FIRST CAR SOUTH AFRICA Car Rental Reviews

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by LEON - 18 July 2025

" Very happy "

" Very happy "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by RICHARD - 30 October 2024

" Excellent service. Well done First Car "

" I haven't used first car for about 10 years as I had a very poor experience with them (Very inefficient service; old, poor quality vehicle etc). Wow, what a turnaround since then! The booking in procedure at the Oliver Tambo airport office was slick and efficient; the car was nearly brand new and spotlessly clean; car returns was equally slick, as was the subsequent administration, issue and clarity of invoice etc. It was also good value for money compared to other car rental companies. Well done First Car! I would definitely use you again "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by FRANCES - 15 March 2024

" A reply would be appreciated "

" Unfortunately we have not received our deposit back, also there appears to be extras which we have no reason to believe there should be, we left the car back full of fuel and we appear to have been charged. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 5
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by GEORGE - 17 March 2023

" The above FX woes is not limited to this particular rental company. I strongly recommend that the industry work at finding a way to overcome this type of unwarranted additional costs & inconvenience "

" In spite of full insurance cover (zero excess) taken up front, I had to make a ZAR 3,000 deposit. Due to FX this was €155.63 plus €4.12 foreign currency fee on 28 Feb. On 17 Mar I noted a €154.94 pending credit (refund). No doubt a further foreign currency fee will be raised, again at my expense. Suggest you find a way to refund my shortfall. "

Value for Money: 8
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7
Expediency of Drop-off: 9
Condition of the Vehicle: 9

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by THEODORUS - 15 August 2022

" Perfect from start to finish, than you! "

" First car were very professional and helpful, I'l be going to them again when I travel. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by EWAN - 17 April 2022

" Always happy, but prices has increased drastically. "

" We booked a larger suv, but received a crossover that wasn't fit for purpose. They did replace it 5 days later with a suitable replacement. "

Value for Money: 3
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 7
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 3

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by REDMOND - 21 March 2020

" Car had a good large booth. This was useful for us as we had golf clubs and baggages "

" Very good experience. A big plus for my wife and I was the porter who took our baggage when we dropped the car back "

Value for Money: 9
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by RHODRI - 30 November 2019

" Nothing else "

" I don't think the hire company should charge an administration fee for charging road tolls "

Value for Money: 8
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 8
Expediency of Drop-off: 8
Condition of the Vehicle: 6

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by STEPHEN - 29 September 2019

" No complaints easy check in and check out of car hire. "

" Could not fault all went to plan "

Value for Money: 9
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 9
Expediency of Drop-off: 9
Condition of the Vehicle: 9

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by FRANCES - 07 April 2019

" This is our second time to book with autoeurope and we will do so again in October 2019. "

" Exceptional service when returning vehicle, it was a very wet day and the person who checked the car very kindly drove us back to departures. Very impressed. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by MAURICE - 20 December 2018

" We drove from North West of Pretoria to Cape Town. Very long drive, quite aan experience but all went well. "

" Friendly, welcoming staff at pick up. Very efficient drop off. No hard sell about extra insurance. Not the make of car we had chosen but similar. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by FRANK - 09 December 2018

" Flawless "

" Flawless - "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

EAST LONDON, ZA - Reviewed by PUMEZA - 01 December 2018

" Excellent service, definitely will use their service. What I liked the most was the fact that it was clearly stipulated not to refill the car with petrol unlike other companies that still charge you even if you have refilled fuel. "

" Price qouted was the price charged, no surprises. Friendly staff at the desk in East London airport and even on returning the car, was met with friendliness of the staff. "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by JOHN - 30 November 2018

" Excellent "

" Excellent service all through from booking, to pickup, to dropoff. Lovely, friendly, helpful staff "

Value for Money: 9
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by JAMES - 30 November 2018

" great service at First Car Hire "

" the whole car hire was made really easy and trouble free "

Value for Money: 10
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 10
Expediency of Drop-off: 10
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

DURBAN, ZA - Reviewed by KENNETH - 02 October 2018

" Have used auto Europe before and remain happy with service. Will use again but not to book first car. "

" First car attempted to defraud us in return of the car. I signed a form indicating no issues with the car in return only for the person who had the form to edit the form indicating a valet was required. I do not agree as a standard vacuum which I expect is a minimum requirement before passing car to next customer is all that is required. On pick up the attendant had stated on inquiry that vallet requirement would be charged. As this is not something that we had encountered before, we clarified that this could occur in case of soiling. This did not happen. My deposit as still not been refunded so I may need to follow up on this further. "

Value for Money: 3
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 1
Expediency of Drop-off: 1
Condition of the Vehicle: 10

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by BRENDAN - 21 August 2018

" I did not get the SUV that I'd paid for for several days and now the company has not released the hold on my credit card!! I have emailed customer services and Diana Lesko Internet Reservations But no help has been provided ?? "

" I did not get the SUV that I'd paid for for several days and now the company has not released the hold on my credit card!! I have emailed customer services and Diana Lesko Internet Reservations But no help has been provided ?? "

Value for Money: 1
Efficiency of Counter Staff: 1
Expediency of Drop-off: 1
Condition of the Vehicle: 1

