A small local team on the island, handling every booking, permit and delivery ourselves - no call centre, no rental counter.
4Drive started because too many visitors landing at Zanzibar Airport (ZNZ) were being asked for a deposit they did not have, or a credit card they did not carry. We are a direct rental operator, not a booking aggregator or a desk inside the terminal. There is no rental counter to queue at - a driver meets you with a name sign, hands over the car and the paperwork, and that is the whole process.
Our service_type is straightforward: delivery-based car hire across the island, from Stone Town alleys to sandy tracks near the beach lodges. On most cars there is no deposit at all; on a few larger vehicles we ask for a cash deposit instead of a card hold, because that is simpler to release on the spot when you return the keys.
Payment is designed around how tourists actually travel here - you can pay online with a debit card, or settle in cash in USD or Tanzanian shillings when the car is handed over. We only ask for 15-20% prepayment to confirm a booking; the rest is settled locally. Every rental includes full insurance cover, so there are no excess surprises if a sandy track scrapes a bumper.
Delivery is free to Zanzibar Airport, any Stone Town hotel entrance, and every beach zone from Nungwi in the north down to Jambiani in the east and Kizimkazi in the south. Our fleet leans on Suzuki Alto and Celerio for budget travellers on tarmac routes, and Jimny or RAV4 when the last mile to a beach lodge turns sandy - automatic transmission is standard across the range. Pricing runs from $19-20 a day in the green season (March-May and November) up to $30 and above during the December-February and June-September peaks.
Zanzibar drives on the left, a British-era habit that catches a few visitors out on the first roundabout. Every rental includes the visitor driving permit alongside your home licence - we arrange it, it comes included, and it is handed over with the car so you are never caught without it at a police checkpoint.
The team that answers your WhatsApp message is the same team that delivers the car - no third-party call centre.
Main tarmac roads between the airport, Stone Town and Nungwi are in decent shape; sandy last-mile tracks to some lodges need a higher car, and we say so upfront.
What replaces a deposit is a small prepayment and a walkaround photo record - not a hold on your card that takes days to release.
The Zanzibar visitor driving permit is arranged and included in every booking, so checkpoints are a non-event.
Suzuki Alto and Celerio, Jimny, RAV4 and the Noah minivan - vehicles chosen for island roads, not showroom looks.
Airport to Stone Town is 15 minutes, to Nungwi 1h15, to Paje 50 minutes - we deliver to all of it, free of charge.
We are based on the island. Bookings, deliveries and handovers are all handled locally, which is why we can offer meet-and-greet delivery and permit paperwork without a rental counter.
Yes, this is a direct rental service. We manage our own small fleet of automatics - Alto, Celerio, Jimny, RAV4 and Noah - rather than acting as a booking middleman.
A short prepayment at booking and a quick photo walkaround at handover cover what a deposit would normally cover. Only a few larger vehicles ask for a cash deposit instead.
We arrange the Zanzibar visitor driving permit for every booking and hand it over with the car and your national licence, so you are covered at police checkpoints.
WhatsApp is the fastest route - see our contact page for the number and the online form.