Pros and cons of self drive car rentals in India

Pros and cons of self drive car rentals in India

The concept of self drive is still in a nascent stage in India. Unlike west, manpower is pretty cheap here and coupled with the facts that driving in India is best left to professional drivers, the idea of self drive car rentals doesn't seem to have really taken off. While in every street you'll find couple of travel agencies offering Sumos, Qualis and Indicas for rent, the number of car rental agencies who dare to give their machines on self drive is very very few. Also, driving is not considered a respectable job and drivers are treated at par with watchmen, cleaner and such other unskilled or semi skilled jobs. Many of us do not have an idea what self drive is and if that option is really available in India.
Advantages of Self drive:
1. You get an extra seat
2. If you enjoy driving, it will be better experience driving yourself
3. Some intercity highways are pretty good-one can enjoy driving.
4. It gives privacy
5. For long drives (3 days and more, for unlimited kms advantage), self drive (with daily rental + fuel expense) will be economical than chauffeur driven rental (Per km billing + daily driver fees) [I drove 1300 kms in 3 days and it did cost me around Rs 16100 including rental and fuel-if I had taken Skoda on regular chauffeur driven rental, it would have costed nearly twice that amount.]
Risks of taking a vehicle on Self drive:
1. Liabilities: If anything goes wrong you'll be answerable, and there're lot of things which can go wrong (vehicle break down, flat tyre, accidents, road blocks, getting lost and so on). In a chauffeur driven rental, you can enjoy the ride while the driver will be responsible for both driving and overall care taking of the vehicle. If the vehicle breaks down you can leave the driver and his vehicle and continue journey in another vehicle. (if possible) With self drive, a small incident can ruin all the fun.
2. Rental companies usually buy the cheapest available variant of a car and the vehicle may not have basic facilities. (The skoda Octavia I rented had an outdated cassette player, while mp3 player is a standard these days. The vehicle was 4-5 years old with lots of minor dents and scratches. Except front left, all 3 tyres were in almost worn out condition and hardly had any threads-all these spoiled my fun to some extent)
3. As per RTO norms vehicle given on self drive will have yellow numbers on black background. With Hertz sticker and this yellow number plate, rest of the road users take it as a

taxi and the driver is taken for granted as an experienced taxi driver. So you may not get the respect of a car owner and since your expertise as driver is taken for granted you won't get much consideration on the road either.



4. Driving in India is an art. Besides knowing how to drive you also need a strong mouth. When two vehicles touch each other, irrespective of whos fault it is, one driving the expensive vehicle is held guilty by default. You'll need a strong mouth (and muscle too, sometimes!) to survive an argument.

5. Not economical for short trips (2 days or less and for just a few hundred kms) (this one is a disadvantage-not a risk)

Is it advisable to take cars on self drive in India?

Unless otherwise you're tempted by the advantages of self drive listed above, and are comfortable with few risks listed, it is advisable Not to prefer self drive.

If you plan to take cars on self drive in India:

1. Take a car made by either Maruthi/Tata or Mahindra. These manufacturers have dealers all over India and if something goes wrong finding help will be easy. Other makers like Skoda, Chevy etc are yet to spread their dealership network and service centers.



2. Insist on a relatively new vehicle which is less than 2-3 years old and that vehicle should have relatively newer tyres.

3. Take a vehicle with high ground clearance. Most of the Indian roads will be in bad condition and may have unscientifically designed humps. Vehicle with low ground clearance will make driving tough.

4. Driving in India is not as easy as driving in other countries. Attributes for this are many-bad roads, irresponsible follow road users who might make unpredictable movements, lack of road sense, not having proper navigation facilities.

5. Consider keeping an Indian friend as co passenger (preferably one who knows local language and also knows driving)

6. Take rental from a reputed company. Some operators may resort to unethical practices like charging a huge amount even for a negligible scratch, handing over a vehicle which is in bad condition, refusing to reimburse you if you had to spend money replacing a faulty spare, renting out vehicles without genuine documents etc.

7. If you need to rent a vehicle for months, better to buy a second hand car, use it for few months and sell off again. Check with a used car dealer for this.

Pros and cons of self drive car rentals in India

Advantages of Self-drive:
1. You get an extra seat
2. If you like driving, it will be your best driving experience
3. For units of length (3 days or more, for unlimited advantage kms), free unit (with daily rental + fuel costs) will be chauffeur-driven economic rent (per km daily driver turnover rates +) [ I drove 1300 miles in 3 days and it cost me around Rs 16,100 including rent and fuel, if regular Skoda driver had driven the rental, which would cost nearly twice that amount.]
Risks of taking a vehicle on Self drive:
(if possible) to the free drive, a small incident can ruin all the fun.