Car rental

Emma Plant wrote:

Hi,
can anybody tell me how much does a car rental cost in Bali?
Do I need any particular requisition to drive there as a tourist?

Thank you! :-)
Emma

You can choose 2 way.

1) Ask international driver license before fly in Indonesia, there are 2 type, ask what's valid in Indonesia.
2) Buy the local driver license, the price is around 500.000 Rp. with visa on arrival. It is valid only 30 days. You can go inside police office when is close and ask at the first police man out of service " Can you help me to convert my driver license to local driver license? (smiling, is important)" . Usually if he can't make the driver license for you, someone will come and "help you".

You can rent everything you like. You can ask in the street, someone will come and rent you all you want. Don't pay up to 250.000 rp/day. With 350.000 - 400.000 you can find car and driver.

When you will sign the contract use one stamp 6000 rp for make che contract official.

It is a potentially very bad and very costly idea to self drive a rental car here in Bali as a tourist.

Just a few reasons:

-No third party liability insurance.
-Incredible traffic and often very poor road conditions. 
-If in an accident you are automatically at fault.  Simple logic here…if you, the guest (tamu) weren't driving, the accident would have never happened.  I kid you not. 
-Even the best maps are far from complete.
-Lack of local language skills.

It is for no small reason that a great many expats living on Bali (and here for ages, like me) leave the driving to Wayan, Made, Komang and Ketut. 

Hire a private Balinese driver, sit back, relax, enjoy the view and even have a cocktail or two.  The cost of using a private Balinese driver is very little over the cost of a daily car (SUV) rental here. 

No sense being “penny wise and pound foolish.”

This web site will give you a reasonable idea of current daily car rental rates here in Bali:

http://www.baliislandcarrental.com/bali … e-usd.html

http://www.bluebirdgroup.com/id/nationwide/bali

Another car rental that'll work out cheap if you're just hopping to a place and staying there for a while.
No parking, no worries if you have a bump and you have no care about parking or even the car getting stolen and leaving you with a serious bill.

They have an excellent Android app so you don't either have to phone or even know where you are as it has a GPS function.

Just a thought but Ubudian can advise better on Bali.
Opinion, sir?

Taxis are fine in Bali for getting from point A to point B, and Blue Bird is hands down the best, but if part of your ride is to discuss and learn about local culture with the driver along the way, just bear in mind that many of the taxi drivers in Bali, especially in southern Bali, are from parts of Indonesia other than Bali.

From experience you can normally hire a driver and car for around 400,000 for 3-4 days normally 12 hours a day.

400k per day when taking the same driver for 3 to four days...yes.

400,000 will get you an Advanza or APV normally

Ubudian wrote:

-If in an accident you are automatically at fault.  Simple logic here…if you, the guest (tamu) weren't driving, the accident would have never happened.  I kid you not.

This fact usually is a little bit different. Isn't a problem about logic. The local people pay for be fine, if you pay 200.000 - 300.000 rp to police man, you are always fine also. Local people usually pay 20.000 - 50.000 for be fine.
If you are smart, you can ask the driver license if you will have a crash. 95% of indonesian drivers or riders, haven't the driver license and you are autometically right about. Also if you will rent a car with driver, ask to see the driver lcense. Many, many, many time the drivers aren't allowed to drive.

Thank you Tapiocapioca!
At this point, I will rent the villa with car and driver.. I suppose it`s the easiest and quickest way..

Buona continuazione!
Emma

Thank you Ubudian,
I have been thinking about renting a car myself.. You confirm it`s better to rent a car+driver, I saw the villa where I will be staying offers that service too..

Have a nice week!

Emma

The trouble is, if an expat driving a car hits an Indonesian, then they will taken for all they are worth and also face police action. No amount of insurance can cover the amount of grief and hassle you would face should that happen.

Thanks Lukereg :-)

Just a suggestion, if you do rent a car and drive it yourself. Take pictures of the car exterior and check the condition before you rent it, some people have bad intentention and would say you broke the car when it was already that way before you used it, then they'd ask for some extra money at the end.
I paid 350 thou IDR when I rented Toyota Avanza in Bali, without a driver. You can get it a bit cheaper if you rented it for a few days. Doesnt hurt to bargain with smile and laugh,ofcourse. Tee hee.

Enjoy your stay in Bali :-)

Annie

Thank you Annie!
Cannot wait to be there

Emma

Just to clear up one point about insurance and the liability a driver has here in Bali…it isn't the potential damage to the rented vehicle that is most potentially expensive, rather, it is the damage caused to other private property and the personal injuries resulting in an accident where the financial implications get very significant and which the insurance on the rented vehicle will not cover.

