Pace Car Rental — Local services in Gauteng

For any customer particularly those coming from abroad and wishing to rent a car for just a few days to maybe a month, or even more, you will not be misled by choosing Pace. As a young traveller to South Africa for the first time, I was not particularly happy when the prospect of a tuned down holiday seemed reality when I realised that many car rental companies require credit cards. I did extensive research into terms of conditions of many major companies and all required credit cards. Their policies seemed strange as well and many major brands had poor reviews regarding various issues, such as duping customers for fraudulent claims of damage and untimely deposit returns.

I contacted Pace Car rentals when I specifically searched for car rental companies that accept debit cards or cash, and Pace was the only one and major brand that was reputable enough to be trusted. Other smaller companies that operated with Facebook only or were less recognised were mostly restricted to drivers age of 25 or did not bother replying despite being contacted.

Pace car rentals had a seamless communication, and it was a pleasure to communicate with Sarah to arrange a car rental. Just be sure to have documents ready in case they need them such as I.d. or bank statements and the sort. Sarah was easily communicable to and finalised all aspects over email, and no headaches whatsoever. The car collection was slightly busy but I took less than 5 minutes to get the keys when I was front of queue, so try to sign the documents online.

The car was clean, emaculate and wonderful. Extensions could be easily arranged over the phone but the invoice may take time to reach you, so do it in advance. Returns are not as complicated as they may seem. I signed up for quick deposit return and yet to see if they do uphold that, but for those willing to get their deposit back quickly and sign up for once off R 80, your deposit can be returned within 3 working days only if your deposit was paid for by cash or EFT in the initial deposit payment.

My conclusion is that go for it, they are authentic and always proffesional. No doubt the best, for me atheist.

For pace car rentals themselves, I would simply suggest two improvements. One is to better explain the deposit thing mentioned above as well as e-tolls, I did not sign up for R 25/day because I didn't understand e-tolls, but I would have otherwise.

The second is car extensions, to extend the second time while I was away in durban, I tried calling and although the calls are picked up on time and acknowledged, I did not recieve the quote after the first two calls. It was only in the third call that the lady said the invoice will be sent later and quoted the amount to be paid for extension. I wouldn't have minded otherwise, but it was not pleasant since I had to shorten my stay to durban by a day so I could reach Pace offices in Sandton to extend it before it was due. The quote only reached me a few minutes away from the office. This scenario also contributed to extra mileage driving between my accommodation and the office (around 70 km away) twice.

Also there's a sort of no synchrony between dates when we extend at the office and the emails recieved later. I extended my first time for 7 days, and was told to return it on Sunday, but the email I get mentions 6 days only and asks me to return on Saturday. This happened the second time as well. I have emailed for the same to try and sort it out to avoid any late fees.

As a suggestion also, please consider unlimited km

But despite the above, no problems as such we're encountered and it deserves 5 stars and more. Thank you very much Pace. I know on no any car...

Sadly we received an inadequate service from Pace. At first it was very promising, they gave us a great quote to match a rival on a 10 seater Quantum. When we came to collect the car, the contract we signed and amount paid was actually almost R2,000 below the quote, although at the time we didn't really notice.

When we got to the Lesotho border we were informed we needed a permit to take a rental vehicle out of South Africa, which Pace had not provided us, and were threatened with a R1,500 fine. We rang Pace who informed us we hadn't paid for one (which explained the difference between the quote and the amount charge). This really screwed our holiday plans, but we made other arrangements.The vehicle itself was OK but suffered a number of electrical problems. The driver window would not go all the way up, but would get halfway before going back down. Not ideal for driving through Johannesburg! There was also a short circuit on the electronics which took out our horn, indicators and tail lights (we replaced the fuse but it soon went again).

The real disappointment was actually after we returned the car. Berne sent us an invoice for the difference between the quote and the contract. When I queried what the difference was down to, and whether it was for the cross border permit we had never received, Berne told me we didn't need one and the agent was obviously trying to collect a bribe (rather patronisingly, I have lived here long enough to recognise when someone is trying to solicit a bribe). I told her as much, and sent her links to a number of websites that showed you do need a permit to take a hire car out of South Africa. She dismissed these as inaccurate (including the US State Department website) and told me all her friends regularly took their cars across, ignoring the difference between a rental car and privately owned car (which the websites clearly distinguished between).

This argument continued until I rang up the Cross Border Road Transport Department and confirmed indeed a permit was required. Then the line changed: we did not quote you for one, did not charge you for one. It is true the automated quote didn't mention cross border, this was in the covering email. As for the charge, Berne seemed to imply even had we paid the full amount, they still wouldn't have given us one.In the end I told Berne they had not provided the service mentioned in the quote and so the quote was void, and that I would not pay the difference between the quote and the signed contract. The response? She made an unauthorised charge to my credit card for the amount.

I believe the original mistake was an honest one, and had we received the permit I would probably be recommending Pace. However the degree of patronisation, ignorance regarding the laws, insistence on being right and in the end an illegal charge to the credit card that has since occurred has encouraged me to warn others. You will probably receive a very professional service from Pace, but if something goes wrong they are unreliable in the extreme.

My bank is currently undertaking an investigation into this case and I am awaiting advice on whether to contact the police regarding the unauthorised charge.

Finally, I should highlight that many of the reviews below from "A Google User" look like marketing material. Notice the similarity in language between them, the similar format. The same words are used. Why would the guy renting a Polo be in a position to comment how cheap the...

My husband and I have used Pace before in Cape Town and the experience was pleasant however cannot say the same for my Johannesburg experience from the time I booked, to pick up and drop off. When I initially asked for a quote , my email was replied to by Sarah Maworere who sent me an incorrect quote as it differed from the online one.. I pointed this out and asked for confirmation based on original quote and that was the last I heard from Sarah until after a few days I emailed Cape Town office hwo then followed up for me. Sarah then replied correcting quote and confirming. I had asked for a pick up at OR Tambo but noticed on the confirmation it said Sandton.... Once again I emailed Sarah for a week without any response. I also left numerous messages which were never returned. Had to eventually make arrangements to pick up the vehicle at Marlboro, Sandton. On the day we arrived to pick up the vehicle.. We were given a car with the passanger door not opening and the side mirror control broken off. When we pointed this out as a safety concern were made to feel like we were being an inconvenience and told that we had already signed but we insisted on another car as one signs before checking the vehicle. We were then told we must wait for the staff to finish with the other clients then see what car to give us Eventually given another vehicle which was new but fuel tank was not full with just the last bar down.. All good and well the lady said she would go with us to fill it up but as we took off it showed full again so we said it was fine however as we got to the 1st corner it had dropped. We went back immediately and asked for the tank to be filled. The second lady who assisted us made a fuss in Sotho saying it was now showing full so she did not understand what we were on about as this was a new car and had been filled, we insisted and when we went to the fuel station it was topped up with a further R100 and some odd. Furthermore on the emails to Sarah I had asked to drop off the vehicle late to which she had never responded.. I proceeding to call to confirm this whilst on my trip and got through to Kerusha who confirmed it to be alright and said I should call when I was nearby when I did call an hour away and informed the guy we were arriving at 16:45...he said the driver had been waiting for us at 3pm and had now gone to the airport yet I had mentioned to Kerusha the time of our arrival due to roadworks and lane restrictions. I informed him that I had in fact arranged this and only then he said he would Co ordinate with the driver but again made me feel like I was inconviniencing them. This time around I really did not have a pleasant experience and do hope to see an improvement on the service and staff attitude at Marlboro. Kerusha was friendly and...