[vikram31]

Hi all, a sad update. I just called Zain travels to book a car in advance for the carnival season. He told me they cant provide any black and yellow number plate cars any more as there is a stay order that prevents them from renting any self drives with yellow number plate. Effectively, the stay means you cant legally rent a self drive car in Goa. Has anyone on the forum recently (After 15th Jan 2017) rented a legal (black+yellow) car?

[sagpatel]

Hi, anyone recently traveled and rented self driven licensed car? Anyone tried ziphop.in?

[srinath34]

Was transiting Goa during my Bangalore-Ratnagiri trip over the weekend. Took a prepaid taxi from Goa airport to Madgaon station for our train to Ratnagiri. Since the time was past midnight we had to pay 35% extra charges. Bill was about Rs 1170/-

I had to the same while returning back to Goa airport from Karmali station. Was charged about Rs 870/- for the taxi.

With such exorbitant fares, I feel self-drive is a better option since it would cost more or less the same as a day's charges and one can drive (BHPian you see!).

I am re-visiting Goa in 2 weeks from now. Is it possible to get a car for just a few hours in Goa or should I go the taxi way?

[the_skyliner]

Has anyone tried Mylescar in Goa? Need to rent a car next weekend for 4 days and feedback about their service there would be helpful.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by vikram31

Hi all, a sad update. I just called Zain travels to book a car in advance for the carnival season. He told me they cant provide any black and yellow number plate cars any more as there is a stay order that prevents them from renting any self drives with yellow number plate. Effectively, the stay means you cant legally rent a self drive car in Goa. Has anyone on the forum recently (After 15th Jan 2017) rented a legal (black+yellow) car?

Black plate with Yellow numbers are legal self drive / rental cars and bikes. It's perfectly legal to drive / ride them with your normal non-professional licence. Yellow plate with Black numbers are Taxis / Commercial vehicles. You need a professional licence and badge to drive them. Plus of course the Khaki uniform.

[nma83]

Originally Posted by sagpatel

Hi, anyone recently traveled and rented self driven licensed car? Anyone tried ziphop.in?

A late reply, but nevertheless. I took a self-drive from ziphop last winter and ended up getting a black-on-white number plate wagon-r. Felt uncomfortable with it, but had no other option since I did not know about the fact that ziphop (or whoever they delegate to in goa) do not provide properly registered black-on-yellow plate cars. The person handing the car to me spun a story of how self-drive cars are 'banned' in goa, but I saw lot of them running around in north goa. So, ziphop is not be trusted if you want peace-of-mind (the car was good though).

[praful]

Slightly OT in this thread as this focuses more on Car/Jeep rentals.

But, does anyone know about two wheeler rentals near the airport? I am guessing there should be a bunch of rental places around Vasco.

[wishnipon]

I will be visiting Goa in the last week of this month with college friends - four of us - for four nights. I am planning to hire a self drive car. A hatchback preferably, for ease of parking.

I am confused about the number plate colour scheme. I wasn't aware of such colour scheme till I read this thread. As I understand from the earlier posts:

Yellow on black is meant for me (holder of non commercial license)
Black on yellow / black on white not meant for me.

Correct me if I am wrong.

[wishnipon]

Hello bhp-ians!

I will be staying in Goa for four nights and i am considering between self drive car and cabs. I was checking the website of Push and tours Goa and came to know that a Hyundai i10 AT for four days will cost ₹8600 which will cover us right from the airport till the end again back to the airport. Of course fuel is our own expense. So entire cost will be a minimum of ₹10,000, assuming I use 20 litres petrol.

Isn't​ that too expensive? I am wondering if I should go for cabs instead. Relevant information: we shall stay in a hotel at Calangute, we shall drive to North Goa one day and stick to North Goa the rest of the time; there are four of us - friends from college.

I seek advice from bhp-ians: whether to go for cab or self drive?

[wishnipon]

Apologies for repeated posts by me. I wanted to share my update after returning from Goa. I didn't go for self-drive during my trip. I thought of writing down my reasons why I didn't go for self-drive.

1. I found the car rental rates quite high. Even though, petrol is way cheaper in Goa than in West Bengal, the total expense would be too much after daily rental + fuel cost.
   
2. Having read about the number plate issue on Team-BHP, I wasn't ready to drive a private car with white plate. Before going, I called up a number of agencies and all of them said they would provide only white plate cars! I also called up Push Tours & Travels - who are the sole licensed authority in Goa to rent out cars - and asked for an i10 automatic, when they informed me that i10 automatic is only available in white plate. All the agencies I talked to over phone, told me the same, that I am to tell the police, if caught, that it is my friend's car. But I wasn't too convinced.
   
3. Negative reviews against all the agencies finally made me decide against self-drive. I read some real bad feedback against all of them. Only Zain travels probably had a better review of the lot but then they had no automatic in their fleet and also could not commit on the number plate colour.

Instead, I opted for chauffeur driven cars, arranged by hotel. The owner of this car rental agency was friends with the hotel manager and both of them were helpful. The cost were as follows:

• Day 1: pickup from airport to hotel (Calangute) - Maruti Swift: ₹1500 (standard fare as per prepaid fare chart displayed at airport is ₹1218)
• Day 2: sightseeing to places in south goa and old goa - Ertiga : ₹3500
• Day 3: North Goa beaches - Ertiga: ₹2800
• Night 3: 2 scooties @ ₹350 / day each = ₹700
• Day 4 + Night 4: 2 scooties @ ₹350 / day each = ₹700
• Day 5: Airport drop off in Maruti Swift. We started at 5 AM but no extra charge for early morning. ₹1500.

[skyrocket003]

Chauffer driven taxis in Goa are very costly indeed. But do we have a better legal option ?

Self Drive cars mostly are white plate cars given on hire by these so called agencies barring only a few that give you those black plate cars.

Was in Goa with friends during monsoons of 2015. We kept looking for self drive cars and in the end had to settle for a white plate car. The guy who gave us the car, told us to be careful at traffic signals and try to stay away from traffic cops. Enough said I guess. This business is still so unorganized in Goa.

[Rajesh Rawal]

My Good experience with Zain Travels continues with the 15th Aug Weekend being no different

Got a white number plate wagon r with about 87k km on the odo

Well maintained car and absolutely trouble free

Followed the usual drill of landing at the airport and taking a prepaid cab to Zain's office near Vasco railway station to pick up the car ( return leg - dropped family/bags at the airport and then drove to their office to hand over the car)

Happy customer from the last 5 years with Zain

[Zezé]

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

My Good experience with Zain Travels continues with the 15th Aug Weekend being no different

Got a white number plate wagon r with about 87k km on the odo

Well maintained car and absolutely trouble free

Followed the usual drill of landing at the airport and taking a prepaid cab to Zain's office near Vasco railway station to pick up the car ( return leg - dropped family/bags at the airport and then drove to their office to hand over the car)

Happy customer from the last 5 years with Zain

It would be interesting to know where you stayed during your recent trip to Goa. I ask because Zain appears to rent cars depending on the resort where you are staying. At least that was my experience.

If you are staying at one of the resorts where the taxi union has an agreement with the resort, like Club Mahindra at Varca, Zain will not rent you a car. And I understand the most of the resorts in south Goa have been coerced into entering into such agreements.

As I understand, when the resort has an agreement with the taxi union, cars with local numbers are not permitted to be parked within the resort premises, unless the guest is a resident of Goa and can produce documentary evidence of the same. The net result is that Zain and other agencies would not like to risk having the rented car parked outside without security.

Goa has been plagued by the taxi/auto mafia for decades and the authorities do nothing to curb this extortion racket. I find this quite ironical given that tourism is a major contributor to the GDP of Goa.

[Rajesh Rawal]

Originally Posted by Zezé

It would be interesting to know where you stayed during your recent trip to Goa. I ask because Zain appears to rent cars depending on the resort where you are staying. At least that was my experience.

If you are staying at one of the resorts where the taxi union has an agreement with the resort, like Club Mahindra at Varca, Zain will not rent you a car. And I understand the most of the resorts in south Goa have been coerced into entering into such agreements.

As I understand, when the resort has an agreement with the taxi union, cars with local numbers are not permitted to be parked within the resort premises, unless the guest is a resident of Goa and can produce documentary evidence of the same. The net result is that Zain and other agencies would not like to risk having the rented car parked outside without security.

Goa has been plagued by the taxi/auto mafia for decades and the authorities do nothing to curb this extortion racket. I find this quite ironical given that tourism is a major contributor to the GDP of Goa.

That's an interesting insight

Not sure how true it is on the ground as the resort I stayed in calangute was pretty cool on me having a self drive

Infact when I told them the rates I was paying to zain they offered to get me a car inr 200 less per day ( since I have been taking cars from zain regularly did not go for it)

The other piece which I got to know was even though myles has a set up in goa ,due to the taxi union resistance they are virtually with no business (again this is more from the hotel fellows so not sure if this is the case)

[Zezé]

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

Not sure how true it is on the ground as the resort I stayed in calangute was pretty cool on me having a self drive

As you will have read on this thread and even in your case, the cars rented out normally come with white number plates. And the person driving is told to say that it is a friend's car, if questioned.

As there is no way the resorts are in a position to dispute such an assertion, this policy, viz. not allowing vehicles with local registration to be parked inside the resort, has been framed.

Frankly, I don't believe that the management of the resorts are too concerned as to how you travel within Goa. But the agreements with the taxi unions, put the resorts in an awkward situation.

No hotel or resort would like to have some agitating taxi drivers crowding the entrance and getting negative publicity, so most of the big resorts have entered into agreements with the taxi union, who use a roster to allocate drives to the members.

Further, I believe that this phenomenon is more prevalent in South Goa where there are larger resorts owned by hotel chains.