Simba Car Hire Reviews 

AVOID. I’m a frequent international traveller and I’ve never experienced anything like this. Refund of the excess took one month, and only after I chased them.
Then a tiny bumper scratch (see photo) somehow became a 2,500 AUD “repair”, plus 600 AUD for 8 days of immobilisation. These immobilisation fees are only disclosed at pickup, when cancelling the contract would incur penalties. They provided no dated proof of repair, no transparency, and nothing that justifies such extreme charges for such a minor damage. The whole process feels completely disproportionate — almost a SCAM.
Customer service is poor, opaque, and consistently acting in bad faith. And judging by other negative reviews, this seems to be a recurring practice.
N.B.
Their response offers generic, insincere apologies that come across as hollow and unconvincing. It avoids addressing the actual issue and instead relies on vague, pre-written phrases about “improving procedures” and “reviewing the case.” The customer service appears ineffective and unhelpful—rigidly sticking to scripted replies while failing to provide any concrete evidence or meaningful resolution. Overall, the tone suggests bad faith rather than a genuine attempt to solve the problem.

Excellent service , have been using it from long time, definitely recommended

Very dodgy insurance. If you damage the vehicle even a small mark, they take $5,500 and when they get around to getting a quote you may get some money back. It is up to them if and when.
You are not covered in some suburbs, at night if there is insufficient lighting???
We hired from this company several times before and they were good to deal with them. They are dodgy now.

Scam - unauthorised $5500 charge
This company is a complete joke.
I hired a car with them for 6 months, what a mistake. The car itself was fine, however, the service was beyond shocking. Not only did they have the worst communication I’ve ever experienced with a company they were all completely incompetent and unhelpful.

You would of thought the amount I paid them would be enough throughout my long hire, however, to top it all off on they contacted me 5 weeks after return of the car and charged me for a dent that they had just decided to blame on me, with no proof. They also managed to charge this money without any quote at all and when asked a number of times couldn’t even provide a copy, even after having the car back for such a long period. They knew I had no way of arguing as all they gave us was a verbal ok on return, they don’t give out any paperwork so watch your back! I think this was a plan they had all along to get extra money and I would be suprised if they’ve charged other people for the same thing.

Do not use this company you will regret it.

I hired a car for just over 3 weeks to get to work. They have nice new cars, they are reasonably priced, and offer a great service.

Waiting for an hour waiting to be picked up at Brisbane Airport domestic. Sent 15 messages so far and I get a message telling me they will dispatch the shuttle in 3 to 5 minutes. A complete joke. Never will hire from this company again!!
Alpha, Eastcoast and all the other shuttles have come through 7 times since I have been here!!

Disastrous from start to finish Waited an hour in their office before finally got to talk to someone (I think the manager) who turned out to rude, unhelpful and struggled with the English language. Wanted to drop the car off early so rang them about where to leave the keys, no answer, no message bank, finally drove round around to their depot, knocked on the door, no answer, finally saw someone who went to get the manager, turns out he was in there and knew I was at the door. Eventually he showed me a letterbox hidden behind vegetation to drop the keys.
Worst thing, they stole my bond over a scratch on the bottom of the mudguard.
NEVER AGAIN

I hired a car from them in Sydney and returned it with a small dent in the rear bumper. For this they tried to make me pay AU$6,480, saying I’d be refunded the difference between this and the cost of repairs. I refused to pay that huge amount but offered AU$500, which should have been more than enough to cover the damage, but they refused and then tried to take AU$6,480 of my account (and fortunately failed to do so). Use this car hire firm at your own risk.

Done reservation last december 2025 for 7/2/2026 well in advance.
One day before i did ask for an earlier check-in and the answer was: yes but you have to pay $55 aud. And i said : don't like it but go ahead. I went the day after around 1pm as agreed and the car was not ready, despite I've reserved well in advance.
The guy at the front desk, told me that's if i would buy the full insurance to reduce excess, most probably the manager was ready to find a quick solution. Ok let's move on because i would drive for 7h to reach the place where we booked the hotel.
Surprisingly enough in half an our the car was ready and with the full insurance which had to cover all we felt safe and ready to go.
When we return the car Surprise was not over.
Infact after the final checkout the person in charge of this control said you have two accidents while the insurance (paied $250 on top of car rental cost) would cover the more expensive. At the end they charged additional $240 for a scretched plastic hubcap of one wheel.
I've tried to have a reasonable discussion with the manager on duty and she explained that was the contract rules and she was going to applying. Besides I asked the price and she said it is not direct competence and only the technical dept.
As a final conclusion I've to say, don't trust people what they day but read carefully the rental contract next time.
I would express my deep concerned about company like Simba car hire because they are playing of customer 's knowledge about contract rules and their main goal is to up sell any kind of services on top, before you sign it.
My advise is not use such small company such as Simba car hire, but go for more larger companies because at the end you'll pay a similar price considering my experience.

Car was good. Process to collect and return was ok.
I did gave an issue re a toll charge, which I believe was never incurred. If found the staff very unhelpful in this case as they just wanted to fob the issue off to the toll company. Despite numerous emails the matter was never resolved .

Dishonest, refuses to follow through on contact and absolves all responsibility when raising an issue. Beware and avoid this company!

Very positive experience with Simba - excellent vehicles, prices, and customer service. Highly recommended.

We rented a vehicle from Simba Car Rental Australia through DiscoverCars. Upon returning the car, we were kept waiting for approximately 30 minutes while staff thoroughly searched for damage. Eventually, they pointed out almost invisible marks on the windscreen that we were certain we had not caused. Because the marks were barely visible, we did not have them documented in our return photos.
Despite the minimal and questionable nature of the alleged damage, more than AUD 5,500 was immediately withheld. The claim process took over two months to be finalized, and we ultimately had to submit the entire case to our third-party insurer (DiscoverCars) to seek reimbursement. This caused significant stress, uncertainty, and administrative burden.
The overall handling of the situation felt highly unpleasant. The inspection process appeared focused on identifying chargeable damage, particularly for customers who had not taken insurance directly with Simba. The interaction at drop-off was uncomfortable, and we were kept for an excessive amount of time.
Based on this experience, we cannot recommend Simba Car Rental Australia.
NEVER AGAIN.

Ease of communication. Trisha in the office was attentive and helpful. Everything that was required of me was clearly explained. The car we hired was perfect for us. Transport between the airport and Simbas office was easy.

Great pick up & drop of service, hire car clean & tidy

Great service. Car was clean and well maintained. Good shuttle service. No issues to mention

Easy pick up at the airport, we needed to change the car we booked for a bigger one and they accomodate us really easely.
Good service and car in great condition for a really good price.

Easy pick up and drop off with regular shuttles to the airport

The customer service when I arrived to pick up the car was just excellent. They helped me out to explain that purchasing insurance directly through them which wasnt that much, for my 2 week hire would allow me to be fully covered which just took the stress I had about car hire away completely. The shuttle bus service they have is also just super convenient, I was able to drop the car off after my 2 week stay and shortly after a quick shuttle bus transfer straight to the domestic terminal. Ill be using Simba next time i come up to cairns, thanks guys !!