Sri Lanka Taxi Hire
Srilanka Taxi RentalI think as a fellowship oriented traveler I should be sharing my experience with anyone considering renting a vehicle plus drivers in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the use of mass transit is not always a good way to get around, and a personal vehicle with a chauffeur is a favourite choice, but I would like to alert you to the danger of thievery.
Be sure to use a good lock and never let anything of value be left behind in the vehicle. Our company was recruited by a Kandy based agency named Tour Choice, which was perceived as reliable and reliable. Driving from Kandy to Polonaruwa our rider looked like a good fellow and we got along well.
In Polonaruwa there were several stopovers in different places and it seemed odd to me that he said: "Leave your pockets in the vehicle, you just have to take your camera" every single stop! Naturally, we always took our little pockets with us. However, we didn't interrogate him because there was no evidence, but we checked our things that we were leaving in the back and we know what?
Driving had opened a few small pockets (we knew we hadn't kept them open) and realized that some packets of biscuits were gone. When I was at the overnight stay in the motel, I examined our baggage and found damages to the lock. When we flew to Sri Lanka we had purchased 2 new locks for our 2 cases at the airfield (what a good choice afterwards).
The one of our bags we leave behind in our Kandy motel and the lock still looks like new. There was a visible damage to the lock on the pocket in the trunk of the vehicle. That was clear proof that he actually tried to breach our trunk, but fortunately broke (because we showed up just in time?).
Do I have any clue how he was gonna get away with this with a busted lock?! If you want to rent a vehicle with a chauffeur, please be cautious with your things - just keep in the vehicle what you would like to lose! Like large bags/cases, you must keep them with a lock if you are leaving them alone with the rider.
I' m afraid my suggestion is not to rely on anyone, no matter how friendly they look. It was the second year that I rented a vehicle with a chauffeur - the first was in India and the chauffeur took my headlight which was at the bottom of my pocket and prepared for my walk in Nepal.