Find out what to do in case you’re running late while in transit to pick up the hire car. Delays happen to everyone, and you can save money and time with only a couple of simple tips.
Booking a vehicle isn’t like booking a lodging room, where you can reach at any time after the check-in time. When you choose when to pick the car that is the time you should be there, at the car rental garage or at the point you agreed to deliver the vehicle to you.
In case you didn’t arrive on time as you have planned, the rental agency may think you’re not coming. They may mark your booking as ‘no-show’ which implies you’re booking will be cancelled and your vehicle may be given to another person, and you won’t get any refund on the commitment fee you paid.
It’s always a smart idea to give yourself a bit of breathing space on either side of your drop-off or pick-up times, so planning in advance and checking the traffic reports is a better place to begin.
In case you’re running late while in transit to get your hired, your most solid option is to contact the rental agency directly. You’ll find the contact of the company on their website or even the contact number in your booking affirmation which ought to have been emailed to you, you can find their contacts there. When you tell the company that you’re running late they may keep your vehicle until the time you arrive, yet this will be up to the director.
Simply not appearing at your booking time implies you’ll be classified as a no-show. This implies you’ll lose your booking and the company will not refund the deposit you gave them when booking the car and you’ll need to re-book another vehicle at the last minute costs.
If you know early that you going to be late to pick up the car, you can just contact the car rental company and change the time of picking the car.
What to do if the flight delay
In case you share your flight number with the car rental agency at the time of booking the vehicle, they should monitor your flight and they can hold your vehicle for a short time in case of a flight delay. In case you find out that your flight is delayed before take-off, contact the rental agency to tell them what time you’ll be reaching and even talk about your alternatives with them.
My luggage is delayed, what would it be a good idea for me to do?
In the event that you get held up at luggage collection, in case you travelling in a group, for example, three, one can go to the car rental desk to pick the car and the other wait for the luggage. And if you travelling solo, then the best option is to call the rental agency to hold your car for a minute and first finish the luggage issue.
In conclusion, the first step for the delay to pick up the hire car is to contact the car rental company in time. To avoid all these worries and to not be under pressure of picking the car, you can book with companies with good terms like 4×4 Uganda Ltd if you travelling to Uganda and 4×4 Self Drive Kenya Ltd if you travelling to Kenya, these agencies can hold your car for 24 hours if you delay and as long as you paid a commitment fee of $100 during the booking of your car, they can hold your car even beyond 24hours as long as you communicate and tell them when you arriving.