive. The N1 between Gauteng and the Cape, the N3 to Durban and the N4 to Mpumalanga all carry multiple plazas. Keep the slips if you want a record, though on a full to full rental there is nothing to claim back.

The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project ran an open road tolling system: overhead gantries read your number plate and billed the registered owner electronically, with no boom to stop at.

Collections under that scheme stopped in 2024, and the gantries on Gauteng freeways no longer bill road users. The gantries themselves are still physically there, which is why the question keeps coming up.

For a hire car this removed a real headache, because gantry charges were billed to the rental company as registered owner and then recharged to the renter, often weeks later with an administration fee attached.

Because policy on road funding does change, confirm the current position on sanral.co.za before a Gauteng trip rather than relying on any single page, including this one.

Where an electronic toll or a similar charge does attach to the vehicle, the mechanics are the same as traffic fines:

1. The charge is issued against the registered owner, which is the rental company.
2. The operator identifies the rental period and links it to your agreement.
3. It recharges the toll to your card, plus an administration fee per item.
4. You receive a statement, sometimes weeks after the rental.

This is why the deposit release and the card details on file matter after the trip is over. Keep the agreement, keep the card active for a while after returning the car, and query anything you do not recognise in writing.

• Compare the toll route against the alternative honestly. Toll-free alternatives exist on some corridors but are usually slower, often busier and sometimes in worse condition. Fuel and time can wipe out the saving.
• Check your vehicle class. Larger vehicles and vehicles towing trailers are charged at higher toll classes.
• Carry some cash. Card facilities are normal but a backup is sensible on a long rural route.
• Add tolls to the trip budget alongside fuel rather than treating them as incidental.

If your route is going to be long, check the mileage terms on your agreement at the same time.

Once you leave South Africa, a different set of road charges applies. Neighbouring countries commonly levy road access fees, road fund levies, third-party insurance and in some cases carbon tax at the border, and these are separate from any South African toll.

Those fees change, and so do the requirements. Confirm them with the destination country's authority close to your travel date, and remember that you also need written authorisation from the operator before the vehicle can leave South Africa at all.