GEORGE, ZA - Reviewed by PETER - 06 March 2018

" Excellent service and very efficient staff "

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by PATRICK - 01 March 2018

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by JOHANNES - 22 February 2018

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by PETER - 16 December 2017

" As I hired the car for three months and the fact that I had to return to Ireland a week before the end of my initial hire and told that I would not be renumerated in any form and called a valued customer at the same time leaves a certain negative taste, Peter "

" Good service "

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by TIMOTHY - 02 October 2017

" Am registering a formal complaint that might turn into a legal issue as have not been returned my security deposit from First Car. Whom are alleging the replacment of a windscreen.All CCTV cameras at the airport will confirm car in order as well as mobile photos I have.This is fraud. "

" Am registering a formal complaint that might turn into a legal issue as have not been returned my security deposit from First Car. Whom are alleging the replacment of a windscreen.All CCTV cameras at the airport will confirm car in order as well as mobile photos I have.This is fraud. "

DURBAN, ZA - Reviewed by WILLIAM - 03 May 2017

" The car provided by First Car was not pleasant. After 24 hours of travel I got to desk of First car and the paper work took for ever. On top of this they took a ZAR3000 deposit. In all my previous car rentals a pre authorization was put on my credit card but First car took the deposit from my card day 1. After a day or so while travelling in very hot weather the Aircon stopped working. My son who is three and has Down Syndrome became very agitated in the car (it was like an over) and when we arrived at our destination we had to bring him to a doctor as his temperature was 39. Eventually I got around to calling to First Car and they replaced the sub standard car with a car where the aircon worked. continued below "

" When I returned the car at the end of the holiday I returned with a full tank of petrol (I asked the receiver of the car to confirm tank was full which he duly checked.). To my shock First car have deducted Zar482.74 from my deposit for refueling. This is unacceptable and I have logged a compliant with them and tried to call on several occasions. No response from First car. If anything they should be forgoing some of the rental cost for giving me a sub standard car. I have been a customer of Auto Europe for many years and I'm very upset by the sub standard service by a suppler that your company endorses. I would hope that you would follow up this compliant with First car and maybe they will have the courtesy to respond with an explanation? "

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by FIOLANDA - 03 May 2017

" They did not give me the car I requested. The car they gave me did not had tie ropes on wheel caps as they knew about the high theft rate of wheel caps in South Africa,which led to the wheel caps been stolen. I've reported the incident to the police where they've opened a case. I took pictures of same model cars at 1FIRST that had the ropes on the wheels. I've requested a breakdown of the money they took from the R3000.00 holding deposit, but did not hear from them at all. There were 2 cars in the property where I stayed and those cars had rope ties on, I still think if our rental had the rope ties on that the incident would have not happened. 1FIRST should take responsibility for what happened to me, and I would not recommend them at all "

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by PATRICK - 05 April 2017

" The 3000 zar deposit for fuel and road tolls was in fact charged to my credit card and when refunded it was mot the full amount. I returned the car full and got no explanation as to the tolls charged. Furthermore the exchange rate when the amount was refunded left me 10% out of pocket "

" As above "

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by PHILLIP - 13 March 2017

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by GILLIAN - 03 March 2017

NELSPRUIT, ZA - Reviewed by EITAN - 01 February 2017

" It could be a perfect rental unless the following unresloved issue: upon rental, First SA charged my credit card account with a 3,000 ZAR as a guarantee. This charge has not been yet credited to my account, even though the car has been returned with no damage ahead of time. Could you please help to resolve this issue? Thanks, "

" Not to take 3,000 ZAR from the account Return this debt immediately upon car return. "

DURBAN, ZA - Reviewed by JOHN PAUL - 09 January 2017

" Charged me for refuelling even though the car was filled before dropping off?? What's that about?? "

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by PHILLIP - 08 November 2016

" Had to replace the supplied vehicle twice in 4 days to get a reliable, roadworthy vehicle. "

CAPE TOWN, ZA - Reviewed by JOHN BARRY - 19 June 2016

" Happy with everything really. "

" Fast efficient check in and easy return service close to the airport terminal. Second trip using this company and would have no hesitation recommending them to other travellers. "

GEORGE, ZA - Reviewed by DANELLE - 02 November 2015

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by SENABA - 26 August 2015

" Fantastic no problem with first car rental and the car was clean and tidy "

" Staff very friendly "

JOHANNESBURG, ZA - Reviewed by ALEXANDER - 21 July 2015

" Dear Auto Europe Team & First Car, I was very happy with the service which was provided by Auto Europe and First Car Rental in Johannesburg airport. Even though we had a problem with our flights and arrived with 1 day delay, we were able to receive our amended rental car voucher in time and I would like to give a special praise to the manager of First Car Rental in JHB airport, who was very helpful and assisted her staff and customers with "hands on" manner. Thank you Alexander Wunderlich "

" Dear Auto Europe Team & First Car, I was very happy with the service which was provided by Auto Europe and First Car Rental in Johannesburg. Even though we had a problem with our flights and arrived with 1 day delay, we were able to receive our amended rental car voucher in time and I would like to give a special praise to the manager of First Car Rental in JHB airport, who was very helpful and assisted her staff and customers with "hands on" manner. Thank you Alexander Wunderlich "