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-   -   Easier car to drive or Employ a Driver? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/98415-easier-car-drive-employ-driver.html)

Off late, I've been using a lot of cabs to get around to my various places of work at the NCR. They are not the usual dingy, dirty and rattling Meru/Easy Cab but the Luxury taxi types where the car is very well maintained, the drivers polite and the operator, safe.

I do some of my work on the move, relax when I feel like and am somehow, at ease. Am I getting old? Could be, but then, all of us are, which actually prompted me to start this thread.

With progressing times, as we get weary of traffic, parking chaos, reckless drivers etc in cities where we spend most of our time, I m sure we have the have the urge to either buy a car which is easier to drive, park and use OR employ a driver who would take away some amount of our tension(well, money as well..!!) from our daily grind.

So, what does TBHP think?

1. Buy an easier car to drive and park like the Laura DSG or the Hyundai i10 for example.

OR

2. Employ a decent driver(I know that is a rare breed) and bask in the rear seat?

All ears...

Voted for the third option. I always hate to sit in rear and let driver drive the car.
Elderly people or people with too much work (tension in addition) should employ a driver for safety and comfort reasons.
But some unnecessarily employ a driver, say for example just for style statement, I would avoid this situation any day.

I would go for a driver if I could afford one, for the daily commute. Of course he won't be only for my commute, I would probably ask to be dropped at the office and then ask him to go home so that mom & wife can use the car for other chores. And I could take the bus back from work.

In the weekends, I will rip the car :)

START RANT -- The daily commute seems to be an art I'm not able to master, either by car or bike or bus or auto. All these options leave me dissatisfied for some reason or other, considering my 1.5 km distance from busstand, infrequent buses, unbelievable levels of dust/heat/sweat, people driving like hooligans and the horrible roads that feel like I'm going offroading everyday. -- END RANT

I enjoy the drives, and would absolutely enjoy driving when i don't have to keep to a schedule, but while on a schedule, when juggling multiple things at the same time a driver is certainly is a big asset, recently experienced completing an entire presentation on the back seat of a car and let someone else do the driving, i found having a driver is very productive.

Well finding a driver is never easy, but if you find the right one, its a great win - at least for the week days. My two cents to your dilemma.

@n.devdath

Self driving and employing a driver completely depends on the situation, i for one prefer driving be whatever the case. My grandpa on the other hand needs a driver, i cannot expect him to drive. That said i hate to see my precious car ruined by the drivers but in the case of my grandpa there is little i can do. I have to see to it that he is comfortable. Picture this i pay a guy 8k per month to ruin my vehicle! :Frustrati

Yes, generally old people like to be driven around and that is a fact but lately a lot of mid aged guys have started chauffeuring around, this releases the tension of driving in daily traffic and after a hard day at work there is nothing like basking at the back seat of the car.

All said and done you may call me impractical but i "LIVE TO DRIVE". :thumbs up

Depends a lot on the City I would say. Delhi, give me a cab anyday. I used to travel occasionally from Dwarka to NPEZ near Greater Noida, a distance of around 45 KMs one way, that too on my dear Electra 5s. Used to be a torture, sore fingers thanks to frequent use of the clutch would be a safe assumption everyday.
Chandigarh is at the other end of the spectrum. Nice clean roads with relatively less traffic and short distances. The kind of city where you would love driving.
(OT: Those from Chd who don't agree with me, try living in NCR for an year:) )

Dad learnt driving a lot late and ends up banging up the car here or there quite too often. So I insisted on a driver for him. Same wouldn't hold true for me, or the majority of us I guess. But yes, a lot of people employ drivers just as a status symbol.

Which is why I find it so difficult to employ a driver. Its a complete intrusion into your space, your family space and everywhere else. And drivers like the Bollywood's faithful 'Ramu Kaka' are no more found.

