Price of car rental + driver

Hi all,

In 3 weeks we'll be traveling to Mada for 3,5 weeks. For the first 2 weeks we'd like to rent a car + driver to travel from Tana via Andasibe, Pangalanes, Mananjary, Manakara, train to Fianarantsoa, Ranomafana NP, Reserve d'Anja, Andrigitra NP for trek to Pic Boby, Isalo and finally to Tulear and chill out at Anakao for the last week.

We would need a car for about 15 days. What would be a reasonable quote per day? And how about fuel? I've been in contact with a driver and he quoted €60 per day excl fuel + 2 days return to Tana. Petrol was quoted at €550. Is it common to pay all in advance? Or would it also be possible/common to pay fuel ourselves during the trip instead of paying everything upfront?

Thanks a lot for your advice!

Maaike

Per car and not per person.
Car and driver and you pay fuel as you go.
Rates 2014:

1 - Car sedan: 30 € / day + fuel

• Mini-bus Car Type: 40 € / day + fuel

• 4x4: 50 € / day + fuel

Are included in the daily rate:
- The delivery driver / tour guide and accommodation and meals

You pay two day return if you do not return with the car from Tulear.

Tipping is optional, according to your habits but don't spoil it for the next tourist who comes after you. If you ask how much to tip they will say up to you. It is a guilt trip and just say thank you. good bye. Senators high in government only pay their drivers $3 a day salary for 24 hour service.

Thanks very much for the quick reply and clear explanation!

Eventually we settled for €50 a day for a 4x4 and fuel as we go. Looking forward to the trip! :-)

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You've got your answer and made your booking so I shouldn't really reply to this but the tipping comment above made me want to speak out...

If your driver is not the owner of the car, and they give good service, please tip generously.

You are going to be with this person day after day for two weeks. I know from experience, a good relationship with your driver can make or break your adventure. Your driver is responsible for your person and your goods and the safety and security of the car 24/7 while you are together. If they are good, they will save you a million small hassles by helping you buy things, helping you bargain, helping you avoid inquisitive police at security stops, helping you choose where to stop, sleep, eat, drink... They should be able to answer basic questions about the route that you are travelling. I can promise you, they will be earning very very little and it is often really strenuous for drivers. When they check you into your hotel, if that place doesn't offer drivers / guides accommodation or security for the car, they will often have to sleep in the car. They will have a tiny and I mean tiny budget from the car owner for their own meals, and they often will go without meals while they wait in the car for you to eat in your restaurant. They often may not have access to a shower or other facilities... On the road for two weeks will also mean that by default, you will to a certain extent become companions.

I like to aim for around more or less 5% for good service here, so your two week hire budget of 700 euros means a tip of around 35 euros. I always suggest to people that they have a short debrief with the people they work with at the end of the trip, point out politely what was good and what could have been better, and explain all of that politely and with kindness, when offering the tip.

What cruel wealthy people pay their staff is totally irrelevant in a discussion about prices and good fomba (behaviour) for a tourist.

Two weeks on the road in Madagascar is going to be a splendid time, you'll have a ball, wishing you all the best for a lovely trip :)

Madagascar is not a tipping culture. Malagasy people do not tip. I would be interested in learning what the
cruel wealthy tour operators actually pay their staff to have to encourage the guide to beg for tips .
My husband told me a story about how he tipped this waitress in New Zealand and she ran down the street 100meters to give back the tip because she found tipping insulting.
I can say that Malagasy people are hustlers and driver/guides are more than most. I know that when a tourist goes for a hotel room, they will pay full board when they could with some skill get up to 50% off. The guide knows this and will pocket some profit from contacts such as restaurants and sales of crafts. I am and speak Malagasy and know the hustle. The Tourist will always overpay and the middle man is the guide.
When it comes to food it is a part of the culture to always share food. it is a must and there is always food left over for the guide in the kitchen
Sleeping in the car is a security issue, you cannot leave a car on the road without some security or else the next morning it will be missing some parts.
Guardians all over the country at night only have a nap to sleep on in the night under the stars without protection from mossies.
Yes that is right night security sleep at night, what is that all about.
Minimum wage for a driver according to the office of work is 50 euros a month which includes medical, pension, one month paid vacation. This law is according to French law since this a Francophone country. What do you pay your chauffeur or have paid or would pay and what do other vazaha pay, and do you include 13th month gift, housing and water and electric.
Please to the tourist, do not work to make the Malagasy society to have their hand out or children running down the street asking for candy, Bonjour Vazaha, ca va cadu gift cadu gift
encourage an honest day work for honest wages. Better you ask the Tour Agency what is their pay schedule for their employees.
It is always good to walk into a business where there is a sign that says" no tipping allowed"

