How To Avoid Taxi Cab Rip Offs
August 4, 2008 by Susan
If you’re like me, there’s always an unsettling feeling when you hop into a taxi cab that you’ll be taken “for a ride” on a convoluted route to your destination just to bump up the fare. Here are some basic taxi cab safety tips to avoid this situation:
#1. Do Your Homework. Before venturing off to a new city, check to see how much cab fares should be. There’s a terrific internet site built just for this purpose. WorldTaxiMeter.com makes it easy to enter a destination, then two prominent points within the city (Logan Airport to City Hall Plaza for instance), and the time of day. The site will deliver an estimated fare, the amount of time it should take to make the trip, and a map of the suggested route. It even makes allowances for traffic, airport surcharges, and calculates an average gratuity. And there’s more, the names and phone numbers of reputable taxi companies are listed. This is an awesome site. If you’re at an airport and can’t check online, stop by the Travelers Information Desk and ask them how much an average fare into the city should be.
#2. Whenever possible call ahead for a cab so you’ll have control over which cab company will be driving you and have contact information if something goes wrong. If you need to flag a taxi in the city, walk to the nearest hotel and have the doorman secure a cab for you.
#3. Ask “how much?” BEFORE you get into the cab. This can be accomplished by opening the front passenger door, and asking how much is it from here to there. If the price seems too high, you can say “no, that’s too much, I was expecting it to be $____, and go from there.
#4. Make sure the meter gets reset to ’0′, so you’re not paying for extra money on the meter. Some cities have a basic pick up fee on the meter – ask about it before the cab departs.
#5. Ask for a receipt before exiting of the cab. Take a moment to jot down the cab ID number and the driver’s name. This way you’ll have the company information and the cab ID in case you need to file a complaint – or if you’ve inadvertently left something behind.
Do you have some taxi tips you always use? Share them with us in the comments!
Yes, the same problem is in Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport. This taxi compagnie is good and there are fixed prices to Amsterdam. http://www,goedkoopnaarschiphol.nl
I recently go ripped by a cab driver in Las Vegas. Their favorite scam it to suggest that you take the freeway to avoid traffic. From the strip to the airport this adds about $15. A cabbie told me that if this happens to write down the cabbie’s license number and the cab company. File a complaint with the cab regulatory agency. In Las Vegas you will get the cab fee refunded and the cabbie will get fined. Probably works in other cities as well.
I got into a suspicious cab once in Thailand. The driver refused to use the meter because he claimed it was broken even though it looked like it worked. He also wouldn’t tell me how much he would charge me for the ride until after the ride was over. Needless to say, I found a different taxi that used the meter.