17 Samora Machel Drive, Mbombela 1200+27 13 752 38 41
IlkestoncollectiveLowveld hire, plainly explained Open enquiries
Indicative rand rates

Price list

We do not hire cars out and we do not take bookings. What we sell is time at a desk: reading a contract with you before you sign it, planning a route that suits the car you have been given, and being on the phone when something goes wrong at a border post. Rates below are indicative and quoted per job unless stated.

Two people at a counter with a hire agreement spread out, a pen resting on the exclusions page.
PhotographTwo people at a counter with a hire agreement spread out, a pen resting on the exclusions page.
Counter figures

Six jobs, priced one at a time

Contract read-through

Indicative feeR450

You send us the hire agreement and the quote before you sign. We come back with the excess in rand, the exclusions that matter on your route, and the two or three add-ons worth paying for.

  • Excess, waiver and deposit hold set out in plain figures
  • Exclusions flagged against your actual route, gravel included
  • A written note of the questions to ask at the counter

Collection walk-through

Indicative feeR650

We meet you at the counter in Mbombela or at the airport desk and do the condition report with you, properly, including the kerb side, the spare and the fuel policy in writing.

  • Anti-clockwise inspection with time-stamped photographs
  • Spare wheel, jack and warning kit checked and noted
  • Fuel policy and return time confirmed on the signed sheet

Route plan, escarpment

Indicative feeR550

A day-by-day plan for the passes and the canyon road, built around the car class you have, with fuel stops, mist timing and the sections where a low car will struggle.

  • Pass direction and timing chosen for light and cloud
  • Fuel stops with distances between them
  • Alternatives for a wet day, including the Schoemanskloof run

Reserve day planning

Indicative feeR600

Gate choice, opening hour, the collection time that follows from it, and an honest view on whether your hire car can legally and sensibly reach the lodge you have booked.

  • Gate and camp hours matched to your booking
  • Gravel clause checked against the approach road
  • Cold tyre pressures and a tyre plan for the day

Cross-border preparation

Indicative feeR750

The letter of authority timeline, which classes are permitted, what the post will charge, and the kit the car must carry before it leaves the country.

  • Letter lead time and who has to sign it
  • Post-by-post cost estimate in rand and local currency
  • Warning kit, disc and documents checklist

Hire-before-you-buy brief

Indicative feeR900

We design the hire week that will answer your purchase questions, then read your notes afterwards and tell you what they actually mean.

  • A seven-day driving plan built on your own routes
  • A measurement list: boot, sill height, seat travel, turning circle
  • A debrief call and a written summary of the week
Package

Three packages, for three kinds of week

Package

Weekend away

R1 350

Two adults taking a car for two or three nights on the escarpment, who want the paperwork right and one good drive planned.

  • Contract read-through before you sign
  • One pass route with timing and fuel stops
  • Cold tyre pressures for a loaded car
  • A short list of parking that suits a low car
  • A phone number that answers on a Saturday
Package

Reserve week

R2 450

A family or two couples hiring for five to nine days with reserve days, gravel approaches and an early start or two.

  • Contract read-through with the gravel clause confirmed in writing
  • Collection walk-through at the counter or airport desk
  • Gate-by-gate day plan with collection time worked backwards
  • Tyre, spare and recovery plan for the approach roads
  • A written return checklist for the drop-off
Package

Buying year

R3 200

A reader replacing a car they have owned for a decade, who wants to try two or three classes properly before committing.

  • Two hire weeks designed around your own driving
  • A measurement sheet you fill in, with the figures that matter
  • Service interval and local parts lead-time enquiries for each class
  • A comparison written up in plain language, no scores
  • A final call before you sign anything at a showroom
A note on the figures

All figures are indicative, in rand, and quoted before the winter peak loading that most Lowveld fleets apply. We have no commercial arrangement with any hire company, counter or lodge, and we take nothing from anyone whose contract we read.

A clerk and a customer walking the kerb side of a hire car with a condition sheet between them.
Mbombela

Send us the contract before you sign it

Five minutes of reading at this desk has saved readers five-figure excess claims more than once. Tell us the car class, the dates, the route and the counter, and we will come back with the figures that matter.

Open enquiries