At Work they would reimburse for a month of cab rental but didn't use that. Funny, found it not as convenient as we thought. Called one of the rental agencies - you can book them now by called a help center with numbers 22222222 or 44444444. But, they need at least several hours of advance notice, if you call two hours in-advance, you get the standard answer that 'no taxies are available in that area, sir!'. I doubt they even check their system before giving the pre-canned response. Called another agency that does work rentals and even they needed advance booking on a daily basis, which was not convenient as well.
Fortunately, one of my collegue was going to work on the same area and offered ride along with him until we have the car. Bit of a walk for a common place for pick-up and bit of walk to the apartment from drop off location to home in the evening. Thanks to him, who is an R2I by himself, got lots of fundas on settling down as well, which was quite useful. Being a R2I, he could articulate the issues I would run into and possible way outs.
Driver salary ranges
It was not that difficult to get a driver for the car, again thanks to the apartment setting, where you can post looking for a driver post and somebody will respond. Called few other drivers referred by my friend from another apartment - the salary ranges were high, in the range of Rs. 8000 - 9000, with extra pay for Saturday work and Sunday being off. Finally, settled for a driver, who was ok with a salary of Rs. 7,500, including Saturday work and car wash etc. He didn't know much about Bangalore roads but since I had good amount of exposure to Bangalore geography, wasn't a big concern. Google map can navigate on a Bangalore address these days does help as well!
Option of company lease: Saves on taxes
This is an option I didn't consider but could work out - if you go for car lease with company financing, the interest payments are tax deductible and that could add up. Don't think it works out lot cheaper since the interest payments are pretty high on the lease, in the range of 17%. Whatever savings you have on taxes will get paid on the interest payments. Car dealer can work out the details and can show the difference. To do this, they need a copy of company Id card and the usual other papers like the PAN card, address proof etc.
Fortunately, one of my collegue was going to work on the same area and offered ride along with him until we have the car. Bit of a walk for a common place for pick-up and bit of walk to the apartment from drop off location to home in the evening. Thanks to him, who is an R2I by himself, got lots of fundas on settling down as well, which was quite useful. Being a R2I, he could articulate the issues I would run into and possible way outs.
Driver salary ranges
It was not that difficult to get a driver for the car, again thanks to the apartment setting, where you can post looking for a driver post and somebody will respond. Called few other drivers referred by my friend from another apartment - the salary ranges were high, in the range of Rs. 8000 - 9000, with extra pay for Saturday work and Sunday being off. Finally, settled for a driver, who was ok with a salary of Rs. 7,500, including Saturday work and car wash etc. He didn't know much about Bangalore roads but since I had good amount of exposure to Bangalore geography, wasn't a big concern. Google map can navigate on a Bangalore address these days does help as well!
Option of company lease: Saves on taxes
This is an option I didn't consider but could work out - if you go for car lease with company financing, the interest payments are tax deductible and that could add up. Don't think it works out lot cheaper since the interest payments are pretty high on the lease, in the range of 17%. Whatever savings you have on taxes will get paid on the interest payments. Car dealer can work out the details and can show the difference. To do this, they need a copy of company Id card and the usual other papers like the PAN card, address proof etc.
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