Advice concerning car hire and driver hire esp. in Rajasthan and Punjab

Can anyone explain the basic deal and how to find a decent driver? Is it preferable to trains? How much p/day and will they just hang with you for up to 10 days? Is it fast enough?
I expect that it means you can kind of meandre round and stop where you like, which is obviously good, but what are the pitfalls? Is it significantly slower?
Thinking about a drive from Delhi to Chandigarh and then Amritsar (stopping if we feel the need in between), maybe even heading over to Himachal Pradesh.
Also Golden triangle Rajasthan etc...
GF's budget not high, and she's not keen to take my generosity ( ) but if it's worth it, and it will make the experience significantly better than training it, I'll persuade her. I reckon it's probably worth it, but what would I know, never been there.
Comments please?

Lots of threads & more information than you'd get in a reply about Car/Driver in our archives which can be accessed by a few key words in the search box & hitting Go,,,,,,,,,,,

Thanks.

prob depends how far u intend travelling etc, and if they are overnights
We paid our driver 1200 ruppees(well thats what he quoted but we paid him 1500 and bought him lunch etc) to take us touring and sightseeing etc, had him from around 8am til 8pm, with him taking us back to hotel each evening.
I think the max distance we did was around 3 hrs driving out to destinations and same back again, but even on the 30 min trips he stayed with us for the day and hung about til we were ready to come home or go somewhere else.
we found it an excellent way to get around and they will show you the sights along the way as well.
have drivers details if u want them.

We had a car and driver starting in Udaipur, travelling all over Rajasthan for 2 1/2 weeks for around 9000 rupees, a little under $250 Canadian. He drew up an itinerary for us, which we modified to our liking. He was experienced, so took us to the usual tourist 'must see' spots, but also took us to some amazing places off the beaten path. We did our research at home and had hotels picked but not reserved. Our driver knew of hotels to stay, at our budget range, and let us decide if the place was to our liking or not until we picked one we did like. Every hotel he took us to had a room for him to stay and fed him as well. We had reservations in advance in Jaisalmer, so he had to stay at a friend's place. We would have paid for a room for him if needed.
Bottom line is, being our first trip to India, it was a great way to experience India. I didn't have to wait in line all the time and waste valuable vacation time. Hope this helps a bit.

To add to my last response:
He became more than a driver to us. He became a friend, a tour guide, and gave us insight into various aspects of Indian culture and religion. He helped me when I had my 1 day of Delhi belly, kept my wife busy while I recovered. We were very, very lucky to have found him. He's the brother of an autorickshaw driver who worked for a guy who owned the car.
We didn't go through an agency.

Did you have to pay for the fuel separately?

No, the fuel was part of the cost.

Big Ooops!!! My wife corrected me....again. The cost was between $550 and $600 Canadian, plus tip.

No we didnt pay anything more for the fuel. Ours also was more than just a driver, showed us places we wouldnt have known were there, took us to various temples etc off the beaten track, they all were so friendly, nothing was too much trouble.
also had to do a trip to hospital in between, which he was happy to do, and waited not knowing how long we would be as had to have xrays etc etc.
In the UK, we would not have had a service anything like this, we def found it an excelent way to get around and feel safe as we were two women alone.

Great thread. Thanks for starting. I will do a thread search but I was wondering if Alonig and daverm18 might let me know where and how they hire their drivers. And was this done prior to the arrival in India or after arrival? thanks!

Hi, I would highly recommend fourwheeldriveindia.com as they have very profession with safety, driver's training etc. we used their services for our foreign clients and they were very impressive with their system. They recently installed GPS Trekking system in thier cars which is not very common in India.

During my visit last year, I rented a SUV (scorpion) to stay with us throughout. It picked us up from the airport and we took around to chandigarh and then amritsar from where we took a train to dehra dun. The car charges were around 9 rupees/kilometer and an additional 200 rupees to the driver for food each day. They charge you from the time they leave the company to the time they come back so basically we paid for the car to go back to delhi empty. Get a realible person to make the booking, make sure that the driver knows the roads around Punjab. and also try to get a car which is All India Permit so that you dont have to keep paying at every checkpoint.

Cheers

Ours was based outside our hotel, we used him a few times then got his number too and just booked him for days out whenever we wanted to.
ive got his number and kept in touch so we can arrange foir him to collect from airport when we go again.
I can ring him if u need quotes etc, or info on getting about.

I got the following quote from www.fourwheeldriveindia.com for delhi - anandpur - chandigarh - simla - amritsar - jalandhar - delhi round trip:

'Toyota Innova (MUV) Air-conditioned: * 3300/- INR or 75 USD per day, This price includes (all Border Tax, Toll Taxes, Fuel Charges, Drivers Night Charge and Parking Charges etc).
* Rates are little higher as we have to pay border tax for Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh'