Never use a taxi if it can be avoided. Taxis are cheap and plentiful here but the drivers are basically unscrupulous con men.....especially the older grandpa types. The transport system is quite extensive here and the metro is quick and cheap. If you live here, you should be using public transport the vast majority of the time anyway. Taxi drivers here eyeball Gringos the same way a cheetah does a gazelle.
If you must use a taxi, then follow my Rules of Engagement:
- Get in the back.
- Immediately check the taxi for two things:
- The meter starts at $200
- The receipt machine is working, i.e. has paper in it. It may be a good idea to inform the driver that you'll be expecting a boleta at the end of the trip. This little snippet of information gives the driver a heads up that you are perhaps not one to be meddled with.
- If either of these things are not as they seem, stop the cab, get out and get another one.
- Beforehand, have a general idea of the route you want to go. Make yourself aware of the main thoroughfare you should be using.
- If your final destination is a little obscure don't tell the driver. Give him the name of the main junction that you want to go to.
- As a Gringo, they will feign ignorance of the route. If you're as lucky as me to have a very detailed, pocket-sized A-Z, this is the moment to whip it out.
- If the driver starts talking to you it's not because he is being nice. He is sussing you out and probably trying to lure you into a false sense of security. Talk to him by all means but never laugh or smile. This is a sign of weakness on your part and he WILL try to rip you off.
- Keep your mind on the job.....getting to your destination. Do not allow the driver to distract you. Phrases in Spanish like 'Was that blah, blah we just passed?' and 'Turn right at the next set of lights' will let the driver know that your mind is on one thing only.
- If you are travelling with luggage make sure you have everything by your side and you are outside the cab. This puts you in a stronger position if there you think you should be contesting the fare.
- Don't tip the driver unless he does something extra like carry all your stuff to and/or from the cab. Round up to the nearest $100 by all means but leave it at that.
- Ask for and insist on a boleta.
- Telling you a metro station is closed so he can take you to your final destination.
- Similarly, blah, blah road is closed because of an accident. This allows him to take a longer and more lucrative route
- The $5000 note shuffle. This is where your fare is about $2500 - $3500. You hand over a $5000 note and quick as a flash he shows you that you only gave him a $2000 note. You apologise and proffer another $5000 note (and probably foolishly tip him). He gets away with this because you always pay the driver over his right shoulder. In his lap (out your line of vision) he swaps the notes at lightening speed. The deftness he displays leaves you doubting yourself and believing him. This trick is usually played on green Gringos who have just arrived at the airport and changed a load of money leaving them with a pocketful of foreign looking bills.
- Charging you extra for using the motorway. The big ring road around Santiago is a toll road. There aren't toll booths. Vehicles accumulate charges via a little box installed in the car. When you pass through a charge zone, the box beeps and a toll is added to the drivers account which they pay at the end of the month. Taxi drivers here will try to pass this cost onto passengers. They cannot. It is illegal to do so.
- Charging you for drop-offs. At night when you and your buddies share a cab home, as people get out they give money to whomever will be last out of the cab. The driver will try to insist on the money be given to him so that he can reset the meter. Tell him that he's full of crap and to get a move on. A no-nonsense approach is the only way to deal with these parasites and Chileans in general.
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Good tips. My gf usually tells them which street to follow, but not the final destination, she never have any more talk with them, and they never really know when the ride will end, until she says "Ok, next corner please".
She started this after being charged like 5 different amounts of cash for the same route.
Many of the tricks you pointed are used with fellow chileans too. xD
A good tip for women travelling alone might be to crack the door open before they pay. Three years ago a taxi driver locked the doors and told me it was for my safety then he charged me 20,000 pesos for a 2,000 pesos trip useing a variety of tricks and scams.
Wow, you certainly have had some bad luck! I've been scammed a couple times, but that would be only a very small percentage of the rides.
ONe time while out with a group of gringa friends (all long time residents) a driver tried to charge us an exorbitant fare and one friend used a great tactic. She said no, that she would pay x, and if he didn't like it, he could call the carabineros to sort it out... it worked pretty darned fast.
I haven't been scammed for much myself. I reckon some drivers have gotten a few hundred extra pesos out of me by taking longer routes.
That's not to say that they don't try it. I rarely take taxis and when I do the driver is clear that I'm a no shit-taking Gringo.
The scams and tips I've listed are based on extensive research!
It's a shame because the taxi drivers of a city are a vital link between the tourist and the natives. Well, at least in the numerous places I've lived in anyway.
I have to say though, and perhaps Marmo can back this up, outside of Santiago, taxi drivers are not scam artists and are excellent sources of information. Like they should be.
Shark, I can't back the "cab drivers are honest elsewhere" line. Cab drivers the world over are rip off artists...Not all of them you understand, just enough so that you can never trust one. I wrote a piece on it once. In Santiago, though, I once had a cab driver drive seven times around a roundabout, just blatantly, and after a bunch of other tricks, and expected me to pay.
All those tricks you mention are out of the Cabbies RipOff Handbook. They ain't special to Santiago....which, thankfully, is thousands of miles behind me now.
Keep 'em flying.
As Shark said, elsewhere in Chile things seem to be different.
In Santiago, Transantiago fares go from 380 to 450 clp, and a cab is a reasonable substitute for micros, especially if you´re with a friend and the cost of the taxi can be the same o little more to get to the nearest metro station.
In my case, taking a taxi is better than wait for the micro, to get to Tobalaba or Los Leones, if I´m with my girlfriend.
Meanwhile, in other chilean cities, micros and colectivos can cover almost any need; taxis are often in parking lots, and never go through the city without passengers, as they do in Santiago.
So, when a taxi driver outside Santiago gets a passenger, they are rather happy, and try to help you in any way they can, because their service is more expensive and have less passengers comparatively, than their Santiago counterparts.
The $5000 note shuffle.
Yes, this happened to me (though not with a $5,000 note)about five years ago when I was a Uni student in Santiago.
The guy does his magic, then looks at me like I'm crazy when I call him on it.
He's holding the new bill, so I grab that money from him.
Not expecting this, he starts driving back down the road, telling me that he is going to "take me back to where he found me".
Not wanting to "go back" to get murdered, raped, or whatever he thought was gonna happen, I did what any sensible person would do...I opened the door, rolled out of the taxi, and walked back to my apartment.
I think he thought he would be able to intimidate me.
Not exactly a story to write home to Mom about, but it gets the point across.
wonderful and very useful story would consider to share your experiences like this one, with hundred of people?
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