First Car Rental Reservations

Vehicles available at First Car Rental*

• 2013-06-12: Rating 5/5:
  The first car hire I have ever attempted was ironically at First Car Rental in Cape Town. An unfortunate happening in the Eastern Cape demanded an emergency trip to from Cape Town to East London. We were a party of five girls and thus had to find a comfortable yet fuel efficient ride to cover over 2000km's and we had 48 hours to do it. Given the fact that it was the first time we'd ever hired a car, the process was more stress-free than anticipated. We called in and logged a request for the ever so popular Polo Vivo on one of the busiest weekends known to Cape Town. It was Jazz weekend where thousands of jazz lovers would descend into Cape Town and of course need to hire to get around. Our requested specimen: fuel efficient, reliable and pretty. What we got was not at all what we bargained for. We walked into the doors of First Car Rental airport branch and were greeted by decadent red velvet cupcakes before signing our contracts. As we were indulging, a member of the First Car Rental team explained the terms and conditions and complexities of the contract should anything go wrong. Driving a hired car from one province to another is a nerve wrecking task as we'd all heard the horror stories of car hire parlours and dealers taking advantage of the fairer sex's limited knowledge on cars. Our transaction was short, informative and not at all suspect. Instead, we were told that our requested car was not available and were thus upgraded into the next bracket to make up for the inconvenience. This meant we weren't getting a cute polo vivo but the ever so sophisticated Renault Sandero Stepway in the colour red for the same fee. All these little surprises transformed the daunting administration of car hire into a pleasant experience. What has lured us back to hire again and again were the little perks like the friendly and efficient service, unlimited kilometres. The drop off process was also straight forward, the car was insured for two drivers should anything happen. We were stress and worry free and this added to an enjoyable driving experience. If I had to give First Cars a rating it would definitely be a five out of five, because we got a lot more value out of the deal than we had anticipated. No hidden costs and no frills and free cake with icing on top
  Written by: Khanyisile Mpambani
  
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Group A	Group B	Group R
Chev Spark 0.8 L Man.	Ford Figo 1.4 L Man.	Fiat Grande Punto 1.4 L Man
4 seater, 2x baggage Hatchback, Petrol, 5 door, Radio, CD	4 seater, 2x baggage Petrol, 5 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS	4 seater, 2x baggage Petrol, 5 door, Radio, CD Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS
Group C	Group W	Group D
Nissan Tiida 1.6 L Man.	Ford Focus 1.6 Man.	Nissan Tiida 1.4 or 1.6 L Auto
4 seater, 3x baggage Sedan/Hatchback, Petrol, 4 or 5 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS	4 seater, 3x baggage Sedan/Hatchback, Petrol, 4 or 5 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS	4 seater, 3x baggage Auto Sedan, Petrol, 4 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS
Group E	Group Z	Group F
Chev Cruze 1.8 L Auto	Volvo S40 2.0 L Auto	BMW 320i 2.0 L Auto
4 seater, 2x baggage Auto Sedan, Petrol, 4 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS	4 seater, 2x baggage Auto Sedan, Petrol, 4 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS	4 seater, 2x baggage Auto Sedan, Petrol, 4 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS
Group G	Group K	Group V
Mercedes C-Class Kompressor 1.8 L Auto	Nissan X-Trail CVT ST 2.5 L Auto SUV	Isuzu KB72 2.5 L Man. Pickup Diesel
4 seater, 2x baggage Auto Sedan, Petrol, 4 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS	5 seater, 4x baggage Petrol, 4 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS, 4WD	4 seater, 1x baggage 4 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS, Towbar, Canopy Diff Lock
Group I	Group Y	Group Q
Nissan Grand Livina 1.6 L Man. Passenger Van	Toyota Quantum 2.7 L Man. Passenger Van	Volkswagen Transporter TDI 2.0 Man. Passenger Van
6 seater, 2x baggage Petrol, 5 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS	10 seater, 3x baggage Petrol, 4 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS	8 seater, 3x baggage Diesel, 5 door, Radio, CD, Power steering, AC, Dual airbags, ABS
Group H	Group J
Nissan One Ton Pickup 2.7 L Man. Pickup Diesel	Nissan One Ton Pickup 2.7 L Man. Pickup Diesel
		Saw a car you want to hire? Ask for a quote or pop a question to one of our consultants here.
2 seater, 1x baggage Petrol, 2 door, Radio, CD, Power Steering, Long Wheel Base Excl. Canopy	2 seater, 1x baggage Petrol, 2 door, Radio, CD, Power Steering, Long Wheel Base Incl. Canopy

More information

Direct Transfers

First Car Rental offers a Direct Transfer service from point A to point B. First Car Rental's uniformed drivers will meet you at the airport (or anywhere else you want to meet) and take you where you need to go. There is is the option of Airport transfers, General Transfers (both available in economy or luxury) and Coach Rental (groups ranging from 7 - 1000 people). The Direct Transfer service is available in:

• Johannesburg
• Pretoria
• Cape Town
• Durban
• Port Elizabeth
• Bloemfontein
• Nelspruit

Electronic booking system

Web-Link is used for electronic bookings. Web-Link is an online interface with First Car Rental's rental operating system.

