Ours is a beautiful country and one best experienced by road. Sure, a lot of our roads can be character building, but more often than not, the journeys become the destination. While there’s great comfort (and a lot of financial sense) in making such journeys in one’s own car, it may not always work out. You could be limited by your car’s abilities or seating capacity or maybe just short on the time needed to go exploring the opposite end of the country in your own vehicle. Rather than compromising or even aborting your plans altogether, you could consider the option of hiring a self-drive car. While the concept isn’t new to India, it’s picked up steam over the past few years with the incoming of new
entrants offering a full fleet of varied cars at some pretty inviting prices. So, if you’ve always wanted to drive up to Leh in a Toyota Fortuner, this is one way to do it. Sounds interesting but want to know more? Leave it to us to address your doubts.
Who Can hire a self-drive car?
The short answer is just about everyone with a valid driving license. But there are some other requirements too. Most car hire companies have a minimum age limit for the hirer. It typically varies from 21 years to as much as 25 years. Some even require the potential hirer to have held the license for a stipulated period, say two or three years. In addition to this, you also need to furnish a government-endorsed identity proof and proof of residence. Most services also require credit card details at the time of booking, if only as a safeguard for future payment. Interestingly, even your friends from abroad can hire a self-drive car to vacation in India. A passport and valid international driving permit will be required for them.
Whom can I hire from?
As mentioned before, there are quite a few players in the business of self-drive car hire now. So, if you are based in a large city you shouldn’t have an issue finding a service that suits your requirements. We’ve listed some of the operators in the table on the next page. The best place to start your search, as always, is the internet. Smaller taxi services are also opening up to the idea of providing cars for self-drive but they may not be the best option in terms of cost or conditions. Either way, you can whittle down your list as per your travel needs. For instance, not all operators have 4x4 SUVs, something you could need on the journey to that wildlife sanctuary. Still, you’ll be surprised to find the range of cars on offer. While you’ll find the typical array of hatchbacks, sedans and MPVs, there’s actually everything from Mahindra e2os to Mercedes-Benz S-class sedans. Look hard and you could even find specialist cars such as the VW Beetle or even a rally-prepped Maruti Gypsy!
