4x4-car-rental-namibia-ASCO-Self-Drive-Trips
Frequently Asked Questions

What most people want to know about 4x4 car hire

The following questions and answers are a selection of the most popular questions.

If you do not find the answer to your question, please contact us.

Reservations & Bookings

questions and answers about the reservations and bookings

Any national driving license which is in English will be accepted. International driving licenses and European Community driving licenses are also accepted for the car rental. If your license is not in English, you can accompany it with an officially certified translation. However please be aware that an international drivers license is required by law and that you might be asked for it at road blocks or during police controls.

We try to track flights and stay aware of possible changes in timetables. If however, there is an unexpected delay such as lost luggage, please contact our offices as soon as possible. Our staff will help with arranging an alternative transport to the car hire or to your accommodation.

Asco Car Hire offers a free airport shuttle to all our clients. On your arrival at Windhoek International Airport, our driver will be waiting for you, provided that you have informed us of your travel dates and times. 

The shuttle can bring you directly to our depot in Windhoek, or take you to you accommodation, if you wish to pick up your car at a later stage. The shuttle will drive any day of the week between 7h00 and 17h00. When dropping off your car, please make sure to be at our depot latest by 15h00 that day to catch the last shuttle to the airport.

Our shuttle drivers often pick up multiple clients from the airport at the same time. To be reasonable to all clients, the drivers are instructed to wait at the airport for 90 minutes after the landing of the plane, and then leave towards the city. If you anticipate your check out is going to take longer than that, for example because of issues at customs or lost luggage, please try to make contact with our office or the driver so that he will know to wait for you, or we can arrange alternative transport.

We accept Visa and MasterCard (we do not accept American Express at our offices), Paypal, Bank transfer and cash (no 200 & 500 Euro notes). Please note that we require a deposit payment of 20% to confirm your booking with us.

Yes, and not only can you visit other countries with our cars, you can also arrange to pick up or drop off your car in several southern African countries.  However, this all needs to be arranged with our office prior to your travel so that we can make sure to have all the necessary paperwork for the vehicle in order. There is also an additional charge for the cross-border permit, as well as a one-way fee if you are picking up or dropping off the car anywhere outside Windhoek. For more details, have a look at our Services page.

Our depot is in Windhoek, Southern Industrial area, 195 Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue. You can collect or drop of your car to our depot any day of the week between 7h30 and 15h30. If you would like to collect or drop off at another location, this can be arranged. We offer a "one-way" service which can deliver or collect the car from you almost anywhere within southern Africa. Please note that this service needs to be booked prior to your trip and a one-way fee will be applied to your booking. For more information about alternative collection or drop-off locations, please send us a mail

Asco Car Hire reserves the right to impose an age limit for the drivers at a minimum of 23 years for all vehicles with a 2.4l engine in Budget groups, 25 years for all vehicles with a 2.4l engine in Asco groups, and 30 years for all larger engine size cars.

A younger persons may be given a right to drive one of our vehicles by special consideration from management, in which case a young driver surcharge will be added to the booking. Please refer to our full Terms and Conditions for more information. If you have any questions or concerns about this rule, please get in touch with us personally so that we may assist you.

Not a problem! We are aware off-road driving is not as common in Europe as it is in Africa, and we have prepared an extensive beginners guide for our clients. Our staff will instruct you in the operation of the car and we will show you a video detailing important advice about driving on gravel roads. Most of our clients are first-timers with four-by-fours and gravel roads, but if you follow our advice, it couldn't be any easier.

Cars & Equipment

Questions and answers regarding the Vehicles and Extras

All Asco Car Hire vehicles come standard fitted with a double fuel tank, a second battery, a 25L water tank, two spare tires, and a bull bar for safety. Additionally each vehicle has a fire extinguisher, an axe, a spade, a compressor, a first aid kit, and a tire pressure gauge. 

Camping equipped vehicle groups include roof tents with bedding, a camping kitchen box, chairs, table, and a fridge. 

Asco Car Hire has loads of extra equipment to offer. You can look at the offering on our Extras page and anything you need to your booking. Please note that extras need to be booked up front to ensure availability.

