Car Driver options in India

Hi Guys: We are excited to be planning a new to India spanning Delhi-Agra-North/South East Rajasthan in mid August 2012. We are in early stages of planning but i figure we should quickly figure out if we can do the general itinerary with a good/economic car/driver option or whether we have to add to it some train travel as well. Do you all have some good car/driver recommendations that i could reach out to for pricing and availability?

Also i am assuming that the road conditions to the main tourist sites adn some wildlife refuges would be good enough to allow us to do it with an economy size sedan right?

Thanks Chitra

CA note: thread to a more appropriate forum

this page gives you a quick idea of prices, although they are a little higher now than indicated here. When I e-mailed them once for instance the Delhi-Agra-Delhi trip was 4000, a thousand more than given here. This does not make them untrustworthy, they just did not change the site yet. But why i recommend them is that they offer basic cars, with basic, and realistic prices.

http://www.carrentaldelhi.com/India/

A basic price is generally 5-7 Rupees per kilometer for a non-AC basic car (1-2 Rupees more for AC), plus Rs 400-500 fee for the driver per day. You do not pay his accomodation, he sleeps in the car, or a separate place.

check also this post
Car and driver costs

I would recommend Namaste India Tours. They go to the places you mentioned, and I think they are very professional.

http://www.namasteindiatours.com/

In the end-result they may be professional and reasonable for the overall-service, who knows, but if someone wants to find out the cost of car and driver by him/herself, they are not helpful, as they include hotels in their estimate.

A good idea of how much they over-charge you get from their offer of a Delhi-airport pick-up. It is Rs 800, versus a prepaid taxi is around Rs 350 (depending where you want to go, this is the rate to Paharganj), and a call taxi is around Rs 500. A pre-arranged hotel-pick up (recommended at night-arrival) is max Rs 600. (Price for basic cars.)

According to their description they send an Ambassador. Probably it is an Indica nowadays, and the price is even higher as this seems to be an old website version, who knows.

I know they come recommended in the end, but again, for someone who wants to estimate the actual , not exaggerated, price, it is not helpful.

The condition of cars and mannerism / cleanliness of drivers varies so for a long trip apart from cost a company which sends good fresh cars is a must. I think Atala has given a good benchmark on per km pricing but that has increased recently due to diesel price hikes. Keep in mind couple of points, some new diesel cars are deployed at the same rate as other cars as they are fuel efficient (Desire being one such model) - these are a better bet than an old indica (they are the worst). Also, the charges for two way, even if you take a drop, a circuit route is much more economical because of this. If you don't stay much at one place, retaining the car is cheaper than hiring a new one but that doesn't work for longer stops.

chitra0828,
i just got back form india and did almost the same itinerary that you did. i did a lot of research and i did hear that Namaste was good...i got a quote from them and found them to be pretty expensive so i researched some more. I came across another traveller who suggested the driver that she used so i reached out to him and so glad that i did. his quoted price was cheaper than Namaste and he was excellent and really made our trip! Very professional and friendly....i really want to recommend him to anyone looking for a driver because we were so pleased with him. He's a very careful driver and takes the time out to show you sites that you may have missed or may not have even thought about. you spend a lot of time with your driver so it's really important to find a good one.

here is his website....let me know if you have any questions and i will be more than happy to help.
His name is Atma.
http://www.discoverindiatours.eu/

Loos like his site is down. His email discoverwithatma@hotmail.com I highly recommend him.