Car Rental in Delhi - Self Drive

edwardseco

I shifted back into "Indian" driving mode recently. To bypass a long line of traffic I went into the wrong side of traffic and barrelled down the road. The only oncoming traffic I encountered was a policeman..

Nick-H

It's ridiculous how these other countries waste so much road, eh?

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edwardseco

The officer chewed me out so long that he was apparently was too tired to give me a ticket (that and my groveling). Seriously, Indian driving requires some prior experience like driving in Italy or Iran..

Aishah

edwardesco - I find it hard to drive correctly in Oz and NZ! I drive like an Indian here - takes some firm discipline to drop those habits!!!

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edwardseco

Heh, heh, that is so true..

shilpaks

hey
can u pls give me the contact details of such places in delhi. me and some friends want to hire out self driven cars at cheap rates.
i looked up the net but found something that offered an indica at 1800 per day and max of 150kms per day, without fuel...which translates into an expensive affair.

any other recommendations?

Shilpa

birds

Try Hertz or Avis but phone them and haggle until you are blue in the face.

www.carzonrent.com (Hertz)
www.avis.co.in

If you ever come to Goa I would recommend Bonny at Travel Services (travelservices@rediffmail.com ). They give better service than all international brands.

capt_mahajan

Never knew you could haggle at Hertz etc

Any idea what rates they get haggled down to?

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Nick-H

I wouldn't try it at the Heathrow Branch!

Seriously, though, yes... regular customers have some bargaining leverage with these big car rental companies. Maybe a bigger car for the same price, rather than less money.

(LATER... I was talking about about UK in the second para too)

birds

It depends on the car size but my rule of thumb is that I should get at least one class higher than the price PLUS unlimited millage and I refuse all other silly cost they try to stack on like: service charge, pick-up or dropping from/to the airport charge refuel charge, etc.

In Goa I can get a Santro for Rs.700 and an Ikon for Rs. 1250 per day with unlimited millage and pickup/drop at the airport included. So I always aim for the same with Hertz or Avis. They never agree but often do give a higher class for the same rate. In January we had a Baleno in Delhi for Rs 1400 nett from Avis.

I have to say that normally we rent a car for a week which gives a little bit of cloud.

I once worked with a girl called Rebbecca Silver in London but she was from Saudi Arabia. She told me that Western people are stupid not to haggle and that discounts could be obtained everywhere. She claimed she even got reductions are the supermarkets and Marks & Spencer. I never tried the latter two but do apply her theory when I feel like and it works almost always.

Most of the time it is not about the money perse but more about getting value for money. Rental companies make obscene profits so I don't feel guilty.

Nick-H

Oh, I could write a book, My Indian Girlfriend in London! She used to embarrass me!

But my father used to do it too, back in the fifties and sixites. Commonly stuff would be priced in 'guineas' (1 guinea=£1-1-0, one pound and one shilling, £1.05 for the youngsters), and the shop could be persuaded to take the same number of pounds, or to give a discount for cash rather than taking a cheque.

But I never got the knack, I was always too shy.

Until I moved here, of course! (and I'm still not very good at it)

birds

Actually I always did and often succeeded in getting a better deal. And not only in the UK, I still do it in France, Geneva and Germany.

However for London, since the congestion charges and the high parking fees, it is not worth anymore to rent a car so we take taxis which feels like a great luxury but works out cheaper than renting a car and paying all the extras.

By the way, for Europe I normally book through one of the large internet agents (which one varies per country) which give much better deals than the rental companies directly and once at the counter I ask for an upgrade.

Whatever I save I spend on the local animal welfare organisation.

aakoh

Hi Shilpa,
Try this website. I got a quote from them the last time. Rs900 per day for a WagonR (200kms) if I rent it for 8 days. However, I changed my mind and got a car and driver from another company later and so I'm unable to comment on their service on the condition of their cars. Hope this helps.

http://www.autoriders.net/selfdrive.html#rates

enidhi

Self drive will be economical for large trips-
I took a Skoda Octavia from Hertz recently. COsted Rs 13000+ for 3 days, drove 1300 kms which resulted in Rs 5k on fuel, totaling less than Rs 13 per km... Same skoda on chauffeur driven would have costed Rs 20+ per kms

Haylo

Yes I've read all the advice that simply says "Just don't do it". But then, I am someone who has done daft stuff like cross country carriage driving races and rock climbing!

So... I absolutely love driving, have a lot of experience, and have driven all sorts of stuff - weapons carriers, motorbikes, armoured cars, half tracks, old pre-synchromesh trucks, helped drive a steam train, even driven a traction engine - and consider myself to be pretty on the ball.

Having experienced the "organised chaos" of Indian traffic, at least in New Delhi, it seems to be similar to the more heavily trafficed parts of Malta, a particularly "challenging" place where I'm comfortable driving. Just to give you an idea, a favourite local sport is "driving in the shade" where you get to play chicken with oncoming vehicles who want to share the cool spots. I confess, it is tempting, and I've done it myself.

Anyway, the upshot is that I figure I'm at least a good a driver as some of the nightmareish taxi drivers I've had (two minor accidents in one week ). My question is, are there any driving schools in Delhi who I could go out with, so I can try to experience this in a relatively "safe" (ie with a hindi speaker) way?