These are two other reasons. But then, I would not employ a driver as a status symbol at all unless I can really afford a high end chauffeur who is dressed impeccably in white, wears gloves to drive, speaks correct English, and drives my Rolls Royce Ghost.:D

Well, if the purpose is just to reach the destination, then I would prefer driving over the driver.

but, on most days, I do a LOT of things on the way to work, and that makes me want a driver.

Cant afford one, yet!.

I have opted for option #1. Given anytime, I would love to drive my own car until and unless need arises to hire a driver. Gives me a sense of ownership.

I have seen many a people hiring drivers not because they want to enjoy the back seat ride but purely because they dont want to get stressed while driving when on an important work. Like my colleague in my building he often hires drivers when he has to go for a presentation to his clients, wants to stress free. In a way thats OK.

I don't know how that works. For me, driving is the best way to get disconnected from work related stress and thoughts. And driving itself is not stressful at all even in bumper to bumper traffic, but it can get quite boring when you have to roll the car in heavy traffic for some time - never happens where I drive daily!

If there's one thing that I look forward to everyday, it is the drive to office and back. :D

Another thing is, I get motion sickness if I sit in a car which is driven fast (frequent acceleration and braking) which almost all Taxi drivers do. If I drive the car myself like that, I never get motion sickness. Don't know why, may be it is the 'anticipatory' thing.

I anyday would prefer having a driver.

I don't know how in other cities but in my town they are not really expensive, are sort of orderlies so i can pass on some stuff that I hate to do e.g. run to ata chakki, run to landry to press him deliver at least a week after committed date and so on. Also I can kick the car washing guy and divert that money to driver.

I in fact am about to finalize and my wife puts a crazy idea of why not have a female driver? For about half the year I am not home and she says she would be more comfortable having a female driver. I just said me too:)

Fun apart, in todays context a driver seems reasonable if they are punctual. No hassle finding parking, someone to care for in the parking (my car has got more scratches in public parking than on road) etc may win over his salary.

Also another important thing is that somany cars are written down for them being non driver friendly cars. With a driver you can think of buying them.
Also you don't have to worry about schedules. Day and night .

Rgds,
Harshad

I would have bought a city commute specific Car like the i10 AT and moved around.
A slick shifting manual, HPS equipped, handling biased Car for fun. Yes, money matters, but then...

I am going to recommend a Motorcycle to those who can afford to wear jeans to their work place with boots and or have a cup-board where you can store away your gear and get them back on once the office hours end. Nothing beats Motorcycles as far as commutes go. I have ridden various Motorcycles and almost all of them are fun even to commute. You can't say the same about the vRS and a Nano/i10, can you?

I have never had a driver for my own car, ever. I have also used cabs a lot.
So, one day, on the insistence of my wife, I tried an on-call driver for half a day within the city.
Hated it. Couldn't stand the thought of employing someone to drive my car.
So, no driver for me. If I want to sit in back seat, I will call a taxi. If I find it cumbersome to drive a car in the city, I will take my scooter.

If traffic is such a pain, get a motorcycle or a cycle. Cars are a pain and employing a driver solves zilch. One is still contributing to the urban mayhem.

Or take the bus. Its not THAT bad in Bengaluru
/who wishes Gurgaon had a bus service!

A very thoughtful and pragmatic issue that you have brought up with this thread.

I voted for option 'a' for the below mentioned reasons:

For city driving on my daily circuit, nothing would beat a driver driven comfort. There are instances when I need to stop at the store or the mall or attend meetings away form my normal workplace, in which case having a driver makes things very hassle free and comfy. Add to that the fact, that when i leave my workplace (not before 7.30 PM anyday), I am normally not sane! Not particularly keen to drive in bumper to bumper traffic in this situation. Also, if I do hire a driver, I have the addtional luxury of leaving work a bit early and carrying out unfinished work like conf calls or status update mails from the backseat. If I do this, then once I reach home, I can spend quality time with family, and not look at the blackberry anymore till next day morning.

All said and done, I have never hired a driver. I drive myself. I only relish the thought!