Rent a wreck

It's the name of the car rental "company" where I rent a car here. I could have used normal companies, but it can become quite expensive in the long term. I could also have bought a car here : it's much cheaper than in Europe, but on the other hand it creates more problems (what do to with it when I'm not in South Africa, insurance, etc.).
So, the idea was to rent a cheap car in the so-called (and well-named) "Rent-a-Wreck".

First, a few words about the company itself. It is located in an area called Doornfontain (if I remember correctly), in the city center. A very poor, I would even say destroyed, area. We went there on my second day here, and it's quite impressive. Unfortunately I could not take pictures. But the area consists mainly in ~10-storeys buildings, and from a close view, they look like they're about to collapse. Windows and doors broken, garbage through the windows or just spilled in the street ... Simon tells me most of these buildings are illegally squatted (pleonasm ?), and I guess I believe this. In the ground floors, some small shops (grocery stores, etc.) with large iron curtains to protect - apparently they are attacked regularly. Like in many places, it seems that the first victims of crime are the poorest.

Anyway, we could get there, and we arrive in a super old and dirty garage, with hundreds of cars around, all the same. It was very funny, for example, they keep track of all rentals in books (1 book per car), the dirtiest book I've ever seen. You disinfect your hands after signing the contract.
And so, here's the car !

The wreck.

The wreck.

A wreck, indeed ? And yet it's not the one they wanted to give me at first, but that one looked sooo bad that we just insisted on having another one.
To be honest, I'm quite happy with this car at the end. Of course, it's a bit difficult to start it in the morning when it's cold, of course it is old, of course it's not the most beautiful car ever. But on the positive side, it works, it's enough for the 10 km or so that I do every day between the house and the university, and I guess I can park it outside sometimes without being too much worried. Besides, surprisingly enough, it has an alarm, a lock, and a protection for starting it. Basically, if you don't have the 3 keys and don't do the right combination, you can't go and the alarm starts to go off !
So it's not too bad :-) .

As I mentioned already, the most difficult about driving, at the end, is that here they drive on the left side. But I'm getting used to it. Usually, when there are other cars, it's OK, you just follow. But early in the morning, in the empty Parkhurst streets, sometimes, you start on the right and before the first roundabout, you realize your mistake. So, no real problem with this now.