One of the weaknesses I’ve discovered in Uganda to deal with is the absence of self-drive car rental service, for example, the Hertz and Avis offerings internationally. The traditional preference in Uganda used to be of a chauffeur-driven car, where you hire a vehicle with a driver and most car rental companies in Uganda still offer only those options to their customers.
Be that as it may, a year ago, Gorilla Expeditions Ltd, which is among the oldest travel company in the country, decided to shake things up a bit and launched a new sister company offering self-drive car rental services called 4×4 Uganda Ltd which started up from Kampala, Jinja and Kabale, and now is offered crosswise over 17 cities in Uganda and to some other neighbouring countries like; Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda for the moment. I had been keeping an eye on them for some time, and I thought now is a perfect time to talk about it.
For the newly established company service, the line-up of the offerings is exceptionally fascinating. I see that there is a large number of car models on offer straddling the price spectrum: from a little electric auto, for example, the Mahindra e2o, to different compacts, for example, Volkswagen Polo, Maruti Swift and Economy Sedan cars, for example, Toyota Rav 4, Toyota Premio. If you need luxury vehicles, you have the alternative to pick higher-end vehicles, for example, the Toyota land cruiser, Volkswagen Vento and Nissan Sunny, or take it up a bit higher and drive around in a Mercedes E or C class car.
Currently for any Car Rental Company to prosper availability must be widespread and this is something I love about 4×4 Uganda Ltd. There are 17 cities in Uganda where cars available and there are several picks up and drop points in the country.
Their car models are customized to suit the bad road conditions. They also have the option of hiring a car for few hours in a day or hire for a day, or few days or even weeks and months at a go. In case you rent a vehicle for just a few hours you’re charged per hour basis in kilometres. This means the quote is inclusive fuel and you don’t have to return the full tank. When you return the car they just check for how many kilometres you have driven and bill you accordingly.
If you want to hire a self-drive car for a few days, you’d be charged per day and most interesting on this there is no mileage limit and in most cases quoted is the exclusive flue. The major condition here is that you are not supposed to drive on major highways at night.
In case you want to hire a car in Uganda for a couple of days or weeks, then rates are only ex-fuel, and you do should be able to give a security deposit for the vehicle (by means of assurance on your credit card, just like at the big hotels). The security deposit, I am told, gets touched only after the receipt is settled, with a couple of days, and varies according to the type of car. You do need to give back the car fully tanked else you get charged for the fuel deficit and service charge too. Furthermore, you don’t have to purchase insurance separately, in light of the fact that insurance comes as a part of the rental.
What do you need to do the hire a car for self-drive in Uganda? A Passport / National ID / Voter ID as a proof of identification card, Driving permit and a credit card