hiring a driver

[Guest]

I am wondering what a fair price would be to hire a driver for the duration of my stay in Bali. We'll be there about 15 days and want to go to Ubud, Tenganen, Tirttanga, Padangbai, Kuta, sanur, Seminyak. Uluwatu. We don't need to go huge distances and as we are staying several days in some areas there will be some days where we won't need the driver at all. We want a good vehicle that can seat seven (we have 4 kids and 3 adults). We want an honest driver who can speak English and drives safely. We were wondering what to pay for a lump sum or should we pay based on a daily rate. Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks, Tina

 

[Bert Vierstra]

It all depends, you want to rent for a day, half day by the hour?

You could try Polos:

[brl:2chwnh6z]http://www.bali-driver-polos.com/[/brl:2chwnh6z]


I never met him, but made a website for him...

I do see email come by now and then, and he has a lot of referrals and repeating guests, so he must be doing something right.

(He also has access to larger cars than on the site)

 

[InAdelaide]

Hi best to have a Balineese Driver with nice car, I have a friend I can reccomend , I never use him now as he told my previous pembantu she should be getting a much higher salary from me as I was Bule and a few other things...

This is normal as Balinnese want to share everything, and love to gossip, when I explained to him she told me word for word ( I told him six months later) what he said, he was embarrased as was only have truth and he knows its cost him money,


I always paid at the end of the day a price we agreed on, and gave a tip at the end if I wanted to... no need for any tip, but a surprise tip always brings a smile in Bali...........

 

[froggy]

I have had a few drivers, some good some not so good. Its nice to have on that knows the whole island, some dont... One i really liked I called at 3 in the a.m. when my daughter was sick and needed medical attention, he was there in a second and he really,really cares for people, very sweet person, great english, and not out looking to make the most he can off a person(some drag you to places they get extra commisions for bringing you there, avoid these guys!)), I can give you his # he lives in Ubud, really one of the nices guys I met there, just P.m me for his info.. as far as pay ,it was differnt every day$5-$10,, $10U.S. a day is a nice salary for a driver, sometimes we used him all day sometimes less, sometimes he babysitted! Sometimes he just took the kids to school.. He is very flexible, great with the kids,as most locals, I would really trust my life with this guy... Frog

 

[Skywise]

Bert,
thanks for the tip RE a driver.
I'll have to let you know how that turns out.

The site's very nice by the way - clean.
Cheerio

 

[spitfire]

Once your here the word "transport" will be echoing in your sleep. It's easy to find one but I don't have experience with them as I drive myself and my wife has a driver. However, you have to consider some things as safety (what state is the car in), insurance (if any) and police.

The other day we had some friends over from Europe and we decided to take a day trip to Ubud. For the sake of leg space, the children and my friend sat in the back and my wife and our driver in the front.

At the Jl. Bypass in Sanur we got stopped by a police car. First they let us wait for almost 10 minutes without approaching us, probably checking the licence with headquarters. Then one policeman stepped out and slowly approached the car to look into the back with an arrogant face. He scared the hell out of the children. He summoned our driver to get out and follow him to the police vehicle with a typical superior attitude. It took our driver at least ten minutes to explain our situation, before they let him return to our car.

What happened? They thought my (Indonesian) wife and driver were taking us on a tour as driver and guide. That is illegal, as drivers and guides taking tourists around Bali need a licence and insurance.

The funny note: It actually took our driver so long because they thought my wife was Japanese. That happens more often, but try to explain to some money hungry policemen that Dutch people normally don't hire Japanese guides for a trip to Ubud....

 

[BaliLife]

200,000 to 250,000 rhp per day for the new larger Kijangs, suzuki adt might be a little cheaper. Both ugly but typically indonesian, I wouldn't be paying a driver more that 100,000 per day and that's a lot unless u get a guy who's used to gouging tourists.. Put it this way, a local driver likely wouldn't get anything more that 500,000 per month for 24 days of work, that's just over 20,000 per day, so at 100,000 per day they're getting more than enough. We always use my father in laws driver from surabaya who drives over, but that was before. Now I enjoy driving around bali myself..

Ct

 

[SteffandShaz]

Hi Sylvia (Tina?), we always hire a driver when we're travelling a long distance but use the taxis for local run around. We're probably one of the unusual sorts because we walk....a lot....and when we get tired we simply hire a taxi back to our accommodation.

Steff haggles with local drivers to take us on our one way or day trips and we've paid Rp250,000 to get us from Legian to Lovina with stop off sight seeing on the way over. We also regularly hop onto a local bus if we're out walking and get tired and want to get to another place quickly, make sure you have some small money for these trips. The locals seem to get a lot of amusement out of us two hulking great folk trying to squeeze into the back of the bus but that's all part of the fun of the ride.