If “tamu Joe” is out driving his rented Kijang, hits a pot hole, looses control and slams into a couple of oncoming motorbikes destroying the bikes and landing Wayan and Made in the hospital, then “tamu Joe” is legally responsible to provide Wayan and Made new motor bikes and to pay their hospital bills.  Pray that “tamu Joe” isn't also on the hook for paying for cremation ceremonies too! 

Anyway, good decision Emma!

[Moderated: No free ad on the forum.]

Well done Tomyk for just spamming this thread. Not sure renting a car in Jakarta is relevant to those needing help in Bali.

I wanna only add one information abour car, when you park many time from nowhere will come someone asking you money for park, don't pay more than 4000 rp / hour. And you remember, many time when they are asking you money, they are stealer, you sign before the number of turistic police. Sometime touristic police will ask you tips..

Very wise Tapiocapioca. There is nothing more annoying than asking for the policemans name number when being stopped. Having a pen and paper is always handy.
I always as for their ID. They seem never to like it but it is worth asking regardless of how they react.

lukereg wrote:

Very wise Tapiocapioca. There is nothing more annoying than asking for the policemans name number when being stopped. Having a pen and paper is always handy.
I always as for their ID. They seem never to like it but it is worth asking regardless of how they react.

I think you have KITAS or something like this, me also, they are fine and they gave me if I show my local document, they know my next step is take a picture and go to the boss and ask why they tried to stolen my money, and after their will be fired, but every time my dad was alone and show only passport, they tried to stolen his international driver license and asked 200.000 rp for have back (INDONESIAN POLICEMAN, CANT TAKE DRIVER LICENSE FROM TOURIST, CALL AMBASSY IF THEY TRY)! Also in historical place, I paid around 20.000 rp for visit and who had visa on arrival 180.000 rp.  That's Bali. I discover the question about buy the driver license in Bali, because the policeman stolen at my friend 1.000.000 rp in one day, not for enjoy.

Let's clarify a few points here.

Firstly this string is about renting cars in Bali…not Jakarta.

In Bali it is common for street parking attendants to charge 2,000 IDR (regardless of the time parked) but they are neither police, tourist police or satpams.  They are however very helpful and useful in finding a parking space as well as stopping traffic for you to easily pull out once it's time to leave.  They charge the same for either local or tamu.

These parking “assistants” are only commonplace in the more populated and busy areas of Bali…primarily the south.  In reality they serve a pretty useful purpose and even the locals appreciate their function and usefulness.   

“INDONESIAN POLICEMAN, CANT TAKE DRIVER LICENSE FROM TOURIST”

The heck they can't!  They can also take the passport of any foreigner being held on any criminal charges. 

“Sometime touristic police will ask you tips..”

Tourist police in Bali do NOT ask tourists or foreigners for “tips.”

Ubudian wrote:

Let's clarify a few points here.

Firstly this string is about renting cars in Bali…not Jakarta.

In Bali it is common for street parking attendants to charge 2,000 IDR (regardless of the time parked) but they are neither police, tourist police or satpams.  They are however very helpful and useful in finding a parking space as well as stopping traffic for you to easily pull out once it's time to leave.  They charge the same for either local or tamu.

These parking “assistants” are only commonplace in the more populated and busy areas of Bali…primarily the south.  In reality they serve a pretty useful purpose and even the locals appreciate their function and usefulness.   

“INDONESIAN POLICEMAN, CANT TAKE DRIVER LICENSE FROM TOURIST”

The heck they can't!  They can also take the passport of any foreigner being held on any criminal charges. 

“Sometime touristic police will ask you tips..”

Tourist police in Bali do NOT ask tourists or foreigners for “tips.”

You can think this, all tourist can try on their skin.
I suggest don't carry with you much money or all will be in the pocket of police man, better take a card and not cash.
The last time my friend and my family totally paid around 3.000.000 rp, for fake fee (for local, penalty).
And the fake parkir also close the street to the sea and ask money for drive on, and they aren't the owner of the street, if you use the street behind you don't pay nothing, if this tax can be real, all street have a place where pay...  Also they ask money for park inside temple, on the sand near the sea and they aren't the owner about all these place. You always ask a recipt,if they are legal, they have recipt, if they haven't ask why are they asking money..

Lorenzo, you might consider reading people's profiles before you respond to their posts.

I'm no tourist, rather I've been living on Bali (Ubud, specifically) 24/7 for more than the past 15 years, married to a local Balinese and raising our three sons with her. 

Trust me, I know when I'm reading urban legends.

