Authorisation Hold Explained

When collecting the car

  • Budget requests your bank to reserve a temporary authorisation hold against the funds of your card.
  • Your bank will usually present this as a pending transaction that reduces the money you have available to spend.
  • This might appear as a debit on your statement, but it is not. 
  • No funds are debited from your bank account.
  • This temporary authorisation hold will be the estimated cost of your rental (including a security authorisation and any extras accepted) less any amount paid in advance. An additional location specific / weekend authorisation hold may apply. 

When returning the car

  • Once your bank account has been debited with the invoice amount, the temporary authorisation hold will be released by your bank. 
  • As this was a temporary authorisation hold and not debited, the release will not be shown as a transaction on your bank statement, instead your available balance will increase. 
  • The time to release the temporary authorisation hold is dependant on your bank, and in certain instances it may take up to 30 days before it is released.

Please contact your bank for any authorisation hold queries. 

Please Note: Your bank account could reflect two amounts before the temporary authorisation hold is released. The initial temporary authorisation hold as obtained at vehicle collection and the actual debit for the invoice amount.

Additional Weekend Authorisation

Applicable for rentals at all locations, except the locations mentioned below.

If you are renting over a weekend (Between Thursday 00h01 and the following Monday 23h59) an additional "weekend authorisation" will be taken for the duration of the rental as follows:

- Coastal Branches -  R3,500 (on all car groups)
- Inland Branches - R7,500 on Car Groups A-E and R10,000 on Car Groups F - N


The additional weekend authorisation will be waived from airport locations upon presentation of a valid airline boarding pass/e-ticket printout.

Rentals in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal North-West Province, Limpopo and Mpumalanga

If you are renting a vehicle from one of the following branches, whether during the week or over a weekend, a new authorisation hold of R10 000 will be held on the payment card, over and above the standard authorisation hold taken for each rental. This authorisation replaces the weekend authorisation mentioned above.

  • Amanzimtoti
  • Ballito
  • Bethlehem
  • Bloemfontein Airport
  • Bloemfontein Downtown
  • Centurion
  • Durban Downtown
  • East London Airport
  • East London Downtown
  • Empangeni
  • Greenacres Downtown
  • Harrismith
  • Hoedspruit
  • Isando
  • Jeffreys Bay
  • King Shaka International Airport
  • Kingwilliamstown
  • Kokstad
  • Krugersdorp
  • Ladysmith
  • Lanseria Airport
  • Lephalale
  • Mafikeng
  • Margate
  • Menlyn
  • Midrand Grand Central Airport
  • Mthatha
  • Musina
  • Nelspruit
  • Newcastle
  • OR Tambo International Airport
  • Ormonde
  • Phalaborwa
  • Pietermaritzburg
  • Pinetown
  • Polokwane
  • Port Alfred
  • Port Elizabeth Airport
  • Potchefstroom
  • Pretoria Downtown
  • Richards Bay
  • Rustenburg
  • Sandton Gautrain
  • Secunda
  • Soweto
  • St Lucia
  • Sunninghill
  • Thohoyandou
  • Tzaneen
  • Ulundi Airport
  • Umhlanga
  • Vereeniging
  • Vryburg
  • Vryheid
  • Welkom
  • Witbank

This applies to all rentals and will only be waived upon presentation of a valid airline boarding pass for the same day as the rental and in the same name as the renter.