Question Are You Tired of the Taxi Ripoff?

[living4experiences]

I've just arrived in Cozumel and have been ripped off four times by taxi drivers! I thought I did enough due diligence to be informed about what I should be paying from point A to point B, but the taxi Mafia has little care about adhering to their rules. The first three drivers refused to provide me the rate card. The fare should have been 260 pesos from Casa Mexicana to Iberostar. The first two drivers quoted 350 pesos to which I countered with the correct fare. The price was lowered to 300 pesos. Once I mentioned I wanted to see the rate card, they all of a sudden didn't understand what I was talking about. I walked away and headed down the road on foot to catch another taxi. Driver number three said 300 pesos and also refused to provide the rate card. Now I was running out of time to get to my destination, so I paid the $300 pesos.

Coming back from iberostar, with no option, I was forced to pay the $300 pesos from Iberostar to Casa Mexicana. Once we arrived, I waited till my stuff was out of the van and then I asked the driver for his rate card, to which he did not know what I was talking about. I then typed the question into Google Translate and showed it to him. He looked dumbfounded and wouldn't answer, even seeing the question in his own language. I then went to the front of the van and took a picture of his license plate. He conveniently found a rate card. This rate card was in USD for cruise ship passengers only, for transportation from the International and Punta Langosta Piers. It occurred to me now that the drivers are charging regular tourists the cruise ship passenger rates all the time. This was not a zone rate card and it was not in Spanish or Pesos. When I asked to take a photo of the rate card, he refused. Now I'm angry and telling him that by law he needs to show it to me. He finally let me get a photo, but he didn't make it easy and wouldn't let me touch it. He says that Casa Mexicana is at Punta Langosta Pier. So somehow that means I'm a cruise ship passenger?

I would be interested to know what the community here does in these situations in Cozumel. Besides taking a picture of the license plate, what other photos should one gather in the event of filing a formal complaint? I'm not saying I would take time from my vacation to do so, but this might be enough of an intimidation to the driver that I'm not a customer that will be taken advantage of.

I'm thinking that Maybe I should just get in the cab, knowing the price, and pay it at the destination. If he has a problem with it, then that would be another issue.

 

[loady]

I

Brazil and many places are infamous notorius for constant crime. I don’t accept it and try to get robbed. I reject the culture of crime and stay crime free. Respecting a culture doesn’t mean being a victim. Unless Stockholm syndrome is involved. Does that make me an ugly American? Listen I applaud your wealth and generosity. All of us are not so lucky as you. We don’t want to pay Florida or Hawaii or fiji prices in Mexico.

If we have no or low expectations we will never be disappointed. I dove Honduras and Thailand and Mexico when they were cheap. Not cheap now. I have higher expectations.

 

[loady]

You would be wasting your time being sad for me. The aggravation of arguing over a buck or two with a taxi driver far outweighs the pain of the "shakedown", especially when I am on vacation. Principle be damned; I am there to relax and have a good time, not to get into altercations over trivialities. YMMV, but I am not going to sweat the small stuff.

That said, though, I know what the fares are for most of the taxi trips I take on the island, so at the end of the ride I hand the taxista the correct fare (in pesos - as we all know that makes a big difference), I say "gracias", and I get out.

In answer to the question posed by the thread title, what I am tired of is all the complaining about this. We all know what to expect by now, and we all know strategies to minimize it without getting confrontational about it. Some people seem to enjoy being angry; I am not one of them.

You pay less than the taxista is charging so you rip him off? I thought their country their rules? Which is it? You mean your rules?

 

[loady]

Just returned from the island and we used the moto taxis several times. I did not notice anything about roof colors, but they are not allowed on Melgar and one moto driver said he was not allowed to take us even though we were out on Av 30. It was fairly easy to flag one down east of Melgar by just a block or two.

I communicated with one driver multiple times via What's App and arranged rides. We would walk from Blue Angel to the car ferry and turn up calle 31 where he or his wife would meet us. That was also where he would drop us off. Prices were about 1/3 of taxi fares. I paid $80 MX to go from El Moro to the ferry drop off point. Shorter rides such as going to Ruta 25 or Tzalam were $40MX.

These are motorcycles? Can they carry one to 2 passengers with luggage?

 

[loady]

Private vehicles are banned from picking up at airport. Millionaires and sycophants didn’t care.

 

[ggunn]

First visit in 2005. Please post a log of your trips to coz. The last 50 years will do.

OK, let's see... My first trip to Cozumel was in 1978 and I went sporadically until 1987, which was my first time spending at least a couple of weeks on the island every year except 2020. But that's only 47 years, so sorry.

 

[ggunn]

Private vehicles are banned from picking up at airport.

Not for residents, but as I said, the shuttle is fine with me.

 

[ggunn]

You pay less than the taxista is charging so you rip him off? I thought their country their rules? Which is it? You mean your rules?

Sorry, I have no idea what you mean by that. I get along just fine with Cozumel taxi drivers.

 

[loady]

OK, let's see... My first trip to Cozumel was in 1978 and I went sporadically until 1987, which was my first time spending at least a couple of weeks on the island every year except 2020. But that's only 47 years, so sorry.

So as a baby boomer you agree with me that cruise ships have ruined Cozumel and costs are out of control. Including cab fares.

 

[ggunn]

So as a baby boomer you agree with me that cruise ships have ruined Cozumel and costs are out of control. Including cab fares.

God, I hate that term.

Cruise ships have damaged the vibe of Cozumel, that's true enough, but their effects are not that hard to avoid. Cruseros by and large do not go to restaurants in the evenings, they don't stay in hotels, and most of them do not dive or go fishing, so all I have to do to avoid them is stay out of the center of town during the day.

Everything is more expensive everywhere in the world and Cozumel is no exception; "out of control" implies that costs have ever been "in control" by anything.

I do not give a FF at a rolling donut about cab fares and taxi union policies on Cozumel. All the whining about getting "ripped off" and "extorted" for a dollar or two on what is really a pretty cheap cab ride is much ado about nothing. The most expensive cab ride I can remember from my trip there last month was 400 pesos to get seven of us from Blue Angel to Casa Mission. That works out to be about US$3.17 per person.

By the way, and as has been said in here many, many times, if you pay for taxis in US$ instead of pesos, you can expect cab rides to be a bit more expensive.

 

[BRT]

First visit in 2005. Please post a log of your trips to coz. The last 50 years will do.

First visit in 1996