Buying an autorickshaw

grayhoat

her it is very easy to buy an auto rickshaw and very cheap. i am in kochi in south india and i just asked a rickshaw driver where i could buy one. inside 10 minutes he had found me a selection ranging in price from 15 thousand Rs for an old one with no papers right up to 65 thousand Rs for one a couple of years old. the one i bought with all permits insurance etc was Rs30,000 which is about $900 australian. very cheap seeing as i will sell it when i go. it is about 20 years old but runs great. tomorrow i leave kochi and begin the 2000km ride to goa. i just returned to kochin from a 200km ride down to varkarla further south. the roads are fine to drive on, just like thailand. use your horn and you will be fine. i feel quite safe it just looks a little crazy to western eyes at first, as soon as you start driving it is fine.

Khak

Grayhoat
Did you knew driving an auto or it was very easy to learn driving?
I had once tried to drive an auto belonging to my friend and found that it needs some amount of balance which I could not master in 30 mins.

__________________
~Khak~

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover

crvlvr

Nick gives sound adive in post #11.. I hope the OP will heed it. Auto are NOT easty to drive and tip over if turned hard. that;s why most countries have banned 3 wheelers.

Also, India ia apprently the 3rd most dangerous diestination for British tourist

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/aug/03/1?page=3

10000miles

So I guess this is pretty much spam for which apologies and nice thoughts to the moderator, but it is relevant to what you guys are thinking of doing.

Basically I'm involved in a documentary in which I, and three others, get to drive from Darjeeling to the UK in two auto-rickshaws. Its pretty cool and if your interested there is (inevitably) a website, www.tracingtea.com

In return for the above spam, I can offer a bit of advice from the hundreds of hours its took to organise the thing (we also have a rickshaw in the UK -yours for 4,000 odd quid, and I drove through India in a London cab last year)

Firstly, if you are dead keen on a driving a rickshaw about there is an annual race organised by 'the adventurists' (with whom i have no connection except that I know a guy whose charity was given some of the proceeds from the race), its called the 'rickshaw run.' (google it). They also do the mongol rally.

Secondly, it is nigh on impossible to register a vehicle in your name in India if you are not Indian (ours are UK registered), but bar the odd bribe that doesn't matter unless you want to cross a border.

Good news is, they are pretty easy to learn, basically the same as an old lambretta. Indian roads are indeed a nightmare as many have said, but personally i think you have a better chance in a small vehicle as the biggest problem by far in the Taxi was people trying to kill themselves by running out in front of me. In a 30mph rickshaw, thats not such a problem.

Mod Note: it's not spam if it is not commercial, and, of course, you don't post it a dozen times!