Car Rental, Taxi,or Driver?

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Car Rental, Taxi,or Driver?

Dec

17

2011

I will be visiting Ecuador Dec. 23 – Jan 1 with my family of four. We plan to stay several days in each of Guayaguil, Cuenca, and Manta. I would prefer taxi or driver to and from each city, but have been told taxis and private drivers may be hard to come by during this time of year. Any thoughts? What will be the price diferential between taxi, private driver, and bus?

Also, while in Manta, I will want to visit real estate properties in various coastal areas. While in Cuenca, I will want to visit properties in and around town Will there be drivers/taxis to take me to various areas, oe would it be easier to simply rent a car?

Thanks for your input.

In: Ecuador Travel Asked By: Steverose [4

]

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2 Answers

Answer #1

Hi Steve,

Renting a car is fun but can be hectic if you have never driven in Ecuador before.

Id take the buses (cheap and comfortable) between towns and then sight see and visit properties using one of the plentiful cheap taxis in Ecuador.

An English speaking driver can run you $30 a day plus the cost of the rental car, which start around $35 per day down here. Buses are about $1 per hour.

good luck, Dom

Answered By: admin [321

]

Answer #2

I like to rent a car personally so I can come and go as I please and I like the adventure. One good thing to remember is…there is not an MLS service like in the states, so finding real estate may be the tricky part unless you get with a realtor. Your post does not say if you have appointments with others already set up. Only recently has any legislation been inacted to make realtors be licensed and it is still not being done in many areas, however there are good professionals in many areas if you look and get referrals. If I may say so, you are spending 8 days in country and wanting to look at real estate in 3 distintcly differnt areas. Just doing some quick time calculations I am not sure that will work out. Cuenca is at least 4 hours from Guayuquil, Guayaguil is 4 to 5 hours from Manta etc. If you calculate the travel times which kill a day each for the most part you might find you have 4 days to look at 3 different areas. One day in each area is not enough in my opinion to do an adequate search unless you have already done a lot of research and have someone waiting in each area with a list of places to see. Of course all of this does not take into account that many owners may be out of town and not available to open up or show their real estate as it works differently here. Certainly not trying to tell you what to do, but it is the holiday season. Costs for drivers will vary depending on their level of English and the vehicle..it is not uncommon to find car/drivers for $100 to $150 per day plus fuel and food and accommodations for the driver if he is going to be with you the whole trip. Some realtors will charge you to take you around as well, depending on where you are. This is not normally well received by people coming here and I believe it is changing but there are still those that will want that. I can give you a good realtor in Manta to use, but not in Guayaquil or Cuenca…maybe someone else can. I hope that helped you some. Good luck.

larryp

Answered By: LarryP [322

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