First Car Rental

Charges were billed very unfairly with regards to fuel, as well as additional charges that were not even mentioned but I was told it was "Standard" charges and pretty much nothing I could do about the charges that were taken from my deposit… I will never use this company again for any car hire or advise anyone else to use them!!

I rented a car for four days with First Car in Joburg. You get free mileage when you rent a car for a minimum of four days. When I returned the car two hours earlier than stated in the rental agreement, the rental period was changed to three days and I was charged around R 1,400 mileage. I should think that whenever I return the car it's a four days rental because I have paid for four days. When you complain to First Car they don't give you a clear answer. I rented the car through Auto Europe, and Auto Europe found out why First Car had charged mileage when free mileage was stated in my agreement. First Car seems to be a dishonest company.

Do not touch this company. See all the reports of extra charges below for filling up cars that are already full. I would have had to drive 50k to enable the car I filled up at the airport petrol station to take the extra 3.6 liters that they charged for and of course they then made the charge for petrol admin as well. Nice little earner for them I suspect.
The RA no is 3429363
Not sure what a FCR is cannot see it on my invoice from them

I was charged for a vehicle returned and after 1 week still not refunded

I don't think I have ever given quite a low review, but I have to say that this car rental company First Car Rental provided the worst car rental service EVER!! BAD BAD BAD and watch out for the extra charges!!
Not only did their Capetown Airport staff appear totally vacant and certainly not interested in their customers but on handing back my hire vehicle I was stung for additional fuel – the local rep advised that "bubbles" and "movement" in the fuel tank showed that the tank was not full to capacity, albeit that the tank had reached maximum capacity when filled up at the fuel station and where no further fuel could be added the pump just would not fill the tank any further.
Please be advised that this is not a car hire company I would recommend either locally or internationally stay with the more well known AVIS or BUDGET you get a more friendly advisor is more than willing to assist with any complaint and I have to advise that neither company has ever and I mean ever charged me additional for fuel – you have been warned

Made a reservation directly with SIXT, however at pickup the transaction and car was delivered by Firstcar rental at Capetown airport. Coincidently a few minutes later without me using theVisa card elsewhere after I made my deposit of 5500 Rand on my Visa card, 2 transactions nearing 5000 Rand payable to Paybridge accommodations were debited to my card, I was fortunate receive a fraudulent alert from Hometrust Visa on these as well.

I was surprised that Sixt did not complete my car delivery.

For a trip in South-Africa I paid a lot extra for a GPS, actually more than the price I would have paid in the webshop for the same type. But the GPS was useless, because it hadn't been updated and the new roads were not visible on the map. As a result, we were send the wrong way on numerous occasions and got lost. We had to use our cellphones and expensive data to get us on the right road again. When I notified First, they just told me that the unit had been updated and upheld the charge for an useless extra. I will never use this company again and advise anyone thinking of renting here to stay well away. 83% of reviewers who give a company one star can't be wrong.

Do I really have to give one star when I'd rather give them zero?! I have to agree with reviews saying DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! After having to cancel a booking and make a new one I was assured I did not have to make anew booking immediately, that I could just turn up on the day (3 days later) and come to the desk, to ask for Brian and he would sort us out with a car for our 12-day hire. Deciding to trust his calm reassurances, we did just that – only to find that they had NO CAR for us when we arrived at George airport!!! Nada, nothing at all! And neither did the other companies at that time of the day (evening). The aforementioned guy didn't even have the balls to come out and talk to us himself!! We were just left high and dry and having to find our own way. No explanation, no efforts to help whatsoever. A R400 taxi ride and almost losing our BnB booking for the night ensued, due to the time wasted. Honestly, don't bother – they truly don't give a toss! In the end we got sorted the next day by Thrifty, who I do recommend – very helpful, and a great car.

This is the worst rental car company in the world:
They charge the rental twice in your credit card
You rent a certain type of car and the give another much worse saying that it is the same category
They charged uncertain items

In the UK, and used their chat service. Incredibly arrogant and rude with absolutely no idea on customer engagement. I am a Saffa, and it strikes me, because they're at the airport- they couldn't give a hoot. I spoke to someone called, Zahra- clearly can't handle the pressure. Sadly this is SA in a nutshell- avoid like a plague.

Do Not Use them – we left the car with a full petrol tank but still were charged plus a petrol admin fee. See other comments below. They do it a lot. It's a racket.

The car we rented from First Car Rental was fine, if a little dented. We returned it with the dial clearly showing a full tank, only to be billed once we'd returned to UK for the tiniest amount of a fuel plus an admin charge. I would not rent from this company again.

Rented a car in South Africa with Sixt / First.
They advised they would hold 11,000 ZAR on the card as a security deposit – fair enough.
In fact they actually billed the 11,000 ZAR deposit before the car was returned meaning payment of it was due to my card company.
Massive pain to deal with!
On returning the car it was all signed off with a full tank and no damage.
First then bill me 拢1 yes ONE POUND in fuel but add on another 拢5 in refueling admin fees.
Absolute scam.
Wont be using Sixt/First again.

