Questions people ask
Short answers. The full detail is in our terms of hire, and where the two differ the terms are what govern your booking.
What do I need to collect a car?
A valid driver's licence that has not expired on the day, and your national ID or passport in the same name as the booking. You must have held your licence for at least two years.
Only the person named on the booking may drive, unless we have agreed another driver in writing and seen their licence too. We cannot release a vehicle on an expired licence, without exception — it is worth checking the date before you travel to collect.
How much deposit do I pay to book?
Half the estimated hire. It is not an extra charge — it comes off what you owe, and the balance is due when you collect.
Is the booking deposit refundable?
No. If you cancel, the deposit is not refunded, however much notice you give. It is what takes the vehicle off the market for your dates, and those days cannot be re-let once they have passed.
The balance of the hire is never charged on a cancelled booking, so the deposit is the whole of what you lose. If we cancel, you are refunded in full.
Is there a second deposit when I collect?
Yes. A refundable security deposit of USD 200 is taken when you collect the vehicle, and it is separate from the booking deposit you paid online.
It is held, not earned — we do not treat it as income. It covers damage, traffic fines, missing fuel or a late return. When you bring the vehicle back we check it, settle anything owing against the deposit, and return the rest. If nothing is owing, you get all USD 200 back.
How can I pay?
EcoCash, OneMoney, InnBucks, ZimSwitch or bank transfer, online at the time of booking. Prices and payments are in US dollars. You do not need an account with us, and you do not need a Paynow account — you can pay as a guest.
Is there a mileage limit?
Some vehicles include a set number of kilometres per day. Where they do, the allowance and the charge per extra kilometre are shown on your booking and on your invoice. Distance is measured from the odometer readings taken at collection and return. Where a vehicle has no limit, none is applied and no per-kilometre charge arises.
What about fuel?
Return the vehicle with the same amount of fuel it had when you collected it. We record the level at both ends of the hire. If it comes back short, we charge the cost of the missing fuel.
What if I am late bringing it back?
You have 2 hours past the agreed return time. Inside that, nothing changes.
Past 2 hours you are charged for another whole day, not for the hours you are late. Being three hours late and being a full day late cost the same — the car is off the road for the rest of that day either way, and whoever was booked after you has already lost it.
So if you are going to be late, telephone 0774 361 810 before your return time. We would far rather move the booking than charge you for it.
Where do I collect the car?
Room 5, Second Floor, The Law Society House
Cnr Kwame Nkrumah & Julius Nyerere, Harare
Do you hire cars by the month?
Yes. For a week or longer, telephone us on 0774 361 810 and we will quote you directly. Longer hires are priced differently to a run of single days.
Can I keep the car longer than I booked?
Usually, and you no longer have to telephone to ask. Open find my booking, enter your reference and the number you booked with, and choose a new return date. You will see what the longer hire costs before anything changes, and the car is only held for the new dates once you confirm.
Ask at least 24 hours before your current return time. Vehicles are often booked back to back, and with a day's notice we can usually move the next customer or find them another car. With two hours' notice we cannot, and somebody who has already paid loses their hire — so inside 24 hours the website will not extend it for you. Telephone us instead; we may still manage it, but treat it as a favour rather than something you can count on.
The other thing that can stop it is somebody else already having that vehicle booked for part of the extra days. If that happens we will say so — call us and we will look for another car.
Keeping the vehicle without agreeing an extension is not an extension. It is a late return, and it is charged as one.
How do I cancel?
On find my booking, at the bottom of the page. You can cancel any booking we have not yet handed the keys over for.
The holding deposit is not refunded. That is set out in the terms of hire before you pay, and it is the reason the deposit holds a car for you at all. If your plans have changed, please still tell us rather than simply not arriving — the vehicle can then go to somebody else, and it costs you nothing extra to say so.
Can I send my licence and ID before I arrive?
Yes, and it is the single biggest time-saver on the day. Photograph both on your phone and upload them from find my booking at any time before you collect — during the booking, that evening, or the morning of. Collection then takes about two minutes instead of twenty. You still need to bring the originals with you.
Can I see which cars are free before I book?
Yes — our fleet page shows every vehicle we run and what each one is doing right now, including when a car that is out is due back. Choosing your dates on the home page then checks availability across the whole period.
Can somebody else drive the car?
Only if we have approved them first. Tell us who they are in writing — WhatsApp is fine — and we will need to see their licence before you collect. Approval is ours to give, and it is not automatic.
This is an insurance condition, not red tape. A driver we have not recorded is not covered at all, so if anything happens while they are driving there is no insurer standing behind it — only you and us. Additional drivers cost nothing; not telling us costs a great deal.
What happens if I scratch the car?
Tell us. Then we hold your security deposit while we get a repair quotation. We are not keeping it — we genuinely cannot tell you what the repair costs until a panel beater tells us.
Once we have the figure: if it is less than the deposit we take it and return the rest; if it is more, the difference is yours. You get a copy of the quotation either way.
If somebody else caused it — being hit from behind is the usual case — and there is a police or accident report naming them, we chase that driver or their insurer rather than you. Report it to the police and to us on the day. Without a report there is nobody to chase, and the repair falls back on your deposit.
Can I use the car for taxi work or deliveries?
No. No taxi work, no ride-hailing, no kushika-shika, and no carrying goods for payment. The car is hired to you for your own use.
Again this is the insurance: a private vehicle carrying paying passengers is uninsured the moment it does so. If we find a car being used this way we recover it there and then, the hire ends with no refund, and the deposit goes against whatever is owing.
Who pays a speeding fine?
You do, for anything incurred while the car was with you — including camera fines that reach us weeks after you have brought it back.
The car is registered to us, so every notice comes to us first and we are obliged to tell the police who was driving. We will give them your name and tell you the same day. If they need the driver to attend, you need to go. If we end up having to settle a fine because you did not, we recover it from you along with what it cost us.