Taxi Ripoffs

[StrayLight]

Last night I took a cab across Recoleta. The driver seemed a little confused about which way to go when I told him what I wanted, and when he turned the meter on, it started at some ridiculous fare...something like 49 centavos. Hmmmm, I thought, this is going to be interesting. I thought there was going to be some sort of scam.

So we got to the destination, and the meter was reading in the neighborhood of $2.60. When he looked up to tell me the fare, he was obviously surprised, and a little at a loss for words. Finally he told me the fare off the meter.

It was clear he wasn't trying to scam me, so I asked him if the meter was broken and if he would like some additional money. He was absolutely adamant that I only owed him what was on the meter, and he didn't want a centavo more.

That's more typical of my taxi experiences than the stuff I hear Sid describing.

[Jaimito Cartero]

My friend visiting a couple months back got handed a fake 50 while I was in the cab.

Other than that, I've been fairly treated, routed and "fared" in this city.

Well, if your friend got a fake fifty, he must have changed a $100P note with a cab, which is a big no-no.

I've had the friendly cabbie routine before a few years back, and I think he pulled the switch on me (the cab was dark) That's when I switched to having 10P bills and up my shirt pocket, and smaller stuff in my pants pocket. I'll always try to give exact change, as well.

[Hunt99]

I picked up a cab a couple months back near the US Embassy and needed a fast ride to the Brazillian Consulate before they closed at 1pm. Cabbie seemed a good guy, we talked about numerous things, told a few jokes and he was going a reasonable route. It's a fair distance.

Anyway, we arrive and are giving our salutations I handed him a 20 for about a 11p and change fare. As our conversation ended I was instructing him to just give me 8 pesos back as is norm for a prop. In loose change. Faster than I can blink and eye he showed me in his hand a 10p; I was taken back, slightly confused and at 5 minutes before 1pm I just got caught tongue tied. The fucker. I gave him a 2 spot and blasted out the cab. There's no question I gave him a 20. But I couldn't believe this guy and all his friendly bullshitting and then to pull that. So he got $5 out of me for a $2.75 fare.

I didn't follow one of those golden rules of always saying out loud how much you're handing the cabbie, cashier or anyone. But as I said this guy was a good talker and we had an interesting chat so my guard was down.

My friend visiting a couple months back got handed a fake 50 while I was in the cab.

Other than that, I've been fairly treated, routed and "fared" in this city.

When it comes to the value of the education you received, that experience was a true bargain, amigo. We should all be so fortunate.

[Tran Kilo]

I picked up a cab a couple months back near the US Embassy and needed a fast ride to the Brazillian Consulate before they closed at 1pm. Cabbie seemed a good guy, we talked about numerous things, told a few jokes and he was going a reasonable route. It's a fair distance.

Anyway, we arrive and are giving our salutations I handed him a 20 for about a 11p and change fare. As our conversation ended I was instructing him to just give me 8 pesos back as is norm for a prop. In loose change. Faster than I can blink and eye he showed me in his hand a 10p; I was taken back, slightly confused and at 5 minutes before 1pm I just got caught tongue tied. The fucker. I gave him a 2 spot and blasted out the cab. There's no question I gave him a 20. But I couldn't believe this guy and all his friendly bullshitting and then to pull that. So he got $5 out of me for a $2.75 fare.

I didn't follow one of those golden rules of always saying out loud how much you're handing the cabbie, cashier or anyone. But as I said this guy was a good talker and we had an interesting chat so my guard was down.

My friend visiting a couple months back got handed a fake 50 while I was in the cab.

Other than that, I've been fairly treated, routed and "fared" in this city.

[El Aleman]

At my experience, Buenos Aires is not the city of big taxi ripoffs, like for example Prague. I was nearly always taken to my destination on a reasonable route. I am however, able to tell the cabby in understandable Spanish where I want to go and am able to discuss alternatives, ánd I think I don't give the impression of being a tourist, but of having been in town for some time.

One thing to bear in mind is, due to the system of one way roads found in most parts of Buenoe Aires, it might require a considerable detour to reach a particular address - 2 to 3 blocks - if your destination street is opposite to your general direction of travel. For that reason, I always give a corner as my destination, except if it is raining cats and dogs or I have heavy luggage.

And I avoid taxies waiting "conveniently" in front of tourist attractions or expensive shoping malls, I think they might be more likely waiting for prey instead of customers than ones taken out of flowing traffic.

Just my 2 centavos.

El Alemán

[JengisKhan]

I have been here 2 years now, and take taxis everyday, probably about 1.5 on average per day. So thats about 1000 taxi rides, give or take. I have been given a fake 100 peso note once (or at least my girlfriend was while I was in the taxi) I had taxi driver in his 50s try to try to cheat me once with giving me the wrong change, and was taken a bad route maybe two or three times. So thats well under 1 percent.

I can imagine that if I didn't speak Spanish then maybe it would be about double that or more, but still a very small percentage of times. Taxi drivers here are for the most part honest.

[Jbrlovers]

Jackson,

I am one of those lazy SOBs that spends a lot of time in BA and other Spanish speaking cities but never took the time or efford to learn Spanish. However, I am not proud of this factor and now wish I had.