Rented a car from 1st Car rental at Cape Town airport. My booked car of choice, Datsun, was unavailable and I received a Suzuki which did not have central locking. This is very unsafe and so the next day I requested a swap. First car rental obliged and swapped me for a Datsun with central locking. However when I got home I realised I had left my bag in the Suzuki. I rushed back and was assisted by Noma, Sandile and Myles at First Car Rental. I was very pleased with them as they located my bag and returned it to me. Very helpful and honest staff. Please hold on to them! I will write a review at the end of my 30 day rental again but despite the issue of a substandard car, I was happy First Car acknowledged my grievance with the lack of central locking and also their support with my lost bag. At the end of the day, not everything goes to plan and it鈥檚 about service. So far so good.

SCAM!! DO NOT USE!

First car rental will charge you for gas even when you return the car full. They overcharge you on the liter price.
The gave us a nonfunctioning car and had US pay for the exchange cost DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

not a good experience..would not use again.
take pictures before delivery and on return a must with this company
otherwise charges will be taken…

We was rent a car in November 2019 for 15 days. Everything seems to be ok until we arrived back at home. Here I got an invoice for fuel of 183 ZAR for 11.9 liter. We refuel the car completely at the airport. An employee offered us to bring us to the drop off point, which is a maximum distance of 1 km.
I get in touch with Mr. Khethiwe Zwane from First Car Rental, who was not interested in deeper insights, what his colleague who took the car from us was with them after the drop off point. He only send me a useless receipt which comes directly from First Car Rental and not from a gasoline station.
I recognized on other web sides, that other customers have had the same experience with First car Rental.
It seems it is the ploy of them to charge after returns of the car, For that, never rent a car from this company if you don't wan't to have trouble afterwards.

Waiting since more than 3 weeks to get my deposit back. They do not just block the amount, they take it from the Card and it鈥檚 been taken from your savings account. Unbelievable. Never book a car with them!

Unbelievable, but they do not return the deposit from the car although everything was correct. Time of giving back the car and petrol inside. I mailed them several times, but they also ignore that.
In fact it鈥榮 a crime and the police should do something.
Just take care of this criminal car rental!!!

Worst experience renting a car ever!!! They gave us a car that looked like a piece of trash. The car was almost falling apart, it really made us feel scary about driving it on the road, and it made our trip to South Africa be a terrible experience. The company charged us almost 300 zar of gas, but we鈥檝e had fill up the tank a day before, and the tank was 95% full when we returned the car. Still waiting for some kind of answer and resolution

What a sad company. Made a reservation for a Renault Clio. They had only a Nissan Micra. The hole car was damaged. The antenne wasnt there. The radio didnt work. Because we already payed we took the car. The same day we were on the other side off Ibiza and we need some Gaz. At the gazstation it was impossebel to open the smal door to put Gaz in the car. I phoned First. They say oh ye put the key from the car in between en try to get ot open. I had only one key. I told them that i am not gone do that. Finale we find a screwdriver and open the door. Next day i went to the Office and they try to make it. It dusnt work good at all. There was no other car so… because we want to see more of the Island we visit the Office. They say its ok the same price as on on the contract. We dont need to make new papers. The next day the manager called and told us that we have to come to the Office to do the papers. After a long phone call i agree to come to the Office. At the Office the manager was very unpolite. He told me i have to sign a new contract and when i looked on the contract there whas a much higher price then we paid for the the four days before. He forced me to sign. I refused. He told me that he have my deposit from 650,- so thats the way they try to steel money from the custumers. Criminals.

Hired a car from them in Cape Town Airport and I can't really recommend them.

They charged us for one day extra, when we only returned the car 45 minutes later (and it was no problem, because we've asked before). So we went back to the office and explained the situation, the supervisor understood the thing and could say it is bit ridiculous to charge one more day for that (27 euros in total). Keep in mind that it was for 4 days only 55 euros. The supervisor said that we will receive a mail for this but still didnt see one and no refund of the money. This all happened in the end of July and August. They are kind of theefs.

Do not use this firm. They let you rent bad cars and do not provide the service you deserve.
We had no less than two breakdowns in one week and ended up having to pay a considerable amount of extra money (18.454 zar) for repairs and extra plane tickets. Not to mention the amount of lost time during our vacation or the danger of having to stop along the road in South Africa – not exactly a safe place to have a break down.
I will never use First again.
Pernille Harees

P1ss poor service at the King Shaka branch. Did not accept my British International driver license.

Situation made worse by Landie the Manager. Customer Service skills set of a door-knob.

This company will never see me again. Europecar was way better and more professional.

We had booked a vehicle (13 – 27 Aug 2019) capable of taking 2 suitcases in the boot, however on arrival at Durban International the nominated vehicle did not have working headlights and a replacement vehicle that could barely have 1 suitcase in the boot was given to us. It took 3 days to resolve this and we ended up collecting a replacement vehicle at our cost (time and money), customer service was very poor but more closely non-existent. We hire vehicles regularly and will NOT use this company again!! There are other complaints but that would take too much text and time to post and frankly, I do not anticipate a response due to the lack of customer service