All About Car Rental Uganda and Self Drive Safaris

Tourists who travel to unfamiliar territories will always need a means of transport that is reliable, convenient, and safe. In a country like Uganda where public transport has lots of mysteries and hurdles, car hire services are always the best option for tourists.

Travelers always have different reasons to hire vehicles and car rental providers try to reach out to their needs. Car hire services normally reach out to people going for road trips, airport transfers, group weekend tours, self-drive safaris, and business and conference transfers. The car hire services extended to the various travellers have turned out to be the best travel solutions and happy faces are seen at the return of the car hire expedition.

The car hire industry in Uganda is still in its infancy, the vehicles used are old models normally with years 1998-2010. Also, car providers don’t have a very large fleet of cars, they normally have a range of 5-30 vehicles. But the cars are well-conditioned and have comprehensive insurance for the safety of the travelers.

Due to the youngness of the industry, there is also less information about car hire services. Travelers who wish to hire cars in Uganda, usually find it hard to answer their burning questions or get information to make them know what it is like to rent a car. We as Car Rental in Uganda, bring to you the nitty-gritty of the car hire services in Uganda.

Hiring a Car in Uganda

Why hire a vehicle with us?

We are a reputable tour and travel company that has been in the hospitality and travel business for a very long time of more than 15 years. We have seen it all, the good and bad times of hiring a car in Uganda. Therefore, in case of any car hire issue, we can swiftly solve it without largely antagonizing the client’s trip.

Our services are reliable. We have well-conditioned and serviced vehicles for hire. Insurance and road assistance is available for our clients. More to that we operate 24 hours for pickups and deliveries.

We exhibit convenience. Our car hire booking methods are so easy. A client can either contact us through the phone or email. We also accept walk-in customers at our offices. We are a very flexible car hire service provider company.

Types of cars available for hire

We have a wide range of cars for hire from compact, multi-purpose vehicles(MPV) to sport utility vehicles (SUV). We have different types of vehicles so that we can be able to meet the different purposes of travel for our clients. Each type of vehicle serves a different purpose. Once the client inquires from us for car hire services, we advise him/her on the best vehicle to suit his/her purpose of travel. Most of our rental cars are 4×4 or all-terrain vehicles due to the different nature of roads in Uganda. For instance, some roads in Uganda are paved while others are gravel. Though, we also have a few two-wheel-drive vehicles, especially for clients travelling around the city areas of Uganda. Below are some of the types of vehicles we have for hire:

Toyota Super Custom:  It has a standard seating capacity of 5 travelers. It is more like a traveling lounge due to its exquisite interior whereby the passenger seats are adjustable, travellers can sit facing each other. It is very roomy and this is why it is a common vehicle for people travelling long distances.

Safari Van (Toyota Hiace): This is a van whose seating capacity is 9 people. It is such a robust and combative car. Many travellers like it so much due to its resilience even on gravel roads. A Safari van is the best car for group tours.

Toyota Rav4: This is a 4×4 crossover car but some regard it as a compact car. Toyota Rav4 is a popular vehicle for self-drive safaris because of its frugality in both the price hire and fuel consumption. It has four seats in it.

Land Cruiser Prado TX and TZ: It is a popular car for mid-range safari travelers because it is a 4×4 SUV and is relatively inexpensive. It is also a great car for self-drive safaris. Travelers who wish not to travel in RAv4 due to its small size opt to hire a LandCruiser Prado TX.

Land Cruiser V8: The Land Cruiser V8 is a classy huge sport utility vehicle. Many call it a monster car because it is so huge, strong, and steady on the road. It is also a fuel guzzler.  It is such a sophisticated and comfortable car, great for luxury safari and business meetings.

Safari Land Cruisers: This is a car mainly built for African safaris. It is a Toyota land cruiser J70 series made and modified for safari game viewing. It has a very hard body, an all-terrain driving system, and a popup roof for viewing animals on safari trips. We have both five and eight-seat safari land cruisers in our fleet.

Toyota Coaster Buses: For large group tours, we have a Toyota coaster bus for you. Our coasters have 25 seats to 35 seats. Large groups like students, humanitarians, company workers, or other people on a certain social project, are the best vehicles for your travel needs.

Note that there are some vehicles we don’t hire out for self-drive safaris. We only hire them with a driver for example a coaster Bus and the Grand Safari Land Cruiser. This is because of the hard technicality of driving them and also there is a certain class of a driving license one must possess to drive them.

Car rental accessories

One may need some tools to help him/her with the traveling experience in Uganda. Some of the equipment, we offer are camping gear, baby seats, GPS, and road maps. However, these come with a certain small fee and on request.

Cost of Renting a Vehicle in Uganda

For starters, we don’t have a fixed price for hiring out our cars, it entirely depends on many factors and prevailing situations as below:

Kind and model of Vehicle: A car of a later model and greater features and space is priced higher than its counterpart. For example, our SUVs come with a higher price tag than compact or small vehicles.

