Car Hire in Rajasthan, What Were We Thinking?
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Dave and I really can be idiot travelers sometimes.
We like to think that we are savvy and know what is going on, but sometimes we can just fall for things way too easily.
Here’s the scoop…
We like independent travel. We like our own schedule and we don’t like to rush through anything. If we like a place, we may stay for five or six days. If we don’t we will move on.
So why did we let a guy talk us into hiring him as a driver for 15 days!!??
Typical Tourist Car in Rajasthan
Worse yet, we didn’t even hire him, we hired one of his cars and another guy that we have never met is driving us around.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
We had been chatting with Jamil for 6 days at our guesthouse. He was a nice guy and we felt like we could trust him. He gave us a price and talked us into it. It actually seemed like it would be the best way to see Rajasthan and save us a lot of hassle.
We had been terrible with booking trains and always had to wait a couple of extra days in each place to get on one or had to buy expensive last minute bus tickets. The money he would save us on days would make up for the cost of the car.
One big problem…
We are now on a fixed schedule and have to stick to our plans. Our driver drives through the day making us get into places at night. We sleep and then have to leave the next day if we want to get onto the next town to stick to our schedule. We thought it would be 2 – 3 hour drives daily, but it ends up taking 5-7 hours to get anywhere.
We don’t get to stay at the places that we want to stay at because he has his set hotels. You see, he gets a commission for taking us there and he gets the added bonus of staying for free. Not a bad deal for him!
Jamil told us that we would have a say on where we would like to stay, but we don’t.
It is always and argument.
So now, we are rushing through Rajasthan, stressing about our budget that we just blew and we are completely on the tourist route.
We stop where all the tourists stop for lunch paying 600 Rs for a meal! That is more than we pay for an entire day of meals normally!
We were told that our driver would be able to find us 200-300 Rs hotels to stay at. It would offset the price of the car and help us out a lot because we had been staying for 500 or 600 Rs.
Well, it is all lies, we are staying at 600 Rs places. Ugh.
We are really kicking ourselves.
We were also assured that our driver spoke English. He doesn’t. Or he pretends not to so that he can take us wherever he wants to take us.
We have not taken control of the situation at all and it is frustrating.
As we sit in our overpriced hotel in Jodpur we wonder if we will last the 15 days.
We have only paid half of our cost to ensure good service. The service is lacking and we may just eat that money and cut our losses.
To make matters worse, we were talked into buying overpriced tea from the overpriced guest house that we are staying at. The guy seemed so sincere after we checked in.
He said that he was heading to the clock tower to buy some vegetables and he would show us a great tea shop.
We thought, super, I could go for a nice tea in the cool air.
It turns out that the tea shop was a place that sold “genuine” Indian tea in packages. We had just been driving all day and we were now stuck in a high pressure sales pitch.
As one lady said to us later, sometimes it is just easier to buy, to get them to shut up.
I would like to think that that is what we did.
Cost
Car and Driver for 15 days – $480 USD
We Paid $240 up front.
Cost of hotels that he brings us to 500-600 Rs – $11-$13
Number of cities hit in the 15 days – 6
Savings of 6 trains and busses for 2 people – Approx. $200
Saving on Cost of tours and taxis around towns – Approx. $40
Cost of having a driver over and above our budget $160
Cost of kicking ourselves daily for hiring a driver…priceless
33 Responses to Car Hire in Rajasthan, What Were We Thinking?
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Thanks for this post! I am in Ahmedabad right now and will be in India for the next 5 weeks. Im glad I didn’t hire a driver for travel! When will you be in Goa? I am planning on being there and would love to buy you a drink or meal as a new, beginning traveler and huge fan of your blog
Hope you have an amazing trip!
Dawson
Hi Dawson, We have actually already been in Goa:( Have a drink for us though. Keep in touch, you never know when we may cross paths!
Sounds good!
Thanks for the reply
I’m so sorry that this part of your trip didn’t go as you plan. Hopefully, next leg will be better for you! Thank you for being honest and share your experience though. Most of the time when I read blog posts, I mostly see the good side but hardly about lesson learn.
.-= Amy @ The Q Family´s last blog ..Help For Haiti =-.
Thanks Amy, we do love to tell the good the bad and the ugly. India had been pretty good up till now, but you will notice things are starting to go a little downhill as the posts go on. Its all part of the adventure though and at least we have each other. We can laugh about things later:)
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Wow – I think it’s time to fire this guy. You’re so right about “cutting your losses” – it may be way cheaper for you to fire him now than to continue to let him force you into high-priced hotels and restaurants…. remember you CAN take back control from him…
Good luck!
.-= Trisha Miller´s last blog ..FREE Subscription – New York Video School =-.
You are right Trisha. We had read that this happens a lot with drivers, but we thought that we would be able to take charge. We were wrong:)
I have realized no matter how seasoned of a traveler you are, stuff like this, as frustrating as it is at the moment, has to happen! I’ve been swindled into lame o ideas which I thought were right on at that moment too.
you gotta hand it to the guy though, he should be a professional salesman, he sold you:)
so even though you’re on a whirlwind, remember it’s all part of the crazy adventure!
