In an earlier post I touched on the idea of renting a car and getting around Bali, Now i would like to educate you in where and how to get the best deal when renting a motor bike or car in Kuta. I say Kuta because I have no experiance of renting bikes or cars outside ‘the village’.
The cost of all rentals, as with all things in Bali, is variable. If you are renting for a month the relative price per day will be lower. Renting from your hotel will probably be more expensive, but your more likely (not guaranteed) to get a better quality/newer/serviced car or bike.
There are a couple of ways to go here, Motor bike or car is the first choice you’ll have to make. If you decide on a motor bike then your previous experience is probably the next thing you’ll consider.
For the motor bike rider the most popular rental bike here is a Honda Tiger, a 200cc manual bike, its the bike of choice for the ‘Jakarta jet set’, and you’ll be able to see hundreds of them in seminyak. Harley Davidson also rent bikes from their workshop at the bypass for people wanting an extreem experiance. Also available but some what harder to find are the Kawasaki Ninja and Motocross Dirt Bikes.
For People with a little less experience there are semi-automatic bikes available, these are better known as scooters, the most popular models come from Honda and Yamaha, and for those with no experience there is the fully automatic Yamaha Mio which is very easy to ride, coined a “twist and go” because all you have to do is twist the handle and off you go!
(All of the bikes above can be fitted with a surfboard rack which makes flying from secret spot to secret spot a little easier when weighed down with boards).
Pricing can varie wildly, and depending on the condition of the bike, how long your renting it for, and how busy the rental place is. At the steet vendors expect to pay between 30k to 50k per day, or about 500k per month. Remember there are hundreds of people wanting to rent you a bike so just move on if they wont give you a good price.
Cars however are a little more problematic. Insurance isn’t mandatory, but well worth the extra 50,000ish a day, well I’ve never had to use it so I’m not really sure if it makes any difference at all! but it makes me feel better. Starting from the street vendors there are usually 3 types of car available, the Suzuki Karimun, Daihatsu Feroza and the Toyota Kijang. A word to the wise, These cars get used and abused every day, before you take the keys walk around the car looking for damage, check the spare tire and the jack. The windscreen wipers will have no water in them so fill up before you head out into the wild. The price for one of these cars should be about 120k per 24h, + 50k for insurance, for an average condition car.
If you want to splash out a bit more then there are many, many, many companies on line who will for between 470k and 800k a day, deliver a car to your door, Obviously these cars will be newer, cleaner, (safer) and better looking. I would suggest hiring an Suzuki APV, they are big enough to be safe but thin enough to still be able to squeeze through the tighter lanes one encounters in Bali.
The majority of roads in Bali are actually quite good, they are certainly not perfect but not as bad as you would expect. The Indonesian people don’t really take a driving test, so dont expect any of the civil driver courtesy you get back home. Yea I’m being very diplomatic!
The Police, this is really a post in its self. Briefly, the police don’t like being videoed! but if you don’t have a video camera, asking “is there is any way to sort this out now” often leads to an on the ’spot fine’. Bargain it down to between 50k to 100k. The best tactic is to only carry some small money in your wallet, and the rest somewhere else. So you can show them you dont have any more cash on you.
Mr P.
No comments:
Post a Comment