Car hire and transfer question
 

I am booking a last minute trip to India (Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai) and am working with a travel agent. I need a car and driver during the day as I have to do some business. According to him I have to pay $125 for that car during the day (8 hours) and then another $75 to bring me to the airport in the evening.With two internal flights this will bring me to 6 x 75 = $450 just to bring me back and forth to the airport. Is this normal? Could I not just pay the driver that i use during the day to bring me to the airport?
Thanks!

Why don't you just take taxis?

i would ditch him if these are the prices he is quoting

I agree to ditch the agent. I think they are going by hotel rates, which are pretty high. In my experience, hourly rates if you go privately should be more in the US$50-75 range for the 8-hour minimum. (You may even get substantially cheaper, like Kumar's in Delhi but they won't be new cars.) I believe that all services will charge you more/differently for the airport transfer. However, contact the hotels you are staying at and ask for their hotel pick-up charge as a basis of comparison. You might just use the car service during the day and use taxis as suggested above for the airport transfers. I have posted some suggestions for car services I have used in Delhi and Mumbai below.
<u>Delhi</u>
Kumar Tourist Taxi Service
14/1 K- Block
Connaught Circus
Tel: 91-11-2341-5390
Fax: 91-11-2341-8859
Cell: 91-98-1143-1783
e-mail: [email protected]

Send them an e-mail and they will give you a quote for picking you up at the airport, plus car service around Delhi. I think airport pickup is about Rs500 (about US$10), but confirm this as I have not used them for airport pickup. I know they charge Rs600 (about US$13) for an 8-hour day of touring within Delhi. They have older cars but perfectly clean and fine, if you want an Ambassador (a fun way to see Delhi) ask for one. They also have Toyota Qualis SUVs, not really necessary in Delhi, and would probably cost more.

<u>Mumbai</u>
Contact Person: Tony
Tel: 91-22-2216-6193 or 91-22-5621-1427
Mobile: 91-98-6904-6103

Try an independent driver named Asif Muhamed. I always use him!!! You can contact him at [email protected].

If you contact him tell him I said Hi!!
John Kuder

Wow,

Please tell the world the name of this crook. It is travel agents like this dirtbag that ruin it for everyone.

Try Kumar. They are tried and true.

Regards,
Doc

In Delhi, June 17, 2008

We had a fantastic experience with Kumar Tourist Taxi service this week. Not only does Kumar provide great, reliable, and fare prices, they also can provide anyone with a turn key vacation anywhere in India. They specialize in Rajasthan and the north part of India. We used them for Corbet National Park and Haridwar and it couldn't have turned out better. We told them the price we wanted to pay, and they put together a package that nobody could beat. They can provide whatever star hotel you want. They can provide whatever monuments and sites you want to see, hospitals, schools, police stations, fire stations, temples, shopping, etc. They are experts on Indian culture and their English speaking drivers whom you can understand share their indepth knowledge with you. Our driver's name was Qayum. He went way out of his way to please us. He knew the shortcuts driving from Haridwar to Rishikesh, saving at least an hour for this 16km ride. Their email address is [email protected] Before you buy give them a try. This is our second trip to India, and when we come back we will have Kumar put the whole package together from the start. We didn't know that Kumar could also buy plane tickets. We bought tickets from an agent in New York for the flight from Delhi to Leh. Not only could Kumar have got the tickets for us, he would have also saved us a bunch of money. Coming back from Haridwar we have a day in Delhi, and coming back from Leh another day. Kumar got us a killer deal on a hotel around Connaught Place. Their suggestions are worth listening too.

Dr Ralph- will you be posting a trip report? I'd like to hear about the hotels you stayed at!

Will try when we get back. Just got back to Delhi after 6 fabulous nights in Ladakh. Kumar was waiting for us at the airport in the 90+ Delhi heat. We were lucky it wasn't 120 degrees. Went as high as 17,800 feet in Ladakh and Leh. We stayed at the Omasila Hotel in Ladakh. We slept in room 21 where Brad Pitt slept in 2006. The views of the Himalayas from the room were unbelievable. Tomorrow morning Kumar drives us to the airport where we will fly to Bhutan for 7 nights, then 8 nights in Nepal, 2 night in Korea, then back to Miami on July 14 and reality. Life is good.
Doc

We stayed at the Hotel Omasila in 1994 and Ledach was the highlight of a 7 week trip to India.
Sandra.67

I'm just back from Kolkata after my third trip to India in 12 months.

Yup - ditch that travel agent RIGHT NOW.

Welcome back, dogster (India again - lucky dog!). Trip report coming up? Please?

The quote you received is way too high, unless your total time &amp; miles are more. You would be better off paying less hiring a pre-paid taxi from airport to city center at all the mentioned cities. My tour operator Smile India Tour was very honest to point this out. Beware, if your flight is arriving late evening or midnights, it is safer to pay more to hire a car from a trusted tour operator. I read most of the bad incidents happen with unorganized taxis. Take care.