Need car and driver on as need basis...

Relocating from Colorado to Dumaguete. Signing the lease contract for a house in September there. Am willing to pay driver, car, gas, and food so I can go around town to do chores and familiarize myself with the city. Will probably rent a car once I am comfortable with the area. The commercial shuttle services charge atrociously. Would appreciate anybody's help. It is a big move and kinda' wary.

 

For an 8-hour day, the charge is P3,500--could be more waiting than actual driving. The rate is based on Metro Dumaguete. I do not know what I want to pay because I do not have a sense of what is reasonable. By US standards, this is definitely reasonable. I supposed anything is negotiable. Thanks for your input.

 

For simple errands around Duma nothing really beats a trike for hired transport..easy to find a trike and driver for the day..and perhaps forum members will even know of such a gentleman for hire by the day...and i'm sure it would be much less than 3500p a day..much much less

 

Excellent idea...might as well do as the locals do to get around. I have all the time in the world. I'll probably search for existing threads about trike drivers from forum members.

 

BUDDY.... do NOT rent a car from anyone. If you are in an accident (regardless of fault) you are to blame. And most "rentals" are uninsured private cars that have little if any insurance.. Take the advice of Dustin..find a local trike,,If you are with a few km's of downtown Duma you should be able to find a 8 hour daily trike for 500 to 800 pesos. Good luck... Let them drive and if they crash ...walk away and find another trike....

 

Thanks. I am feeling "at home" already. Really appreciate your piece of advice.

 

When we first moved here we found a driver with a van who would let us use his service "as needed". We are in Sibulan, so it's about a 30 minute drive from our house to downtown. When we needed to go downtown (2 or 3 times a week) we would call him and he would pick us up, take us to wherever we needed to go (multiple stops usually) and then bring us home for an agreed rate of 1000 pesos. We usually would also feed him and give him a 200 peso tip. He wasn't actually "on call" for us, so no guarantee when we called that he could come right away, but it was never urgent and we could wait if was driving another client. I sat in the front seat and paid close attention to his driving through the Dgt traffic, and learned the routes and streets. A trike would be okay if you don't need to pick up a lot of stuff, but we usually came home with the van filled up. After a few months we then bought our own car and started driving very carefully. This worked pretty good for us.

 

Do you still have the driver's contact number? Thanks.

 

Listen to Gerrys advise and if you want to learn to know about the city, a trike is much better than a van. You can come in deep sh*t if you rent a car and have an accident, just don't do it. Pick you trike driver with care, find an honest guy and who have a trike where you do not feel you sit inside a washing machine and shake around. Get a recommendation from a member here or someone else you trust, agree with Gerry estimated price 5-800 pesos and a meal or a tip if you like the guy