Car Rental Ubon Ratchathani

[rushdentillidie]

Good afternoon,

Has anybody got any experience with car rentals in Ubon. We will be travelling there next month for 5 days to visit my girlfriends family. We will be flying to Ubon, but looking on the internet i have not been able to find many company's that offer cars in the area. As for the car we only require a small to mid size car with air-con.

So if anybody as any recomendations, or has done this before it would be a great help.

I also hold a full UK licence, and know that i need to get a international driving permit. But has anybody got any further advice on driver in thailand and the best precautions to take, i know that it is good practice to photo copy all documents ad things like this.

Thank you for you help.

Regards

[tc2846]

Suggest you try Thaivisa car hire. They list Ubon airport as a pick up and drop off point.

As for driving make sure you have all your documents in order and expect the unexpected.

Good luck to you.

[lockman]

Good afternoon,

Has anybody got any experience with car rentals in Ubon. We will be traveling there next month for 5 days to visit my girlfriends family. We will be flying to Ubon, but looking on the internet i have not been able to find many company's that offer cars in the area. As for the car we only require a small to mid size car with air-con.

So if anybody as any recommendations, or has done this before it would be a great help.

I also hold a full UK license, and know that i need to get a international driving permit. But has anybody got any further advice on driver in Thailand and the best precautions to take, i know that it is good practice to photo copy all documents ad things like this.

Thank you for you help.

Regards

We rented a car from Budget at the airport a couple years ago, no problems at all, and had it well past the return date; and returned it to a different location, not even a surcharge for that. If you need a number PM me.

[GungaDin]

Drive on eggshells, mate.

Make sure you have 1st class insurance.

If a car flashes his headlights, he will not give way... the opposite to the meaning in the UK.There is very little courtesy on the roads in Thailand.

Good luck, and be very, very careful.

[jamesd]

Good afternoon,

Has anybody got any experience with car rentals in Ubon. We will be travelling there next month for 5 days to visit my girlfriends family. We will be flying to Ubon, but looking on the internet i have not been able to find many company's that offer cars in the area. As for the car we only require a small to mid size car with air-con.

So if anybody as any recomendations, or has done this before it would be a great help.

I also hold a full UK licence, and know that i need to get a international driving permit. But has anybody got any further advice on driver in thailand and the best precautions to take, i know that it is good practice to photo copy all documents ad things like this.

Thank you for you help.

Regards

Try First Asia Car Rentals, FirstAsiaCar.com , they have very good all-inclusive rates and operate all over Thailand including Ubon Ratchathani.

[waza]

Have a look on http://www.weloveubon.com/..........PS: be aware that this week all flights are full and this weekend most Ubon hotel are booked out. I have been trying to get a room for a friend.

Edited September 14, 2009 by waza

[SantiSuk]

I thoroughly recommend Budget and Thaivisa's sponsor as a way of getting cars from Budget much cheaper (about 30% less). I have used Budget at Ubon airport every other month for the last 3 years and they have never let me down and will change cars at the drop of a hat if you don't like them.

I would encourage you to get the full insurance for peace of mind.

I find that a small car like a Honda Jazz is fine for Ubon's roads, but if you want to fit in with the locals (and have a bit of fun cos the family and friends will all jump in the back, hire an even less expensive basic 2.5 Toyota Vigo pickup - go on they are pretty easy to drive and the rear two seats are useable for trips of less than 100 kiloms for a Westerner and 20,000 kiloms for a Thai (!) I alternate between Jazz's and Vigos and hire an occasional Commuter 12 seater minibus when taking the family on a road trip.

Ubon province has mostly very good roads and English signs. Thais drive on the left bless them!

Get the ThinkNet map of NorthEastern Thailand at any good bookshop here for 120 baht (that price is 2 years old so may be 150 by now). Stanfords in London curiously fails to supply decent scale Thai maps.

As long as you are well briefed on the idiosyncrasies of Thailand driving you should have no worries. My tips would be:

* Don't drive too fast - on roads going through villages slow down to 50 kph - dogs, children and assorted farm animals will assail you. Same applies to rural roads where there is farm traffic, pedestrians or motorcycles.

* On fast dual carriageway roads (well you are a Brit so you understand that curiously old fashioned description) you can safely drive at 140kph but keep 100 or 200 baht available for the BIB (boys in brown = cops). They hide on the fastest and safest stretches of roads to collect money. Unless you are in a hurry best to treat 110 kph as tops.

* At dusk (particularly dangerous) and after dark be very careful not to run into unlit farm tractor trailers - a meccano-like contraption that struggles along at 5mph and crazily are permitted to not have lights (so they never do).

