Hiring a car with driver or renting a car up country. What are the options?

[OneMoreFarang]

The family of my gf is in Prachinburi. Normally she goes there with the bus or train. And maybe someone picks her up at the station or maybe she hires a motorcycle or pickup for the last kilometers when she arrives.

Until now that worked. Now her father is sick, and he needs to go several times a month to a hospital. Maybe he is in the hospital for a few hours, or maybe he is admitted. That is often not clear in advance.

If it is an emergency, then an ambulance picks him up. But the ambulance does not play taxi service for follow up visits - I understand that.

 

So what are the options now to transport him to the hospital?

The father and brother of my gf don't have a car, normally they don't need one. But for these trips it would be good to have a car.

Sometimes the neighbors have time, and they transport the father. And obviously they get paid of that. Ok.

But sometimes the neighbors don't have time. And then?

In Bangkok I would just take a taxi or Grab or whatever, but up country that is not so easy - at least that is what my gf tells me.

Do you know if services like that exist, where the taxi company or driver can be called, maybe he has to travel 20km to the village, and then he should drive to a hospital. And maybe stay there for hours and drive back to the village.

 

And how about hiring a car, with insurance? Do reliable car-rental companies like that exist up country? And do they maybe have a service to bring a car to the customer? Or does the customer has to go to the rental company to pick up the car?

 

Maybe all this is obvious to you. I am living in Bangkok and have little idea about life up country. And until now my gf also didn't need these services.

Thanks for any advice. 

 

 

[MrJ2U]

Perhaps you can work out an arrangement with a family in the village that has a car/truck to basically be on call for a few months.

 

Harvest season is coming to an end.  Some might like a little extra cash.

 

5,000-10,000 maybe plus gas a month.

 

Rent a car is another option of course. Monthly rentals are cheaper.

 

Sorry to hear about the illness. 

[Sparktrader]

Up country? Its 150km away. You must think CM is in Russia.

 

Hire a car by the month.

[Will B Good]

If you go with a driver, three things....

 

1. No mobile phone.

2. Compulsory break every two hours.

3. Driving licence and insurance all in order.

 

I nearly got out of a car halfway to Bangkok (once it had stopped) because the **** wouldn't put his phone away.

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, Will B Good said:

If you go with a driver, three things....

 

1. No mobile phone.

2. Compulsory break every two hours.

3. Driving licence and insurance all in order.

 

I nearly got out of a car halfway to Bangkok (once it had stopped) because the **** wouldn't put his phone away.

Thanks.

For clarification: The idea is to hire a (kind of) taxi or rent a car in that area and only use it in that area. The distance between the village and the hospital (the longest distance) is 70km.

We don't plan to use the car to drive to and from Bangkok, at least if we can avoid it.

[marin]

2 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Up country? Its 150km away. You must think CM is in Russia.

 

You really dont know the Thai saying "upcountry", been used since day one by Thais and farungs alike. Does not matter north south east or west. Just upcountry. ????

[Goat]

https://wcarrent.com/Car Rental Province/Prachinburi-Car-Rent.html 

[seedy]

I would be surprised if someone in your village, or the next one, would not be able and willing to provide the service.

Ours has 4 or 5 - that I know of, wife probably knows more.

 

[Lacessit]

It may be cheaper to buy an inexpensive small vehicle ( 80,000 - 100,000 baht ) so the relatives have certainty of transport. Presumably there would always be a neighbor to drive it.

The obvious solution is to get a taxi; however, that could get very expensive if the taxi driver has to wait around for a long time at the hospital.

[OneMoreFarang]

36 minutes ago, seedy said:

I would be surprised if someone in your village, or the next one, would not be able and willing to provide the service.

Ours has 4 or 5 - that I know of, wife probably knows more.

Thanks

Sometimes that works and this is how we (my gf) did this in the past.

But it seems now many people have older cars and not so much time and it is more difficult.

Let's see

[OneMoreFarang]

26 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

It may be cheaper to buy an inexpensive small vehicle ( 80,000 - 100,000 baht ) so the relatives have certainty of transport. Presumably there would always be a neighbor to drive it.

We thought about that.

I would be the person who buys that car. I can afford 100k, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some repairs, maybe a little accident and things like that.

I definitely prefer a per day or per trip deal.

[Lacessit]

47 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

We thought about that.

I would be the person who buys that car. I can afford 100k, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some repairs, maybe a little accident and things like that.

I definitely prefer a per day or per trip deal.

Perhaps your GF should talk to the Phu Yai, he will know neighbors who want work. There is always someone looking for work and money in a rural village.

[ed strong]

Not sure the relevance of the gf going home and the father needing transport to the hospital, anyways with that info.

 

Why doesn't the father juts get the bus or train as its only 1 km from the village, of course i guess he will need to be aided by would be easier to find someone to chaparone him as opposed to finding someone who drives or you have to hire a car (which seems a very expensive way to do it)

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, ed strong said:

Not sure the relevance of the gf going home and the father needing transport to the hospital, anyways with that info.

 

Why doesn't the father juts get the bus or train as its only 1 km from the village, of course i guess he will need to be aided by would be easier to find someone to chaparone him as opposed to finding someone who drives or you have to hire a car (which seems a very expensive way to do it)

There is no such bus.

There was a truck in the morning some time ago. But for a person who has difficulty to walk it is not a good idea to climb up a truck and sit there on the bench.

A car or pickup or van are the only options which make sense in this situation - even if they are a lot more expensive than a bus.

 

This is why I added a little more information so that people understand the situation.

[DJ54]

Have a look around the open air market which most villages have 3-4 a week. I’ve seen signs on poles near the market for transportation to and from town which i22 km RT. Maybe an ambulance service near the local hospital if available? … Good luck