The period of the rental: When one hires a car for a long term for example for more than a week or month, we always make a deduction of a per-day price. Travelers for fewer days are always charged the standard price.

The places to go: Travellers who hire vehicles to travel within Uganda are charged a regular price compared to those doing cross-border rental to Kenya, Tanzania, or Rwanda. When you cross to another country, we normally make a small increment of our standard price.

Services to be offered: self-drive car hire is cheaper than car hire with the driver. For self-drive, you only pay for the vehicle whilst for car rental with the driver, you pay for the car and driver. The driver normally goes for 60$ per day. Our drivers also have a handful of skill sets to make your travel experience memorable. For instance, guiding skills, defensive driving, basic mechanic skills, and also well conversant in the English language. We can get you a French, German, and Italian-speaking driver on special request.

Safety, Quality, and Insurance

We guarantee our client’s security and safety on the road by putting in place some preventive measures and remedies for any danger causing the situation. Our fleet of cars is insured comprehensively. The comprehensive insurance covers third-party and collision damage waivers. The client is less liable for the damages that may happen to the rental car in case of an accident. We also offer road assistance when the car breaks down. There are different mechanic workshops in the different towns around Uganda that we can assign to the client to help him/her during the breakdown or accident. We also provide the helpline Phone number to call when you get any problem on the road.

Note: that you have to first let us know when the accident or anything occurs in the car, we shall then advise accordingly.

Car Hire Reservation

It is so easy to book a car with us. There are three methods our clients can reach out to us. Inquire with us through an email, contact us through the phone or you can walk into our offices in Seguku, Wakiso Uganda.  Once you request our services, we shall reply to you about available vehicles for hire and their cost. We normally charge in US dollars or Uganda shillings.  In an agreement to hire a car with us, we request an identification card or passport and a driver’s license for self-drive travel. A car rental agreement is given or sent to you to read the terms and conditions of renting a car with us. We shall also ask you to deposit 40% of the total rental fee to confirm your booking. The rest of the fees shall be paid at the pick up of the rental car at the agreed time. The deposit can be paid by cash or through electronic transfers like pesapal or bank swift code system. Finally, we shall reserve the rental car for you and arrange to deliver it to you at the convenient place and time agreed upon.

Frequent Questions Asked by The Car Rental Clients.

1. How do I pay for a car rental?
   There are two methods of payment accepted by us. Our clients can either pay by cash or electronic means. With electronic means, you can use your credit card to make a payment on our Pesapal account online. You can also send the money to our bank account once you request our bank details.
2. How is the delivery and pick up done?
   We deliver the car at your point of convenience. It could be the airport, lodge, our offices, or any popular place around the country. Delivery far away from our offices normally comes with some fee. Areas within Kampala 30$ for delivery. For areas, away from Kampala, you pay for the fuel and driver facilitation per how long the distance is. The same happens when picking up the car from the client.
3. Who pays for the fuel? The quoted car rental fees exclude fuel. The traveler must refill the car on his/her own at all times while driving it.

Renting a car for use outside Uganda

We do cross-border rentals around East Africa. Countries we let you drive are Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. we always advise and give our clients what it takes to drive in countries other than Uganda. A consent letter to crossover the car to another border is issued by us. We also advise our clients to buy COMESA at the border point as it is mandatory to drive a foreign vehicle in another country.  Note that the rental fees charged while driving in Uganda only are different from when you are going to drive in other countries.

Important things to consider while renting a car in Uganda

Carefully go through the car rental agreement: The small prints on this black and white document given to you to sign on is what renting a car in Uganda is about. Ensure to read it carefully and ask where you don’t understand. The car rental agreement makes the client know what to do in any situation. It is more of a guide on how to handle the rental car while using it.

Driving past the limited speed is highly condemned. Please adhere to the speed limit that you come across on the different signposts along the different roads. Overspeeding can lead to accidents. It is also an offence in Uganda and other East African countries which leads to premium fines if caught. The standard speed limit is 40km/hr. on city and urban roads and 80km/hr. on highways.

In Uganda, driving is done on the left side of the road. Any client not well penchant with the driving on the left is advised to hire a driver.  Those who have just learned how to drive are advised to get a driver too. Driving in Uganda is one of the most difficult tasks you can ever take up, especially in the city where the roads are narrow, congested, full of potholes, and reckless drivers and motorcyclists.

The roads in Uganda are asphalt and gravel. The asphalt roads are found in the city areas and main highways leading to the different major districts in the country. The rest of the roads are gravel, especially those in the national parks. Therefore, we advise our clients to rent a 4×4 vehicle that is robust enough to maneuver through the ragged and muddy roads which are encountered especially in the rainy season.