Tips for car rental:
1. The Toyota 4500 is a very good choice for the Tibet travel. It is reliable. Because you will need to drive your car in a place with the altitude of more than 4000 meters, the reliability is a critial factor for your car. Another advantage of Toyota 4500 is the comfortability. You will need to sit in it for a long time and most road here in Tibet are the mountain roads.
2. The best place to rent a car is the Tibetan travel agency. All rental car owners running the car rental business in Tibet need to establish a relationship with a Tibetan travel agency. For the prices, there is no big gaps between different agencies and you don’t need to put much effort in bargaining. There are also some private car rental providers in the travel agencies and they are another choice for your car rental in Tibet. They are also good car rental services providers but you will need to be more careful about the details of your car rental contract.
3. The contract is very important for your car rental in Tibet. If you wanna share the rental car with other people, you will need to get one contract for every individual.
4. Now the Tibetan travel agencies have more Toyota 4500 than before. The price for 4500 is also lower than last year. You can bargain with the travel agency and try to get a better deal if you are good at bargaining. Usually there are two kinds of options for car rental: (1). Price based on the distance.(About 3-5 rmb/kilometre) (2). Price based on the time. (About 500-600 rmb / day )
5. The Tibetan travel agency will ask you to pay some deposit first. You will need to check the condition of the car carefully. The car is ok to run with 300 or 400 thousand kilometres but this kind of car will not be a very good choice for your Lhasa travel or Tibet travel. You will need to check the condition of the 4 runner too. If your 4500 do not have the 4 runner, you will be in big trouble when your car is stuck in the muddy road. Another thing you will need to check is the engine, some one once rented a Toyota 4500 from a Tibetan travel agency and found out that the 4500’s engine had been replaced !!
6. You must ask the Tibetan travel agency to put some comments about the trip adjusting because your trip will probably be changed. The contract should include the details about this trip changing.
7. You do not need to pay a 100% deposit for your car rental in Tibet. 50% is enough and you can pay the other half when you are back to Lhasa. (Good news for your Lhasa travel or Tibet travel)
Car rental prices: (From Xinlvcheng Travel Agency, Tibet)
Toyota 4500 : 4 rmb/kilometre (April), 4 rmb/kilometre(May), 4.5 rmb/kilometre(June), 4.5 rmb/kilometre(July), 4.5 rmb/kilometre(August), 5 rmb/kilometre(September), 4 rmb/kilometre(October), 4 rmb/kilometre(November).
Haishi (11 seats) : 3.5 rmb/kilometre (April), 3.5 rmb/kilometre(May), 4 rmb/kilometre(June), 4 rmb/kilometre(July), 4 rmb/kilometre(August), 4 rmb/kilometre(September), 3.5 rmb/kilometre(October), 3.5 rmb/kilometre(November).
Toyota COASTER(19 seats) : 3 rmb/kilometre (April), 3.5 rmb/kilometre(May), 3.5 rmb/kilometre(June), 4 rmb/kilometre(July), 4 rmb/kilometre(August), 4 rmb/kilometre(September), 4 rmb/kilometre(October), 3.5 rmb/kilometre(November).
Toyota COASTER(23 seats) : 4.5 rmb/kilometre (April), 4.5 rmb/kilometre(May), 4.5 rmb/kilometre(June), 5.5 rmb/kilometre(July), 5.5 rmb/kilometre(August), 5.5 rmb/kilometre(September), 5.5 rmb/kilometre(October), 4.5 rmb/kilometre(November).
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