.-= marina k. villatoro´s last blog ..Testimonial – Nalin Mistry – “Trust” =-.
So true Marina. It is nice to hear that other people get talked into things as well!
Every salesman should come to India for training, they can sell anything!
I’m so sorry! I hate stuff like this! But if you aren’t getting the deal you agreed to, can’t you say goodbye in the morning and part ways? Or are you afraid he’ll follow you around, hounding you?
Hi Lisa. you are right, we should have just cut our losses. We weren’t afraid of him hounding us, we just kept thinking that maybe things would get better. Maybe if we are just more clear things will turn out. And we also would have just thrown away $240. We are cheap what can we say. It really is all about the money keeping us in the car for now:)
Hi Guys!
Glad to know we are not alone – even the most seasoned travelers sometimes fall for things! If it makes you feel better, we had a friend hire us a driver in Delhi (his usual driver wasn’t available) and the guy jerked us around till we screamed and called our friend and had him scream! If it hadn’t been for our friend booking it we would gladly have gotten out of the car and walked away! We’re sorry to say we had the same kind of experiences you’re describing all over India. I hope it gets better for you guys!
Ian and Wendy
Hi Ian and Wendy. I am happy to hear that we are not alone too! It is amazing the amount of people that have gone through the same thing. India has become more frustrating with each passing day. The south was so much easier. but hey, it is making for a fun memory. We will laugh about all this in a couple of weeks:)
I am so sorry to hear that you guys are having such a frustrating experience- I’m with Trish though, sounds like you should maybe cut your losses and opt out of the second half if possible…it just doesnt sound positive for you at all
Ah, you are so right Shannon. Soon, so very soon:)
Hey guys sorry to hear about the driver, I know how these things can be once you are pushed into a corner and have to wait it out. I’m actually on the road myself….not quite as exotic as your travels but it better then toughing it out in the “Great White North”. I’ve got a blog on the go too at travelpod.com
type in Twenty ten 2 baja
Love to read the journals have fun and safe travels.
Roger
Roger, so great to hear from you! Dave checked out your blog the other day. It looks like you are having quite the adventure yourself!
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hi guys, sorry to hear about this horrible situation. i can imagine how frustrated it can be. we had a scam in bangkok when a tuk-tuk driver almost kidnapped us for a day in the hope of forcing us to spend our budget on a luxury holiday to chiang-mai, fancy dresses and so on and even if luckily it was a short one it was surely a nerve-wracking experience, imagine it for 15days! could you not just fire him or leave him accidently behind?
.-= marta´s last blog ..What is the Australian Outback? =-.
Hi Marta. You are right, we should fire him. We are just too cheap because we paid $240 bucks up front. We kept saying to ourselves, things will get better. We will just take control. But alas, it did not get better. The story unfolds nicely though and eventually we get back on track:)
I would end it, or just use the driver for 7 days and go your own way. I would never put up with someone tooting me around like that.
I kind of compare what you two are writing to my 5 month stay in Egypt. I always went independent, but a lot of people wanted me to do rip off tours.
.-= Shawn´s last blog ..The Village Life, Part Seven, The Traditional Side including a Border Run. =-.
Good idea Shawn. It is always so much better to travel independently.
I drove a car in Delhi and the experience was hectic…it was a brand new black ambassador…aren’t they gorgeous things?…I sympathize with you
Sorry I’m late but a summer riding accident had actually put me out of commission longer than I would have liked.
I wish you and your family a Happy New Year
All the best for 2010
Hi Baron, I hope you are feeling OK, sorry to hear about your accident. That is pretty cool that you drove an ambassador. You are crazy, but I am sure that you have driven a motorcycle in some crazy conditions!
I am so sorry about this.
If you let him go, the driver rushes off to rip off someone else.
I love India, but over time these incidents accumulate and encourage people decide not to travel there.
Don you are right, it is a never ending cycle.
Hi Dave & Deb,
Read your post and really felt sorry. I and my wife are also travel freaks and recently had a roadtrip in Rajasthan. Please read our blog – http://www.travelwithkorit.com. We had an amazing time there. You will understnd it more of you read our blogs.
I feel that in India tourists don’t get access to the right information and because of that you had such bad experience. There is a recent development in India, we have launched a tourist helpline which can address your such concerns.
Also, I want to assure you that you can contact me anytime you are visiting India and planning a trip. I can check if the bookings you are making are genuine or not.
I hope you will not face such problems in future. Happy traveling.
Ritesh
[email protected]
That is awesome that you have developed and helpline. I think India has a lot of potential to join the rest of the developed world in being a first rate destination. In time, I am sure that as more regulations come in to place, things will get better for tourists. We will be coming back to India at the end of the monnth, so I will definitely be in touch!
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One of our friend ever told us about the similar case like this too. What the best advice for him?