Terms of hire
Last updated 3 September 2026
These are the terms on which we hire vehicles. Please read them before you book — by confirming a booking you agree to them.
1. Who you are hiring from
Vehicles are hired by Emiton Investments (Private) Limited, a company registered in Zimbabwe (registration number 16829/2022), trading as MasterClass Car Rental, of 1451 Silcox Avenue, Houghton Park, Harare. In these terms, "we" and "us" mean that company, and "you" means the person named on the booking.
2. Who may hire and drive
To collect a vehicle you must produce, in person:
- A valid driver's licence that has not expired on the day of collection. We cannot release a vehicle on an expired licence, without exception.
- Your national ID or passport, in the same name as the booking.
Only the person named on the booking may drive the vehicle, unless we have agreed another driver in writing and seen their licence too.
You must have held your licence for at least two years. This is a condition of the insurance on the vehicle, not a preference of ours — we cannot waive it, and a driver who does not meet it is not covered at all.
Additional drivers are permitted at no extra charge, on the same terms: two years' licence held, we must see the licence, and they must be recorded on the agreement before you collect. A driver we have not recorded is not covered, and anything that happens while they are driving falls to you.
3. Booking and payment
- A booking made online is held for 30 minutes while you pay. If payment is not completed in that time the booking expires and the vehicle is released to other customers.
- A booking is only confirmed once payment has been received. Until then the vehicle is not reserved for you.
- The hire must be paid in full before the keys are handed over. We do not release a vehicle against a promise to pay later.
- Prices shown when you book are the prices we honour, provided the dates and vehicle do not change.
4. The security deposit
The deposit is held, not earned. It is not part of the hire charge and we do not treat it as income. It is there to cover damage, fines, missing fuel, late return or a vehicle that comes back in a condition it did not leave in.
When you return the vehicle we check it, settle any amounts owing against the deposit, and return the remainder to you. If nothing is owing, the whole deposit is returned.
5. How the hire charge is worked out
Charging is based on the odometer and the calendar, not on estimates. We record the odometer reading when the vehicle leaves and again when it returns.
- Days are counted from collection to return and rounded up. A hire is always at least one day. Four days and two hours is billed as five days.
- Rates may be daily, weekly or monthly. Where a longer rate is cheaper for the period you have booked, that is the rate you get.
- Tax is shown separately on your invoice where it applies.
6. Mileage
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 mileage limit, none is applied and no per-kilometre charge arises.
7. Fuel
Return the vehicle with the same amount of fuel it had when you collected it. We record the fuel level at both ends of the hire. If it comes back short, we charge for the shortfall at the rate shown on your invoice.
8. Returning late
Return the vehicle at the time agreed. We allow a grace period of 3 hours past the agreed return time before a late charge applies. Beyond that, late time is charged at the daily rate for the vehicle plus any late fee shown on your booking.
If you know you will be late, telephone us. A vehicle is often booked for someone else immediately after you, and an hour's notice usually solves what silence turns into a charge.
9. Damage, fines and traffic offences
- You are responsible for the vehicle while it is in your possession, including damage, loss and theft.
- Traffic fines and spot fines incurred during your hire are yours, including any that reach us after you have returned the vehicle.
- Damage is assessed on return against the photographs and condition record taken at collection. We take these at both ends of every hire, and they protect you as much as us.
- If the vehicle is not driveable, telephone us before arranging any repair or recovery yourself.
Insurance is the last clause outstanding, and it needs four facts from
the policy document rather than a decision: what cover each vehicle
carries, the excess payable on a claim, whether the vehicle may leave
Zimbabwe, and any restriction on unsurfaced roads.
The two-year licence requirement is confirmed and now stated in section 2.
Check whether the same policy also sets a minimum driver age:
insurers usually pair the two, section 2 currently sets no age limit, and a
driver below the insurer's floor voids the cover entirely — leaving
MasterClass with the whole loss rather than the excess.
10. Cancellations and refunds
If you cancel, the deposit is not refunded. This applies however much notice you give, and whether you cancel in advance or simply do not arrive. The deposit is what takes the vehicle off the market for your dates, and we cannot re-let those days once they have passed.
The balance of the hire is never charged on a cancelled booking. The deposit is the whole of what you lose.
If we cancel, you are refunded in full. If we cannot supply the vehicle you booked and cannot agree a replacement with you, we return everything you have paid, including the deposit, within three working days.
We also retain the deposit where a booking cannot proceed because the documents we ask for were not provided by the deadline, or because the licence or identity document produced does not meet the requirements in section 2. Those outcomes are within your control, so they are treated as a cancellation by you.
11. When we may refuse or end a hire
We may decline to release a vehicle, or recover one already out, if:
- The licence or identity document produced is expired, missing, or not in the name on the booking.
- The documents supplied are not genuine.
- Payment has not been received in full.
- There is an unpaid balance from an earlier hire.
- The vehicle is being used in a way these terms do not permit.
Where a hire is refused because documents were falsified, no refund is due.
12. Your information
We collect your name, contact details, identity and licence documents, and your hire history, in order to hire you a vehicle and to meet our legal obligations. Documents you upload are stored privately and are visible only to our staff. See our privacy notice for detail.
13. Contact
MasterClass Car Rental
1451 Silcox Avenue, Houghton Park, Harare
0774 361 810
[email protected]