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.

 

[mstevens]

I am done. I am signing off and going to leave it to folks like Gordon who know it all, so that they can do a better job than I do to help you.

Ric, it grieves me to read this.

People pay me really good money for medical advice, then quite a lot of them argue that they know more than I do and ignore that advice. This is often to their detriment. Sure, it's my job and I can't really tell them all to bugger off (at least not for a little while yet...) and as you must be painfully aware, nobody's paying you for all your information here or on your website. Ignoring your input is to people's detriment whether they realize it or not.

Please be aware that there are those who deeply appreciate the insights and information you've provided here and would greatly miss it if you were to fall silent.

 

[mstevens]

why, if the all-knowing El Graduado says a taxi ride costs $105 pesos, and has since 2016, I paid only 70-100 pesos?

You are, for some reason, the one person who has been undercharged. I've never heard of this from anyone else. Perhaps the driver was experiencing a neurological event.

Why, if it really is such a clear-cut answer, can you not find these rates easily and consistently?

Because the taxistas do not want you to see the chart.

Why, if you do a Google search, do you come up with a bunch of photos of rate charts posted (edited to: at the ferry) that contradict the prices on El Graduado’s web page?

Because people are idiots? Ric is one of the few people who can walk into the taxi syndicate office and get them to hand him a rate chart. As his website explains, rates are different at the taxi stands at the ferry and at Chedrauí.

Why are there so many posts of people on here complaining about not being able to see a rate card and getting into arguments with taxistas?

You already asked this. It's because the taxistas do not want you to see the chart.

Ok rick, you clearly know it all.

I've only lived on the island for 12 years. Compared to me, he certainly does know it all. When he was at my place for burgers my local best friend was hanging on his every word as he was talking about things my buddy never even heard about growing up here. I wouldn't be surprised if he lived on the island before you were born.

How far does that attitude get you in Mexico?

Really, really far.

You remind me of the medical student who misquoted my own textbook at me, even when the resident pulled him aside to make sure he knew what was going on (and that I'd be grading him). Unlike me, Ric can't make you repeat a required 3-month rotation. Instead, it sounds as if he's decided to stop bothering to put up with this sort of nonsense.

 

[mstevens]

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

This is not true. Businesses are not permitted to pick people up at the airport. Private vehicles do it all day, every day. Ever notice that little parking area across the street from the terminal? That's where we park our car when we drive to the airport to pick people up.

 

[ggunn]

Ric, it grieves me to read this.

Yo tambien. That barb that he threw at me was undeserved. I never claimed to know more about Cozumel than he does and I have always been civil in my discussions with him.

 

[Shawn C]

Just talk with a local about their feelings on this matter! Unless they're part of a taxista family, they agree with the OP.

People from the US and, to a degree from Canada, are driving up prices and tipping expectations (most Europeans don't tip, so they're a minor part of the problem) which makes things palpably more expensive and difficult for local people. Taxis often won't even stop for a woman laden with shopping and her kids because they're cruising for gabachos they can rip off. It's like paying mordida to cops - used to be common NOB, too, then people started refusing to do it so it largely went away. In México, it's engrained in the culture in part because people keep paying it.

People that look like me get better service than my neighbors - it's called malinchismo. As one example, I'll be waiting in line and be offered a table people ahead of me have been waiting for longer. They can be so insistent about this that my son has threatened to walk out if they continue (and had to do it once).

It can feel nice to get preferential treatment, but that always comes at the cost of someone else. If you look, dress, or sound as if you're from NOB, I assure you that whether you're aware of it or not you've been the beneficiary of malinchismo. If taxi charges (and tipping, and other things) were fair and consistent, there would be no need for preferential treatment.

Not this Canuck. I research any country I haven't been to before (been visiting Mexico for 30+ years) and figure out what the local customs are and act accordingly. If a taxi driver loads bags or goes out of his way on Cozumel, he gets tipped accordingly. Otherwise, I may only add 20 or 40 pesos depending on distance and driver ability and attitude.

 

[loady]

I was quoted $80
US dollars for taxi ride from airport to Iberostar. Walked across the street and the cost negotiated to 300 pesos. FCK getting any rides from the airport. They are thieves

 

[ggunn]

I was quoted $80
US dollars for taxi ride from airport to Iberostar. Walked across the street and the cost negotiated to 300 pesos. FCK getting any rides from the airport. They are thieves

Private rides from the airport booked through the shuttle companies are expensive; how much would the regular shuttle have cost?

 

[ggunn]

Not this Canuck. I research any country I haven't been to before (been visiting Mexico for 30+ years) and figure out what the local customs are and act accordingly. If a taxi driver loads bags or goes out of his way on Cozumel, he gets tipped accordingly. Otherwise, I may only add 20 or 40 pesos depending on distance and driver ability and attitude.

Personally, I do not tip taxi drivers unless they do something extra. On our last trip we arrived at 'Ohana in a driving rainstorm one night with my 95 year old mom. The cab diver got out and held one end of a plastic tablecloth over her to get her from the cab to the restaurant. He was cheerful (and wet) throughout the experience, and we tipped him well.

 

[mstevens]

Yo tambien. That barb that he threw at me was undeserved. I never claimed to know more about Cozumel than he does and I have always been civil in my discussions with him.

I couldn't figure out why he referred to "Gordon" and did go back to try to figure out where that came from (and could not).

 

[mstevens]

Private rides from the airport booked through the shuttle companies are expensive; how much would the regular shuttle have cost?

I don't know where the Iberostar is, but the highest fare (per person) for a shared van to anywhere from the airport is MXN$208, so as of today about USD$11, The highest FlexShuttle (priced per van, with a capacity of 4 pax) rate is MXN$865, and the highest private van rate is MXN$2,067 (per person!).

So if loady was traveling by himself, he ripped himself off to the tune of at least 44% by walking to Diego's and negotiating with a taxista rather than taking a shared shuttle.