Roadside Assistance

First Car Rental offers a 24 hour roadside assistance service. Should your car keys be locked inside the car, there is a lockout service. Should you run out of fuel, there is an emergency fuel delivery service (cost of fuel is for the renter's account). There is a message relay service, which will relay a message to a family member (phone 0860-888-911 if you require service).

Loyalty Club

Hotel Express Discount - If you are a Hotel Express member, you can make use of discounted rates if you book a car with First Car Rental.

Show and Go Loyalty Card - Designed for corporate customers. When you get off the plane, you can walk straight to the Show and Go area and pick-up a vehicle wihout any paperwork. These check-out facilities are available at O.R. Tambo Int. Cape Town Int. and King Shaka Durban Int.

Holding Company

First Car Rental is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Combined Motor Holdings (CMH), which has been listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange since 1987. Combined Motor Holding is listed in the "General Retailers" sector of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Thebe Tourism Group owns 50% of CMH. Other motor related business of CMH is:

• New and used car dealerships

• short-term vehicle insurance

• Truck and car leasing

Top management

C Ault, B Barritt (managing director), A Burke (director), U Crouse, S Duriex, V Govender, L Hall, B Hattingh,
S Marshall, R McKay, C McWilliams, A Nel, M Nortje, C Reid, C Terbruggen (director), B Troeberg (director),
M Voges, C Webber, K Werth, U Wessels.

JV with Thebe

Thebe Tourism Group has a 50:50 operating joint venture with First Car Rental.

Insurance cover

With First Car Rental you have 3-vehicle cover options these being the Standard, Super and Executive Packages. The Standard Package has the largest insurance excess which will need to be available on your credit card, then the Super Package has a slightly reduced amount for excess and finally the Executive Package will have no excess as you are comprehensively covered

More Reviews

• 2011-12-18: Rating 4/5: Wayne, at First Car Rental Johannesburg, ensures we have a jolly time in our Chev Aveo

• 2011-04-30: Rating 5/5: We rented a car from First Car Rental in Nelspruit for the first time, and they even phoned us up to remind us we had forgotten a driver's license.

• 2009-08-01: Rating 5/5: First Car Rental Johannesburg review - first class service.

• 2009-07-24: Rating 4/5: Once again the Johannesburg First Car Rental offered the best prices and we got great service (thanks Kaizer!), from their new offices on the 2nd floor.

• 2009-05-04: Rating 5/5 Review of a First Car Rental from Johannesburg Airport.

• 2009-04-24: Rating 5/5: First Car Rental's service at Johannesburg O.R. Tambo was top drawer - they not only saw us to our car, but also packed our bags into the car (thanks William!) We had fun driving the Mazda 3 from Joburg to Nelspruit.

First Car Rental is Rated 4.7/5 based on 7 customer reviews

News & History

• April 2015 : Happy 16th Birthday to First Car Rental; which was launched in 1999 under the National Alamo brand, which was subsequently changed to First Car Rental in 2008.

• 2014-12 : Festive Season greetings.

• 2014-04-18 First Car wins the Most Consistent Performer over the Past Three Years award at the South African Service Awards.

• 2014-03-21 News just in: First Car Rental has made the top 500 best managed companies of 2013-2014! This coveted prize is awarded by TopCo Media’s team of research experts who dig out the gold from the dust, with the most impressive five out of one hundred different industry sectors receiving the award. This is the fourth year in a row that First have achieved this admirable feat.

• 2014-03-13 Car hire bookings via your iPhone, what’s next?! Smart phone users, get your thumbs ready! It's just about to get easier to book your rental car! First Car rental has a new mobile phone application. Their app will be up and running as from April 2014, allowing customers to book a rental car and view all included fees on their smartphones. The android version is to follow shortly.

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• 2014-01-16 First Car Rental have announced their 10 favourite SA heritage sites. They've been very diplomatic, finding something in almost every province - Castle of Good Hope (Cape Town) Cradle of Humankind (Gauteng), iSimangaliso Wetland Park (KZN), Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape (Limpopo), Nelson Mandela Museum (Eastern Cape), Pilgrim's Rest (Mpumalanga), Richtersveld Cultural & Botanical Landscape (in the Northern Cape Province) Robben Island (Cape Town), uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park (KZN) and redefort Dome (Free State).

• December 2013 First Car Rental has added new stock to their fleet and released up to 7 cars reduced to sell.

• 2013-10-15 CMH reports its results for the 6 months to 31 August 2013: First Car Rental's operating margin increased from 7.3% to 9.3% as a result of higher fleet utilisation and an increase in the average daily rate. They opened 4 new branches.

• 2013-10-15 CMH, First Car Rental's holding company, has appointed JTM Edwards to replace Maldwyn Zimmerman as Chairman. Zimmerman had been Chairman since the inception of the group in 1976.

• 2013-09-30: If you book a Group W car with First Car Rental before the 30th September you stand a chance to win an MG6.