car hire in Chennai?

Any good tips for a car hire company (or driver with car) in Chennai?

Thanks in advance,

Hans

Orix is a good company but their charges are rather steep. Rs 1200(or so) for half a day. But having said that- Excellent drivers, and good cars( maruti Esteem's, Hondas and the like) and they all have cell phones so its easy to track them when parking is an issue.

Else just check out the local city info magazine for other leads. There are bound to be cheaper options. You could also consider the city taxi option. Non a/c maruti vans.

I'm afraid that this is one of those things I delegate to my local wife-to-be!

There are indeed the 'Call Taxis'. Also there are lots of hire/tour companies. I haven't seen my business card stash since I got home after 4 months away: If I find it I'll post at least one number for you.

Thanks Nick and Ro-an,

We are actually considering to hire a car 'long term' for our holiday. After having travelled all over Asia from Holland from 1984 untill 1999 our
kids were born in 2000 and 2002. This stopped our backpacking, but now the travelinfection is hitting us hard again. So we plan to be on the road again and booked flights to Chennai (Madras) in Tamil Nadu India for the december 2005 - januari 2006 period.

It will be our fifth time in India and our third time in the south, so it's
not a completely strange region to us. We do consider though whether it is wise to travel as we used to (bus and train) or that for 3,5 weeks hering a car and driver is a better option for us and the kids (5 and 3,5
years old).

During our earlier trips (even over X-mas) we never had real problems to book a train (tourist quota, vip quota, emergency quota, visiting sportsmen quota, have a talk with the stationmaster quota) but reading all the info on IM about the difficulties reserving trains, we are really wondering whether a catr is a better option.

So tips on longer carhire around chennai are really appreciated,

Hans



Hans & Mirjam

I have no idea about longer term rental. This is a company I have used a couple of times:

S.M. Tours & Travels, +91 44 2467 1004, +91 44 2466 1302, +91 944191759

We have been in internet contact with Venkatesh at http://www.tourism-southindia.com/ and have booked a car. They respond to emails quickly and the price seems fair based on Indiamike comments. The site says "our drivers are experienced, don't drink and they carry cell phones" ! We don't have kids but we do have gimpy legs so hoping the company is good.

TTDC. We rented a Tata SUV and driver from the Tamil Nadu Goverment Tourism Department and toured for 8 days. 1600 rupees per day, 200 kms per day. If we exceeded 1600 kms in 8 days, we pay 5 rupees per km. driver's lodging and food included. Our driver Venu was great.

Please, could you tell me how you contacted the Tamil Nadu Government Tourism Dept.? Can you remember the taxi company name?
I'm going to Tamil Nadu in two weeks and I cant find affortable solution
Thanks

Try this site?

There is a travels company on many a street, and all hotels will either have a desk or be able to put you in touch with such a company.You could pick a couple to check prices if that worries you.

This is one of the bigger companies, City Limouzines, Tel :+(91-44) 28213806, 28213807, 28270128, 2827 0129.

Whoever you use, you must specify that you want an English-speaking driver. The company that we used to use only gave one on the single occasion that I specified (as Tamil-speaking Mrs N was not to be there that day).

thank you, you are right, i'd be better to ask for an english speaking driver. I'll try the one you suggested
enrica