Car hire in south India - 2000km, 18-day trip from Bangalore to Chennai

I will be travelling to South India in around six weeks' time, and have booked accommodation in a number of cities, but am wondering what a fair price for an air-conditioned vehicle and driver would be in 2012.

I will be starting in Bangalore on December 4 and finishing in Chennai on December 21 (i.e. 18 days). My itinerary is as follows:

Bangalore-Mysore-Wayanad-Kozhikode-Kochi-Alappuzha-Kovalam-Kanyakumari-Thoothukudi-Rameshwaram-Madurai-Thanjavur-Pondicherry-Chennai

According to Google Maps, this is a road distance of around 1850km, plus a bit extra for sightseeing in each of these locations. I've noticed that many companies have a minimum distance of 250km per day, plus around Rs300 per night for driver expenses. This works out to 4500km in total over 18 days; since my total distance will only be around 1900km, I'd be wasting more than half of it.

Since this is primarily a photographic trip, I will need a driver who will be available to drive before sunrise and after sunset.

How much should I be looking to pay for this? Anyone have any good experiences and recommendations for English-speaking drivers?

http://www.indianpanorama.in/tour_costs.html

$50 per day.

Hello, I can recommend a very good driver.
He speaks English very well, is punctual, reliable, trustworthy and a calm and careful driver. We have felt very save (and relaxed) with him due to his style of driving. His name is Muthu, lives in Mamallapuram and his e-mail is: muthu_t5@yahoo.co.in

Please look here :

Driver South India

I think the price will have changed since the increased prices for petrol.

Thanks!

I'll send him an email. Was he willing to drive before sunrise and after sunset? I am intending to do a lot of photography, which will require me to be at particular locations for sunrise and sunset.

The best is to ask him. We have also photographed a lot. "Normal tourists" stay 30 minutes in the temple, we 2 hours but that You know when you are photographing also