jules39

I did a search & found some good info but have a couple of questions on tipping in India. If we have a specific driver for a couple of weeks do you tend to tip at the end of the time? We will of course only be tipping if a good job is done! Very roughly can you give me an idea of the size of tip that should be given someone on another post suggested about 200Rsper day was appropriate amount ifeverything went well does this sound like a sort of OK figure??? Just want to try & get a perspective on things. Thanks in advance for any info.

Craig

US$5/day is what we tip for a good job - 228 INR at today's exchange rates.

rhkkmk

i agree, but if the guy is exceptional, like the driver we had then of course you give him a bundle at the end-- you just want to do it...

no harm in giving him some every couple of days, except he might feel you are being cheap and he needs to feel a little needy to keep doing a good job, so i wait until the end....our driver rarely wanted to eat with us---the restaurants feed them seperately for free or for very cheap, but i always asked him to join us, but deferred to his preference, and once or twice twisted his arm....

at the end i gave him the normal tip plus a big bonus...he loved it and so did we...BUT HE EARNED EVERY PENNY.... now if he does nothing extra for you just give him what you feel is right.... everyday our driver did extras for us, changed the routing, etc, bought us drinks, shopped here or there, ignored manditory shopping stops, took our laundry, changed money for me, picked up ordered items from shops, etc....

Craig

I think you'll know if you have a driver as exceptional (and rare from what I've seen on other posts) as the one Bob had. If you do, by all means be generous - just don't count on that level of service.

lcuy

I also think about $5 per day is good for a normal driver. We had a guy like Bob"s and not only gave him a bonus, but sent gifts to his kids once we got home.

live42day

Thanks for asking the question Jules, I had the same one and was going to post too.
How many more sleeps for you?

ovenbird

Is that $5/day total or per person?

Craig

$5 total.

ovenbird

Craig, thanks for the info. In other countries we've been tipping $5/day/person or $10/day for the two of us...maybe too generous?

jules39

Thanks everyone!! This is very helpful info. Craig thaks for keeping me focused into not expecting the amazing driver Bob had!! Who knows we may luck out! We have been driven in India before but by company drivers some of whom have been totally exceptional.
Live42day.....5 more sleeps!!!! You are a little sooner aren't you?
Safe & amazing travels J

live42day

ONE MORE SLEEP!!!!

jules39

YEY!!!!!!!!!! I could actuallysay we only have 4 more sleeps in our own house as we will go to a hotel nearer the airport for the last night!

rhkkmk

bon voyage both---don't drink the water

indianapearl

We gave our driver the equivalent of a 15% tip at the end of our 17 days with him. He was worth every cent.

jules39

live42day do you think this info helped you? It did us. Just thought I would revisit now we have finished our trips.J

live42day

yes it did, but I forgot that Craig said $5 a day and we did $15 (I knew there was a 5 in there somewhere). We ended up giving a 25% tip which I see now by revisiting it all was way too much, but they seemed happy with it. We did feel we got great service and was worth it.

I found the problem to be that you would give a tip and they would have this poker face. You would say
'Is this okay?'
and they would say. "yes fine, whatever you like. If you are happy then I am happy."

But then later on you would see that you are still friends and that they are happy so it must have been okay.

live42day

We also gave each of our driver some gifts from home too. We gave Ram a Vancouver Olympic 2010 T shirt and we gave our other driver Ruttan a Canadian Nerf Football for his kids and some Salmon Jerky.

We probably did too much but I hate that part of it all......

lcuy

I pity the next client who hires him, since $5 a day is a already a great tip.

That $60 per day you pay them includes, gas, car maintenance or rental, tolls, driver's wages and profit.

CaliNurse

$5 day??...for a great or even just "good" driver, there is no way I could give only that with a staright face. It's a difficult and personal subject , as tipping often is, even more so in India.
To pay a person who is at your beck and call all day (and night, if we wanted to go out) what one would pay for a latte...no matter what i read about "overtipping" i just couldn't limit it to what seemed an absurdly small sum.
Many travel agencies do not pay their drivers well. Ours was an exception, which may be why they have and keep good drivers.
Our driver made us feel safe --he was an excellent driver, protective of two women traveling in his car (he'd check on the condition of public bathrooms before letting us use them, for example ) didnt try to put one over on us by taking us to particular stores or restaurants, kept us laughing, told us as much or little as we wanted to know about the places we saw from the seat of the Innova, was always waiting for us when arranged, in a spotless car.

live42day

Thats how I felt CaliNurse. I was not well, coughing terribly and he would help me get some cough medicine and concerned about it etc. He was as you say 'at our beck and call 24 hours'
If the service was mediocre then $5 would have been adequate. I dont think that if the next person only tipped $5 per day it would be a problem, but I hope my 'generous tipping' did not mess up for others.
I know when we were in Varanasi Craig and Jeane had Pappu for a guide and we had Golu, and for the most part we did the same things in the beginning. They both (guides) said "pay as you like" which I hate....Just give me a dam price!!

We talked about it at the end, Craig and Jeane and us, and they ended up doing more things with their guide on the last day and I bought a number of things that I know I paid more for because the guide got a cut, so I gave less of a tip than they did. Golu was still friendly afterwards and even took us to a place we were looking for afterwards for no charge so it all worked out. I think that it depends upon the situation