Car hire in Durban

King Shaka is the default. The counters sit together in the arrivals area and the collection bays are close by, so it is a quick pickup compared to the bigger Gauteng and Cape airports. From there the N2 runs south into Durban and north to Umhlanga and Ballito.

City and suburban branches exist in the CBD, the Berea, Umhlanga and Pinetown. These are useful if you are already in town and only need a car for a few days, or if you are collecting after arriving by road or rail.

One genuine Durban consideration: if you are staying in Umhlanga or Ballito, you may not need the car for the whole trip. Those areas are walkable in parts and short hops are cheap, so hiring for the days you are actually exploring can cost less than parking a car for a week.

Coverage for the remaining brands on this site varies in KwaZulu-Natal. Rather than assume, check availability for your dates at your intended pickup point.

Durban pricing follows the national pattern, with one local twist: the December and Easter holiday peaks here are severe because the whole province fills up.

These figures come from Discover Cars and Cheapflights. Most are national, not Durban quotes. A "from" price is the cheapest car found on the day; an average includes bigger cars and longer rentals, which is why the two sites differ so much. Discover Cars puts December at about R474 a day against about R387 in September, so holiday dates cost more.

Cheap car hire in Durban is easiest to find outside the school holidays and away from the beachfront strip. If your dates are fixed over a holiday, book early rather than hoping for a walk up rate.

The N2 and N3 do the heavy lifting. The N3 climbs steeply out of the city towards Pietermaritzburg, and the Fields Hill and Town Hill sections are known for heavy truck traffic and occasional runaway truck incidents, so keep your following distance and use a low gear on the descent.

Toll plazas apply on the N3 towards Gauteng and on the N2 north, so keep a bank card or cash handy.

Parking notes:

• The beachfront promenade has metered bays and marshalled parking that fills early on warm weekends.
• Gateway in Umhlanga, Pavilion in Westville and the smaller centres all have free or validated parkades and are the easy option.
• Informal car guards are everywhere. Small change on your return is customary.
• Humidity and salt air are hard on cars. Rinse off sand and salt if you have been on the beach road, and check the tyre pressures, which drop noticeably with temperature swings here.

Durban gets sudden, heavy summer downpours. Roads flood quickly at low points, and driving through standing water is the most common way visitors damage a hire car in this city.

Approximate one way driving times in normal traffic:

The N3 to Johannesburg is a long, busy freight route with Van Reenen's Pass in the middle. It is doable in a day but not a relaxing drive, and it is worth leaving early to avoid the truck volumes and the afternoon mist on the pass.

A hatchback is enough for Durban, the north and south coasts, the Midlands and the main Drakensberg resort roads, all of which are tarred.

Higher clearance starts to make sense in two places. The first is the game reserve country north of Richards Bay, where some camp and lodge access roads are sand or rough gravel. The second is the coastal tracks around iSimangaliso and Sodwana, where soft sand genuinely requires a 4x4 and where an ordinary hire car should not go at all.

Before you plan anything off the tar, read the rental agreement. South African rental terms commonly exclude damage caused on unsurfaced roads, and beach driving is illegal in most of the country as well as being a fast route to an unrecoverable vehicle.