Camping can be daunting, but it's made as simple as possible with all the top of the line camping gear you will be provided with. And not only do you get the best of the best equipment, we will show you exactly how to use the equipment. Camping has never been this easy, and you get to enjoy the wild African Nature in comfort.
Namibia is one of the safest countries in Africa and camping here is a breeze. You will mainly be staying at dedicated campsites or lodges with camping facilities, and these kind of places are well guarded and comfortable. Most land in Namibia is privately owned so chances for so-called "wild-camping" are few. However, if you do find a chance for wild camping such as in the isolation of Kaokoland, you might be rewarded with visitors such as antelopes and elephants. 
No you do not. Everything besides food and drinking water is already packed as part of your vehicles equipment, if you choose a camping equipped vehicle. And anything else you might need, such as firewood, fire-lighters, dishwashing soap, mosquito repellants, you can find in any shop in the country. 
For sure! We have both of these available on our extras page!
Each of our cars has Bluetooth connectivity. The cars also have a USB port and a 12V connection.

Namibia's cellular network is exceptionally good, covering all tarred roads and parts of the gravel road network. Car-fi is a mobile hotspot made specifically for cars. The Wi-fi connection will provide speeds of up to 100 Mb/s in major cities with 4G network, and up to 10 Mb/s in smaller towns on 3G network. On the road, the connection will provide speeds of anything from 0,5 Mb/s depending on network quality. The hotspot can connect to up to 10 devices at the same time. Works only in Namibia, no other countries.

Asco cars are all new or as good as new models of vehicles. Asco Budget cars are slightly older car models, which have quite some thousands of kilometers under the belt, and are thus priced at a more affordable rate. The cars are in as pristine condition as they can be for 3–5 year old models, but they do show some signs of usual wear.

However, the cars have always gone through, and still do, our renowned in-house service and quality control process between every single trip, to make sure they are in as good a condition as they can be. When driving a budget car, you would not believe it might have more than 200,000 kilometers on the clock. 

Traffic

Questions and answers concerning your trip, the roads and driving with Asco Cars

The speed limits in Namibia are 120km/h on tarred roads, 100km/h and 60km/h in cities and national parks. 

However, for safety reasons Asco Car Hire imposes a speed limit of 80km/h for our vehicles on Gravelroads. The cars are equipped with a black box which tracks the speed and location of the cars, and will notify the driver with a loud beep when the speed limit is being broken. Note that if you do exceed the speed limit, your insurance and excess will lapse and become invalid. Please have a look at our insurances page for more information.

Firstly, rest easy as we've got you covered. Asco Car Hire offers a 24h breakdown service to make sure your trip can continue uninterrupted as soon as possible. 

In case something is wrong with the car, you can contact our staff via one of the emergency phone numbers, we are on call 24/7. Next, our staff will assess the situation with you over the phone, and provide troubleshooting assistance if the issue can be solved remotely. Finally, if necessary we will send out our breakdown service of qualified mechanic to assist you on the road.

Please note however, that there are areas in Namibia to which we cannot guarantee a 24h service due to the difficult terrain and remote connections. Other southern African countries also require a bit more time as the roadside assistance will be conducted by third party partners. For more information about the areas, please have a look at our service page, or get in touch via email.

In the unlikely case of an accident or any form of damage to the car, the first thing you should do is to contact our office emergency number. We will help assess the situation over the phone and make further arrangements so that you can continue your trip as soon as possible.

INSURANCE

Questions and answers concerning the insurance

All Asco Car Hire vehicles are insured with a third party insurance. In addition to that, you can choose from our four different insurance options, which provide cover to varying degrees. The reduced excess options determine the amount in damages up to which you are liable in case of an accident. You can have look at our insurance options in detail on the insurance page and we recommend you take the time to read through the details. If you have any further questions after reading through this information, feel free to contact us.

Yes you do. Even if you choose Reduced Excess 3 where your excess liability is N$ 0, we will still need to pre authorize a credit card in the main drivers name. 

In case of an accident where it is determined that the cause of the accident was due to negligence on the drivers behalf, as detailed in our insurance terms, the driver will be fully liable for damages and Asco Car Hire has the right to charge this amount on the clients credit card. 

In other words, we always require a valid credit card which is in the main drivers name.

When you rent a car with us and have chosen your insurance type, we will block off the amount of your excess, or your damage liability, on your credit card. This means that the amount of your chosen excess will be “frozen” on your card and pre authorized for Asco Car Hire to use if needed. The blocked amount is not charged to your card, it simply means that the blocked amount is kept in reserve. 

In case off damages Asco Car Hire is then authorized to charge your card for the amount of the damages, within your excess limit. If all goes well and the car is returned in a good condition, the authorization and is automatically removed. For any more questions about this, please have a look at our insurance page or feel free to mail us for more information.

GENERAL

General questions and answers

Yes, we do. Asco Car Hire has great partnership programs with Tourism Supporting Conservation Trust, TOSCO, and Eloolo Permaculture Organisation. When making your booking, you can choose to donate towards mitigating your carbon emissions caused by the trip.

Further information and booking enquiries: