Hiring a driver

[MikeyD]

Has anyone hired a driver to drive their vehicle in the Cebu City area?  We have been taking taxis everywhere since arriving in late June and while inconvenient it hasn't been that costly but we are thinking about purchasing a vehicle at some point.  I have no desire to drive in or around Cebu City so we are wondering what the options are for hiring an individual or some sort of on call driver service to drive our vehicle for us and take us where we need to go as needed.  

[RobH]

Although I don't live in your area, this might help. The wife rings the local bus terminal/ garage, who always has a driver on rest days, this seems to work for us.

[Jollygoodfellow]

7 minutes ago, RobH said:

Although I don't live in your area, this might help. The wife rings the local bus terminal/ garage, who always has a driver on rest days, this seems to work for us.

Adding to that, I'm sure the bigger car and van rental places will hire out a driver for the OP

[hk blues]

Maybe just me, but I'm not sure I see the benefit of having a car and then paying someone on an ad-hoc basis to drive it around.  It seems that continuing to use taxis would be a better alternative.  If we are talking a full-time driver then I can see the point.   

[Sailor Jerry]

19 hours ago, MikeyD said:

Has anyone hired a driver to drive their vehicle in the Cebu City area?  We have been taking taxis everywhere since arriving in late June and while inconvenient it hasn't been that costly but we are thinking about purchasing a vehicle at some point.  I have no desire to drive in or around Cebu City so we are wondering what the options are for hiring an individual or some sort of on call driver service to drive our vehicle for us and take us where we need to go as needed.  

I tend to agree with @hk blues but with the suggestion on of obtaining a Grab account if you don't have one already @MikeyD. Went for holiday to Cebu City last year & found it very easy there. Just set up an account & load it now and again, is really convenient & super competitive in pricing per journey. I use Grab all through Asia but pay cash when not in Philippines. I just load thru my bank account online here.  Good Luck!

[BLM]

We hire a driver to drive our car if we travel to Manila, about a 2 to 3 hour drive. After doing business there or what ever, it usually takes most of the day. But for the local area, the wife drives. I was letting her get a lot of practice, and now she's the main driver all the time. I'm okay with sightseeing and staying out of any traffic "altercations". Using a driver for the local area would be too inconvenient, either picking up and dropping off the driver, or waiting for the driver to arrive, and don't forget "maryenda" for the driver. I'd stay with the taxi or Grab.

[JJReyes]

6 hours ago, hk blues said:

Maybe just me, but I'm not sure I see the benefit of having a car and then paying someone on an ad-hoc basis to drive it around.  It seems that continuing to use taxis would be a better alternative.  If we are talking a full-time driver then I can see the point.   

Taxis are iffy.  There is always the chance of getting a shabby vehicle and a shady driver.  What about an on-call service like Grub? 

Owning a vehicle and having a rotating group of drivers is problematic.  Might as well hire one full-time who comes to work six days a week.  

[Kingpin]

15 hours ago, JJReyes said:

What about an on-call service like Grub?

If that's anything like Grab, yes it's why nobody hires drivers anymore.

[hk blues]

15 hours ago, JJReyes said:

Taxis are iffy.  There is always the chance of getting a shabby vehicle and a shady driver.  What about an on-call service like Grub? 

Owning a vehicle and having a rotating group of drivers is problematic.  Might as well hire one full-time who comes to work six days a week.  

Maybe just a definition difference - to me, Grab is a taxi service.  

[MikeyD]

Just yesterday by chance we got a "premium taxi" instead of a regular one.  It was a SUV and very nice and a very good/professional type of driver (no erratic moves or racing around into oncoming traffic) but of course it cost more (meter starts at 60 PHP instead of 44 PHP).  My wife got his phone number and we used his service again today with good results.  I asked the driver what a full time (6 days a week) driver would cost in/around Cebu City and he said probably around 15000 PHP per month.  If we wind up purchasing a vehicle, we might try that for a while and see if we can get comfortable driving here over time.