“The last time my friend and my family totally paid around 3.000.000 rp, for fake fee (for local, penalty).”

Sorry, but I'm not buying that baloney.  The police in Bali don't go around extorting money from tourists or expats.  If you did something illegal they may well have fined you on the spot, but maybe you'd prefer to have to hang around Bali for a few extra days waiting for your court case and only ending up spending a larger sum than the normal "on the spot" fine of 50 to 100k for traffic violations? 

As for parking fees at some beach locations and a few temples, what's your problem?

Those parking areas are on Banjar land and they are maintained by the people living in the Banjar.  They have every right to ask for a modest fee of 20 to 40 cents for the parking or use of that area.  Local Balinese pay these fees too, but you won't hear them belly aching about it, or asking for receipts either!

St. Peter's in Rome costs 12 Euro for admission…that's over 150,000 IDR.  Are you filing any complaint with the Vatican, rich as it is, for that admission fee?

But you're right, things here aren't always the same as they are from where we were born and raised.  The irony is, that's why many of us prefer living here.

Ubudian wrote:

Lorenzo, you might consider reading people's profiles before you respond to their posts.

I'm no tourist, rather I've been living on Bali (Ubud, specifically) 24/7 for more than the past 15 years, married to a local Balinese and raising our three sons with her.

Me too, I'm not a tourist, usually when someone live here in Indonesia is here 24/7, I think is normal.

Ubudian wrote:

Trust me, I know when I'm reading urban legends.

Urban legends? The subtitles are Netherlands but they are talking english.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHT1RKkkS3s

Ubudian wrote:

Sorry, but I'm not buying that baloney.  The police in Bali don't go around extorting money from tourists or expats.  If you did something illegal they may well have fined you on the spot, but maybe you'd prefer to have to hang around Bali for a few extra days waiting for your court case and only ending up spending a larger sum than the normal "on the spot" fine of 50 to 100k for traffic violations?

Can you explain me why local governements made laws about? Not more 5 years ago Indonesian governements introduced really strong fee and jail about, because every policeman was in this way. For expat and local people, is common take pictures about policeman before start to talk, because they hide all reference and after try to steal money.
Can you explain me why wikipedia made a page about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Indonesia

Ubudian wrote:

As for parking fees at some beach locations and a few temples, what's your problem?

Those parking areas are on Banjar land and they are maintained by the people living in the Banjar.  They have every right to ask for a modest fee of 20 to 40 cents for the parking or use of that area.  Local Balinese pay these fees too, but you won't hear them belly aching about it, or asking for receipts either!

No no no, Indonesian law is clear about. If you wanna ask money for service/product, you need open a PT / PT PMA company. After ask a legal license for work.
When someone pay a ticket usually have back a receipt. Maybe you don't know, but in Indonesia also.
Indonesian law teach me, no receipt? The service/product is free!
You can read inside every legal shop in Indonesia this rule, also on governative website.

You can start to read here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Indonesia

This kind of local people aren't asking you a fee, they only ask your money for steal.

Ubudian wrote:

St. Peter's in Rome costs 12 Euro for admission…that's over 150,000 IDR.  Are you filing any complaint with the Vatican, rich as it is, for that admission fee?

If you go in Rome the admission is 150,000 rp if you are Italian, American, Indonesian, African ecc... They don't watch your face and after choose what price you have to pay!!!

Ubudian wrote:

But you're right, things here aren't always the same as they are from where we were born and raised.  The irony is, that's why many of us prefer living here.

Maybe you don't know, but this is the local law. Excuse me but I don't trust you!

“Urban legends? The subtitles are Netherlands but they are talking english.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHT1RKkkS3s 

It's pretty obvious you haven't been an expat for very long.  The fact is most of us wanted to put that Dutch “journalist” in jail, I even suggested to the police that the charge should be working here without a proper work permit and visa.

Do you have any clue how cumbersome and time consuming it would be for tourists who are cited for traffic violations (hundreds issued each day) to actually be issued a ticket and have to go to court to settle the fine as opposed to just paying the cop up front?  And so what if the cop pockets the money, heck, given their small salaries I say they deserve the bonus.  So long as the cops aren't making up infractions, the way it's done here is quick, expedient and I dare say virtually every expat I know would prefer it just the way it is!  If you want to waste a precious day on Bali hanging around a court house then be my guest.  All you have to do is insist to the cop that he issue a citation.   

By “urban legends” what I was referring to was this quote from you:

“The last time my friend and my family totally paid around 3.000.000 rp, for fake fee (for local, penalty).”

