By Reporter
The dynamics of car rental in Uganda are not very complex. There are mainly two categories of car rental service providers; the safari car rental agencies and general car rental agencies. For anyone considering to get a Uganda car rental whether for self-drive or chauffeur driven service, you must have to first identify the type of agency you are actually dealing with.
Safari Car Rental Agencies
The safari car rental agencies are the type of car rental agencies whose car rental services specialize in tours and travel. These car rental agencies are often registered with the Uganda tourism board, Association of Uganda tour operators as well as Uganda safari car rental association.
They usually offer services such as hotel booking, airport transfers, gorilla trekking permits bookings, chimpanzee tracking permits booking among other tour related services. In other words, they help out on anything you might need to execute a self drive trip in Uganda.
General Car Rental Agencies
Self drive services are not common among general car rental agencies. They can offer you almost every type of car you might need but the car will always come with their driver. It is very uncommon to find a general car rental agency that offers you a car without a driver.
Depending on the type of car, their car rental rates are often lower compared to safari car hire agencies but also the mechanical condition is relatively lower compared to that of the safari car rental agencies in most instances though there are exceptions.
Self drive car rental tends to be risky for the agencies. Out of our experience, there is no self-guided car rental agency that has ever recovered a car that was stolen by a client in Uganda.
Renting a Car in Entebbe
Before making up your decision on where to rent a car in Entebbe, you have to first make up your mind on what exactly you need the car for. In case you are considering to hire a car in Entebbe for a holiday in Uganda, then look out for car rental agencies. They offer both self drive car rentals and car hire with a driver in Uganda.
On the other hand, if you simply need a car to take you around Entebbe town, then consider hiring a car from the general car rental agencies. Unfortunately, most of these agencies are not online. On top of that, you might not get a self drive deal from a general car rental agency, therefore you might have to stick with the safari car rental agency for that matter.
The advantage of renting a car in Entebbe is the fact that it is less congested compared to Kampala. Unless there is a presidential convey, you will not find any traffic jam related issues in Entebbe.
Renting a Car In Kampala
Just like in Entebbe, you might have to identify to what purpose you need the car. The most popular car rental agencies in Kampala are safari car rental agencies. Short day hires are not very popular among such agencies.
Unless you are planning to drive around Kampala, it is recommended to hire the car from Kampala. It is always better to hire the car from Entebbe. It is very common to have delayed car delivery in Kampala unlike in Entebbe.
Kampala is only a better car rental location if you are hiring a car with a driver. Unfortunately this also robs you of the experience of driving in Kampala. All in all, unless you are staying in Kampala, it is recommended not to hire a car from Kampala.