And with all due respect to Mister B. Massaud. 5% is more than enough if you feel so compelled to give something.

Why Tourists Shouldn't Pay or Tip More Than They Need To
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/map-happy/why-tourists-shouldnt-pay_b_6139756.html?utm_hp_ref=travel]

Fomba is our Malagasy custom and a tradition with our ancestors from loooonng time ago. If we build a house or dig a water well we offer words of respect to the ground. In addition we offer a small spoon of alcohol and honey and
a coin. If it is for marriage Fomba then the man pays the family a zebu or two or more. My grandfather paid 6 zebus for his first wife. I am off today in the next hour to Fomba a small bridge that is being put across a small canal so that children are able to go to my new school.

Lol... in Australia and New Zealand, where I worked in the restaurant industry for decades, we do have a habit of chasing patrons to return the tip if we think it is insultingly small... lol...

I stick by all my comments, tipping for good service in Madagascar is perfect and appreciated very much.

Enjoy your trip maaike you'll love Madagascar and you'll see what I mean when you get here.

My husband who is an American tips 20 to 25% of the bill. It is their American custom to support the low wages of employees in the service industry being that the owners are greedy. He also found out in China there is no tipping as well. He has come to respect our Society though you may not. The Vazaha has the superior complex of thinking they know better, be it the American Indian or the Aborigines but don't do it to the Malagasy.

Anyone who has been to Australia or New Zealand and knows the politics will know that tipping is not a part of the culture being that you all receive a excellent and livable salary. So your statement is false or worse to those who have been there.
In fact patrons will put their extra change into tip jars for charity. And if there is any tipping at all it would all be small so running down the street is the worse part of this statement ( here is a LOL back at you).
Also your avatar shows you to be about 40 and yet you have lived here for about 20 years and yet you have been in the restaurant industry for decade(s)- so the 250,000 dollar question is did you start when you were 5 years old or are you including your experience here as well but not in Ozzie land?.
Why not address the other issues my wife mentioned (https://twitter.com/MadagascarLife)
about how guides scam the tourist on the side with bringing them to certain restaurants because they know they will get a bonus. Or how you present the poor guide having to sleep in the car- when in reality it is a security issue.
I am an American that has a hard time "not to tip" but I do know that in this culture tipping is not a good example.
People here care about family and work and don't think about tipping. Why would you want to corrupt and change their morality and good ethics with the promise of a tip, what is wrong with you. Then again I am not in the tourist business and if I were I would pay my employees well so they would not have to expect tips.

I have come to learn that in Australia that owners of restaurants are not legally required to pass on any tips to their staff, from like a credit card. Also My wife worked in a restaurant for a short time ( not decades) and told me that when tourists did tip, and in cash money, that the owner of the restaurant kept the tips for themselves saying that it was for breakage of cups and dishes. This makes me think that perhaps the tourist company also take the tip and keeps it and not the guide. The tourist who doesn't know any better will just think their tip from a credit card goes to the driver or guide.
A back handed way of getting extra money from the tourist.

Sorry for hijacking your post Maaika I hope you can get past this and have a good trip.

I have no intention of getting into an argument with you guys, I stick by all I said, but umm since you seem to want to see my CV, I am 52. I am Australian and was in the restaurant business in Australia until I was 30, and most of my friends are still in the restaurant business there, so I think I am qualified to discuss the politics of tipping in Australia, and since then I have lived between the UK, Australia and Madagascar. Predominantly Madagascar, since 1999. I can assure you that in Australia, waiters work for and enjoy their tips. In Madagascar, I tip for good service and it is my opinion that tourists should tip for good service. Getting a sign from clients that they are happy with your service is a lovely thing to happen for any service personnel, it's encouraging and helps to incentivate staff to give good service and professionalise the service industry. I don't have any idea what you're talking about when you bring begging children and all the other things you have said into the conversation. I like to treat people kindly and that is how I work, and all I have done is stated some facts about life here to help to illuminate the OP on some things to keep in mind and consider when travelling with a driver for two weeks. If you don't agree with my opinion that's fine, you have a right to our opinion as much as I have a right to mine, but your outrage and personal attacks seem weird. Anyway have a nice day everyone, it's Monday, the beginning of the week, wishing everyone a great and productive week :)
Lol...

Thankyou for your response. As any potential investor one listens for is the questions not answered which speaks volumes.

It's up to the readers of the forum to decide which member sounds logical, compassionate and trustworthy.

When all is said and done, when you make it over to my neck of the woods here in Mahajanga I can throw some shrimp on the Barbi as they say and we can agree to disagree. later man

I am afraid but I have to say that "Madagascar is a MODERATE tipping culture". Otherwise, there is no word to explain the kawatry, cigarette, etc. while working or when everything is ok. By giving them money for cafe or whatever you make them know how good you are. Tips reveal your personality. In this so poor country where the local people receive a very small part from the tourism, I think that tipping the driver or your guide if you want is no problem. It is not obligatory. It doesn't make sense to give it to the boss or to put it in a box because many patron , manager, keeps some part of it.
There is a big difference between tips and begging/cadu. I cannot realize how this small amount of 50 euro given to the driver at the end of the trip can collapse the Malagasy Economy or change their culture. I find on it your contribution to help his family. TIPS IS NOT OBLIGATORY.
Sorry for you #madagascarlife and #tsarabe

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With the greatest of respect to you madagascarlife, Malagasy or not, you don't speak for all of the Malagasy people. You have made it really clear that you and your husband don't like tipping, through numerous posts, to the point where it's verged on aggressive. Your opinion is crystal clear and you have an absolute right to hold your opinion. To continue to ram that opinion home to us, and attack people who don't share your opinion, isn't useful at all in this community. This is a place where we all have a right to express our opinions. Your opinion that Madagascar isn't a tipping culture is clear to everyone and it's your right to hold that opinion, but it doesn't make it fact, and so far no one except your husband agrees with you. I certainly don't. Sorry... (he says holding his hat waiting for the response...)

First of all I have great respect for your contributions to forums and that is not said tongue in check and my husband express high remarks for your efforts. However I will express your opinion to the rest of my 800 relatives over time when I see them so they can wonder about your opinion and how strange is your idea about tipping. We have already talked about this in our area here and find your notion of tipping very weird but love to take your money any way. Most of my relatives are also under the opinion that the sun goes around the earth and that the stars in the sky are not suns. They have a right to their opinion yes even if it is false opinion. Just ask your employees what are stars. Don't believe me about tipping as all you have to do is google tipping and the country to learn about tipping. Such as I googled tipping In Australia and new Zealand and found out that tipping is discouraged by the population to the tune of 80% to 90% in New Zealand. Interesting no one is running down the street for poor tips so that is when you lose your credibility. In Fact those countries are considering laws against tipping but that is a wider issue that is not the same conversation in my husbands culture American. I can understand your thirst for tips since you are from the tourist industry and your views are directed so.
However for the preservation of the tourist industry it is better to explain to tourists that tipping is not correct and maintaining a high standard, as it is in your culture===at least 80% worth of that population.
No tipping is best and if you find that aggressive then you might as well as say the truth is aggressive.

You make aggressive sound like a bad word. One of the beauties of Madagascar is that politically incorrect has not come here and people call things as they see it, no wishy washy talk.

you may also notice that the Green tour post has been deleted, you may call that aggressive but I call it getting the job done.
you need to be mora mora and use words like assertive giving a atmosphere of friendliness .

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