Unless you brought the whole village of Salerno over here to Bali with you there is NO way you paid out 3 million in fees or fines.  That's an obvious exaggeration (at best).

“No no no, Indonesian law is clear about. If you wanna ask money for service/product, you need open a PT / PT PMA company.”

I hope you're not practicing Indonesian law as your day job!   A banjar has EVERY right to charge for the use of its land…it's called adat law and it's the law of the land here on Bali.

“Excuse me but I don't trust you!”

You will if you live in Indonesia long enough.  Heck, you might even get to appreciate the special way things get done over here.

For me personally, nothing is more annoying than foreigners insisting that things be done here just like they are at home.  For them...the remedy is simple...go back home!

Ubudian wrote:

It's pretty obvious you haven't been an expat for very long.  The fact is most of us wanted to put that Dutch “journalist” in jail, I even suggested to the police that...

Ok, ok, you are fine... No corruption in Bali.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q … 5dh_uZRgd4

Ubudian wrote:

For me personally, nothing is more annoying than foreigners insisting that things be done here just like they are at home.  For them...the remedy is simple...go back home!

Probably you feel confertable with disonest people, you can. I'm not, I respect the law in my home and in Indonesia.

Tapiocapioca wrote:

Ubudian wrote:

It's pretty obvious you haven't been an expat for very long.  The fact is most of us wanted to put that Dutch “journalist” in jail, I even suggested to the police that...

Ok, ok, you are fine... No corruption in Bali.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q … 5dh_uZRgd4

There's probably an ocean of difference between saying that one guy is a jerk and there's no corruption at all.

When I went to Bali, every taxi we took offered to be our private driver.  Eventually we chose one and paid him Rp300,000.  He dove all over the place, waited for us and never complained when we changed our minds.  Since we didn't drive, we never got lost, never had to deal with parking and got our own tour guide.  It was worth every penny.

Yup!  Leave the driving to Wayan, Made, or Ketut (and be sure not to call him kentut by mistake)! 

I am an Australian citizen but my origin is Indonesia and even after having left the country for 40 years my command of Indonesian and Javanese languages has not faded away, beside Australia I have driven in Europa extensively. Arriving in Denpasar I decided to leave the driving to the local preferring to watch the scenery while observing the chaotic traffics. In Denpasar you can call the metered taxis or if you already know the typical fares, negotiate with the driver. In Ubud where there are hardly any metered taxi except the one strayed from Denpasar, first you ask your host the typical fare then negotiate with the driver.
In a short time I have engaged several drivers and observed their different conducts, one has an air of arrogance which prompt me not to use his service again even though he lives just around the corner, another one was very honest and only accept half of what I handed him (I was in a hurry to go to an 'apotik' in Ubud) citing  that this trip was shorter than the one with him the previous day, I definitely use him on subsequent trips.
Use common sense when comparing costs, a short trip from Sydney International Airport to the CBD (17km away) will cost you A$50, one day car hire A$80 (but cost to hire a small car in Poitiers, France is only Euro 15), so in Bali being driven around for a day for Rp500,000 is a bargain.
As to the Dutch person who choose to publicize the incident, he should have thanked himself lucky that the policemen did not give him a ticket, I would love to see him spending his time appearing in court and paid the fine. If he wanted to play the law, order and honesty card he should have asked for a ticket instead which would give him a chance to view the justice system at work in Indonesia.
I abhor the corruptions in Indonesia which drained billion rupiahs of needed fund from the government, but I can accept the occasional requests for money on petty issues like traffic violations, the extra money probably went toward payment for his children's education.

  for your post!

Thanks Ubudian, I enjoy reading your posts, I think you deserve to get  * * * * * (5 stars, I can't work out on how to generate those smiley faces yet. Cheers.

Hi all,

Please note that we moved some posts.
They were off topic.

Thanks
Armand
Expat.com Team

Thank you Armand.

When I am in Bali I normally pay Rp300k - Rp350k per day for a driver inclusive of fuel. That is from say 8am to 6pm. Sometimes I pay more and sometimes less. The car can be a Kijang or an APV. Usually I just need to be certain that it is not too old and smelly and that the aircons works well.

I used to rent and drive myself, but these days I am just lazy and don't fancy being at the wheel in the slow traffic that has become so annoying in Bali.

If it's not important that your driver be Balinese and English speaking and driving a late model SUV (always preferred), then yes, around 300 to 350k for ten hours is still possible here if the driving is going to be somewhat localized.

For tourists it's very important to use Balinese drivers with good English skills and a late model SUV.  Ten hours with such a driver will run about 500 k give or take 100, all inclusive including gas.