Transportation

Transportation: Mode of transportation in Phuket: Rental cars or scooters? Due to the missing governmental control, the following problems are quite common when renting a car: - Insurance: sometimes no insurance at all, sometimes the insurance just hasn’t been paid by the rental company and hence doesn’t cover, in many cases the insured amount isn’t enough. - Lack of regular services/repairs, and often done by amateurs. Therefore, recommending a rental car company is difficult and sometimes hazardous. Anyway this is what Phuket offers: For Rental Cars 1. International companies e.g. Herz, Avis etc. 2. There are a number of independent rental car providers at the airport. Should you rent one of those cars, please make sure you: - Check the car for damages, also the tires. - Get copies of the insurance contract and the payment receipts. Check the date (year 2017 is year 2560 in the local calendar). - Check the equity contribution (should be about 3.000 to 5.000 Baht). - Check what kind of insurance it is (if their insurance cost is about 10.000 Baht it can’t be the right insurance, should be around 20.000 to 30.000 Baht). For Scooters There is no comprehensive coverage for scooters, even a liability insurance is not mandatory. Furthermore, service works are not regulated which leads to repairs being done unprofessionally at home and tires not being changed at all (e.g.). This leads to the following problems: 1. Safety issues 2. Blackmail Some scooter rental offices require that you leave your passport with them. In case of an accident/theft they will then blackmail you into paying for the damage (or even more) – otherwise you don’t get your passport back.

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