Thursday, February 21, 2013

Rent A Car with a Personal Chauffeur for a Free and Easy Travel @ Bintan Island

To remain indefinitely in an expensive resort hotel for four straight days would likely result in a big hole in my shallow pocket! Hence, we decided to make plans to explore Bintan's main town on our second day; Tanjong Pinang. 

Question is whether we should sign up for a local tour or rent a car.

A free and easy tour package would cost an exorbitant pricing of S$70 for each adult and S$60 for each child aged between three and twelve years old! 

Simple calculation tells me this would result in an outlay of S$480 for my family of six adults and two children (Joyvn, being less than three years old, will get to participate for free). I was telling myself it would in fact be cheaper for me to travel to Genting Highlands during the off peak season!

We figured renting a car might be a wallet-friendlier option and made an inquiry with the car rental company attached to the resort. 

Okay, at least it was more reasonable at only S$110 nett for six hours for a seven-seater car with a personal driver (each additional hour was chargeable at S$20).

Back in my mind, however, i know for sure i can get a better deal!

And i am damn right! Via another website, i found what i have been seeking; S$110 for eight hours and each extra hour was only S$10! Despite our initial reservations (reputation, reliability, safety etc), we agreed to give it a try.

Now that i am back in Singapore in one piece, i can only say the money was well spent! Mr Eko, our personal chauffeur, spoke good English, was friendly and accommodating to our requests and questions and took extremely good care of us, his passengers. 

The car was thankfully not a van (as we thought that it might be the case) but a Toyota family wagon! Nothing much to complain so long i can feel the air-conditioning blowing my way!

So for those who are keen to book a car with driver in Bintan, please send an email to Mr Adi (the main coordinator) at booking@goestobintan.com and do remember to append the following information:

Location of your resort/hotel
Date (date of rental)
Time (time of rental; please use Indonesian time) 
Contact Person (your name) 
Contact Number (your contact number)
Travel Agent (if any)

If you do not receive a reply in two working days, call Mr Adi at 9488 9890.

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3 comments:

  1. I'd love to have such a car because you can go anywhere with it.
    When I traveled to Romania, I could only find one rent a car Brasov company that had a few Chevy's, but no 4x4:(

    Luckily a Spark was enough for me but next time when I'll go on vacation in small countries I'll definitely search for a rental before.

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  2. Anonymous10:23 AM

    Still got chopped a bit. The market rate should be $50 or IDR500K for around 12 hours.

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    1. i agree as i have contacts in Batam for that pricing you mentioned! but that's the best i could source for at that time when i have minimal knowledge of the language and zero contact in Bintan.

      Maybe u can share with us your contact so that we can benefit from it? :)

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