SMH Car Hire, Cape Town, South Africa

Fortinbrass1

Just a quick warning to money-savers to avoid SMH Car Hire in South Africa (they have offices in Cape Town and Jo'berg). I recently hired with them and, after I returned the car, they took several thousand Rand of unauthorised charges from my bank account without notice for non-existent 'damage' to the car. The money they took was even over and above the damage excess set out in the hire agreement!

Fortunately, I have managed to reclaim the money through Visa chargeback. But trust me, you do not want to deal with these rogues. Go to a reputable company instead.

Also, take care if using Around About Cars in Cape Town because it seems that they sometimes refer customers to SMH. So although you start dealing with Around About Cars, you end up hiring the actual car from SMH.