I have taken BA taxis for 5 years and to date do not feel I have ever been "taken for a ride". For the most part the route was always the same. On a few ocations I did question the route and was told in Spanish which I didn't understand there was a problem. But I did catch the idea when they said "mucho problemo". So I assumed there was a trafic problem. And in the end the charge was always about the same. So who cares? Considering they are generally driving at break neck speeds do anyone really think they are trying to rip you off? Come on now, it would be easier for them to just slow down than take a longer route. Being Americans we think everyone is trying to rip us off. And in most cases it's us who is trying to rip them off. My recommendation is just close your eyes, relax and enjoy the roller coster ride to your destination. JB.

Greetings everyone,

There are several routes I take consisently (Vicente Lopez to Excedra, Jumbo Palermo to Recoleta) and it's been my experience that the taxi drivers almost always ask me what route I want (Sante Fe or Avenida Liberator, for example)

Of course, if you pride yourself in not knowing any Spanish, then you might not know that they were asking if you had a preference. That way you can get all pissed off at them for taking the "wrong" route.

Additionally, I've often encountered situations wherein the taxi driver appeared to be taking me to my destination by the long route, but it's almost always because they were aware that there was some sort of traffic problem (usually a demonstration) that they wanted to avoid. For the skeptics, yes, I've often checked later and verified these occasional stories.

Of course, if you pride yourself in not knowing any Spanish, then you might not know that they were only trying to avoid traffic congestion. That way, you can get all pissed off because they were "taking you for a ride".

Finally, I can also recount the few incidences where the taxi driver forgot to turn on the meter. The few times this has happened, it was almost always happens when the taxi picked me up while sitting at a traffic light. Being the thieves that they are, they won't usually turn on the meter until the light changes, and then due to their attention being diverted by the traffic, they forgot to hit the switch on the meter. However, this has never been a problem because when we arrive at my destination I just give them a little less than I know the fare should be.

Of course, if you pride yourself in not knowing any Spanish, then you might not know that they were only asking you to pay them approximately what the fare would have been. Instead, you can get all pissed off because they deliberately tried to "rip you off".

Thanks,

Jackson

[Thomaso276]

Some issues to consider with Jackson's informative post that the average rider would not know but a cabbie with a radio might.

Lots of construction going on along July 9 that changes traffic patterns.

Lots of surprise pickets / demonstrations that shut down streets and change traffic patterns.

Serious accidents that change traffic patterns.

My taxi tips: wait for the newer undamaged cab - avoid the rolling wreck; check out the driver and take the grandfatherly type with a shirt and tie - avoid the slob who just got out of jail.

[Jackson]

Greetings everyone,

There are several routes I take consisently (Vicente Lopez to Excedra, Jumbo Palermo to Recoleta) and it's been my experience that the taxi drivers almost always ask me what route I want (Sante Fe or Avenida Liberator, for example)

Of course, if you pride yourself in not knowing any Spanish, then you might not know that they were asking if you had a preference. That way you can get all pissed off at them for taking the "wrong" route.

Additionally, I've often encountered situations wherein the taxi driver appeared to be taking me to my destination by the long route, but it's almost always because they were aware that there was some sort of traffic problem (usually a demonstration) that they wanted to avoid. For the skeptics, yes, I've often checked later and verified these occasional stories.

Of course, if you pride yourself in not knowing any Spanish, then you might not know that they were only trying to avoid traffic congestion. That way, you can get all pissed off because they were "taking you for a ride".

Finally, I can also recount the few incidences where the taxi driver forgot to turn on the meter. The few times this has happened, it was almost always happens when the taxi picked me up while sitting at a traffic light. Being the thieves that they are, they won't usually turn on the meter until the light changes, and then due to their attention being diverted by the traffic, they forgot to hit the switch on the meter. However, this has never been a problem because when we arrive at my destination I just give them a little less than I know the fare should be.

Of course, if you pride yourself in not knowing any Spanish, then you might not know that they were only asking you to pay them approximately what the fare would have been. Instead, you can get all pissed off because they deliberately tried to "rip you off".

Thanks,

Jackson

[StrayLight]

I have noticed from time to time that when I give the destination, the cabbie will offer the route he will take, or offer a choice of routes. Not often, but sometimes.

Same here.

[El Perro]

I have noticed from time to time that when I give the destination, the cabbie will offer the route he will take, or offer a choice of routes. Not often, but sometimes.

[Jaimito Cartero]

I got taken for a ride in Manila a couple of weeks ago. Took an hour for what should have been a 20 minute ride. I paid an enormous $5 fare.

If you knowingly let Taxi's rip you off, you're only empowering them to try to get more from the next guy. I don't care if it's going the long way, refusing to turn the meter on, or trying to give you counterfeit money. Same as letting chicas put on over on you.

[Ben There]

I am in tourism and I travel a great deal for work and I bring in 1000's of tourists a year. When I coach people about travel and on my experiences, one of my rule of thumbs is to believe you are not going to get a fair fare. Its just not going to happen unless you have lived a long time in a particular city and you know it well. Even if you use the meter and you have a command of the language, you don't know the streets, the shortcuts. I plan on knowing I will not get a fair ride (I don't agree to getting scammed or ripped off) but an inflated ride. Sure. If you let go of the notion that you might loose an extra buck here or there or sometimes 5, your piece of mind is better.

[BA Luvr]

Or Beijing, or Rome, etc. etc.

[Jaimito Cartero]

I posted about this many months ago. My last time at Madahos, we drove a normal 5 peso ride. He demanded 50 pesos. The chica, agressively demanded that I pay him. I sent them away!

Did you ask for the meter to be turned on? If the meter doesn't go on (or a relatively low negotiated rate offered) then I'm out of the cab. It's the same in BA, CGK, or NYC.