Many places on the internet are actually agents and they just find the best deal they can with any company – including the bad ones.  It seems that the cheaper the car hire, the longer you have to wait for your car (often well over an hour!) and the more extras they charge. We are dismayed to hear from guests that many hire car companies are charging for a full tank of petrol at premium rates, and then asking you to bring it back empty … and many only having used a quarter of a tank.  Check the small print carefully!  

Unfortunately it is difficult to recommend any company in particular, but we have been hearing some good things about malagacar.com (inexpensive and the waiting time is much better than Crown Hire and Gold Car)

A Berlingo, Kangoo or Doble ("white" vans with high clearance) are good vehicles for up here - a lot of the locals use these types of vehicle as they are cheap to buy and have good ground clearance plus loads of boot space. Failing that, Ford Focus and Renault Clio are fine. However, I don’t think anyone actually gets the car that they request! Don’t worry too much about it – so long as you don’t go for one of these new cars which don't have a spare wheel (such as Kia Picantos) or anything too classy (especially anything with low profile tyres!), you’ll be just fine.  Yes, a 4x4 would be great fun, but they are expensive to hire and not needed. Our Peugeot 206 takes just about anything we throw at it!