* When approaching motorcycles expect them to swing out violently with no warning because of some pothole in the road. If you are on a smaller road or pothole it makes sense to honk as you approach

* A single short honk on a horn is polite in Thailand to tell someone of your approach. Long angry blasts are not (but oh how I long to use them all the time!). Use the short bip on the horn a lot.

* When approaching dogs adjust your speed to be able to stop if necessary. They are stupid and untrained and will dart across the road or stop midstream or suddenly turn back into the road when you think they are walking off the tarmac. I have killed two in 3 years here - one before I knew these rules (i.e. my fault - I was driving at 80 kph on a four lane road but through a small town; had I been at 60 the dog would have lived) and one last night which I could do nothing about. It suddenly appeared in the headlights and froze. I was not about to swerve and risk all my Thai family of 11!

* On no account swerve for an animal. Thais expect their animals to get killed. They must do - I see them laugh when their own dogs chase out into the road to bark at vehicles. Sorry - I am very jaundiced after last night's experience.

* Cows are tethered by the road, but often their leads are long enough to allow them to get into the centre of the road and they are taken care of by half-wits who will beat one that does, thus causing all the others to break away into the road. Give cows a very careful watch on approach and a wide berth or slow to a crawl.

* When overtaking at speed, watch the car you are about to overtake carefully - if it is old and is moving toward the centre of the road it is possibly about to turn right in front of you and has no indicator signals working or will use them at the very last minute. If in any doubt give them a long blast on the horn (b*gger protocol!) and a long headlight flash or slow down to overtake with great care.

* Do not expect Thais to use indicators well before any maneuver (or at all)

* As already said Thais use the headlight main beam to signal - 'get out of the way I am not going to stop'

* Get over the fact that Thais are incredibly rude and sometimes aggressive when in their cars (less so on the aggression in Ubon province, but Bangkok??!!) - you will be amazed at the myth of the smiley Thai when you see their driving. They will drive you insane if you cannot control your induced road rage!

* Be your normal polite British driver and have a laugh at the incredulity shown on Thai driver's faces when you stop to let them in or the look of utter disbelief on a pedestrian's face if you stop at a pedestrian crossing (why do they waste the paint?). Actually I think the look is tinged with scepticism that says 'you are going to rev up and run me over aren't you if I put a foot onto this crossing'

* Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate

Driving, believe it or not, is actually good fun in Thailand - because of all the very obstacles I have described. After a long safe trip you can congratulate yourself on a job well done - which is possibly what I was doing at the end of a 2,000 kilom road trip to Chiang Mai with full family onboard said Budget Ubon Commuter minibus when i ran down the dog 30 kilos from home. I did have full insurance which will have saved me about 10,000 baht, which is little comfort. Life sucks sometimes.

Edited to add - oh and of course elephants don't have lights either. I've seen a few of those being ridden along Issan roads including one last night - and they are not even native of these parts.

Edited September 14, 2009 by SantiSuk

[SantiSuk]

Have a look on http://www.weloveubon.com/..........PS: be aware that this week all flights are full and this weekend most Ubon hotel are booked out. I have been trying to get a room for a friend.

Out of interest Waza, do you know why that is - candle festival was 2 months ago - is there some special religious festival about that is bringing all the workers back from Bangkok and Pattaya?

It also explains why I cannot change my hired minivan back down to a smaller car to save some fuel.

Edited September 14, 2009 by SantiSuk

[GungaDin]

Santisuk

Good tips,

thank you

[rushdentillidie]

Thank you for all the repolys.

I am sure that if i follow all the advice we will be fine, i have driven in many other countrys before in Europe, but i dont feel that will be much help here lol. It's just when you read a few posts and articals on the internet they paint a bad picture of driving standards in thailand. But for a place like Ubon i feel that it is the best way for transport and getting around.

Regards

[UbonTaz]

If you want to rent and drive yourself then Budget might be the way to go here.

If you want a driver who knows the area then I would recommend Chow Watana.

Last weekend there was a regional seminar/workshop for Thai High School teachers in Ubon.

There should be plenty of air tickets and hotel rooms available here according to what I have been told and observations.

[waza]

Have a look on http://www.weloveubon.com/..........PS: be aware that this week all flights are full and this weekend most Ubon hotel are booked out. I have been trying to get a room for a friend.

Out of interest Waza, do you know why that is - candle festival was 2 months ago - is there some special religious festival about that is bringing all the workers back from Bangkok and Pattaya?

It also explains why I cannot change my hired minivan back down to a smaller car to save some fuel.

Ther tourist slump and mothers day I think. Plus their was a low profile royal visit around that time.