The funniest thing I've had happen to me though was when the driver of a very large but empty tourist bus trying to make his way through the tight corners of Legian pulled up beside us, leaned out the window, grinned, winked and said "Transport?". I love the local sense of humour, why not have fun with life?

All part of the experience of Bali,
Enjoy,
Shaz

 

[Jimbo]

Recently coming from Lovina I was paying 300,000 a day including driver and fuel for a kijang. That appears to be the going rate although hard bargaining may reduce it slightly.

 

[mileage]

Jimbo is right,
300,000 a day is the going rate, however if you plan to use the driver regularly, tell him/her, and try for around 200-250,000 rupiah a day. Make sure your driver is prepared to pay for all parking fees and petrol. Before I found my regular driver I used to get ' Taken for a ride'.

 

[BaliLife]

My father in law's driver in surabaya has a second toe (adjacent to his big toe) longer than I've ever seen before.. He really is a freak (namanya Pak Di).. He could be in a circus with that thing.. Nobody noticed til I pointed it out several years ago and now it's the talk of the household.. If I had something like that attached to my foot I'd forever be tripping over it..

Ct

 

[spitfire]

And now he can charge more for his services?

 

[Ilu]

The driver have to pay 150 to 200 000 rp for renting the car (pay down the loan), 100 000+ rp petrol for driving a hole day (eks. kuta-lovina and back) then comes the insurance and salery for the driver.

 

[BaliLife]

not quite.. He has cost more than his salary though, a few years ago he was in a near fatal accident while riding his motorbike back to his village for the weekend.. My father in law paid for his medical expenses which weren't cheap.. This guy is a classic.. He's the cause of a lot of stress for my father in law but deep down I think my father in law's fond of him (he's been the family driver for over 20 yrs).. Up until 8yrs ago, he lived in-house.. His wife and kids lived back in the village.. Anyhow, he got one of the maids pregnant.. So the my in-laws lost a maid they liked, then he asked my father in law for more money to support his now 2 partners and additional child.. What could be said? He got the extra money, but also got kicked out of the house..Pretty funny..

Ct

 

[spitfire]

He does have a Magic Toe (or 2)....

 

[lozza]

you could try this guy - ELVYS

Just back from Bali and used this excellent driver whose motto is "Don't Worry be Happy"

He is a great guy, his car has air con, VCD, TV, MP3 player, speaks good english, has an esky with cold water and Bintang (no extra charge), reliable, very funny and is great with kids.

You can contact him as follows:

ELVY'S Transport
Made Sudikarma

Home address:

Jl. Imam Bonjol Gg. Rahayu XII / Denpasar Bali Indonesia

Home Phone:

+62 361 487739 or +62 361 7868174

Email:

[email protected] or [email protected]

Website:

http://www.elvysbalitours.com

Mobile:

081 5580 49784 (24 hours)

He is an honest guy and will not rip you off.

Larry

 

[baambaam]

I am looking for a driver also but not from a tour company really because I will have my local gf bringing me places. She had someone at $8/day + rental cost but it fell through. Gonna be like 2-3 day trips to Ubud, Sanur, etc, and the rest just random to the beach or shopping during the day and to restaurants and clubs at night.

Or is best bet to get drivers only on the day trips, and use taxi for restaurants, clubs, shopping? I don't want to be paying $30-40/day on some days where it might just be a dinner trip. Similarly, I doubt a driver would want to be on-call for us from 12 noon to 2 am on a day we go places during the day and then a night club

 

[tintin]

$30 - $40/day, for the hours you propose sounds correct, and you wont have a problem finding a driver In my opinion, it would be the most practical solution. It's not even the cost of a cheap rent-a-car in NY!

 

[mimpimanis]

In Nusa Dua without bargaining in a rental place, I can get a car from Rp125,000 - 200,000 per 24 hours. Add Rp 50,000 if you want a driver and knock that 24 hours down to 10. Still cheaper than taxis though. You pay for your own petrol and parking. Ill post the number tomorrow.

 

[Guest]

Ina and I hired a new Avanza for IDR200,000 per day in Seminyak. Monthly price is IDR3,500,000.

I have used drivers and sometimes we use taxis but hiring a car is the best option in my opinion. It just feels more convenient and spontaneous. I don't think it's as dangerous as some people would have you believe.

The Avanza we hired in July:

BTW hiring a driver is not always the best option. I have been in one accident with a driver in Bali and this is what our driver in Bogor did to our brand new Kijang Innova. He drove straight into the back of a dump truck while he busy admiring the scenery! The radiator was cracked so we had to sit around for six hours waiting for another car to come from Jakarta to pick us up.