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.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It is not up to tourist to enforce the rules. It is up to the Cozumelos, I don’t go on vacation to work. Literally the opposite.

I didn't say "enforce" the rules, I said WE should play by the rules of the places we visit. We should play by the rules regardless of whether there are some locals who would benefit from our circumventing the rules at the expense of other locals. We have a choice.

Do you flout laws in other countries? Just because this may not be a law but rather a local taxi regulation doesn't mean the people who made the regulation did not have a good reason for making it--a reason that we, as outsiders, have no business questioning. I don't travel to another country and say to myself, "Well that's a silly rule; if a local asks me to be complicit in circumventing it for his personal benefit, I'll do it."

You say you don't go on vacation to "work" but rather the opposite, which I presume is to relax and have fun. I feel the same way, but I don't consider refusing to take part in the taxistas' scam to be a hardship. Traveling should be fun, but I don't expect everything to always go smoothly, and traveling doesn't mean the more money I have the less the local rules apply to me.

 

[ggunn]

This again? Heavy sigh. We have been through much wailing and gnashing of teeth over this issue on ScubaBoard for many years, and you can see how much difference it has made.

Speaking strictly for myself, and I am by no means advocating for a change in anyone else's behavior, I strive to not sweat the small stuff, especially when I am on vacation, and to me, the taxi fares on Cozumel are small stuff indeed.

I know what the fare should be for most of the places I go, so if it's one of those trips I hand the taxi driver the correct change and get out.

In the rare case when the fare is enough over what it should be to get my attention and when I have been careless enough not to have agreed on the fare ahead of time, I tell the driver that he is charging too much and as I exit the cab I quote his taxi number to him and say "no mas", which is a pretty clear message that I won't ride with him again in the future.

That is the extent of my efforts to change their behavior. Blame me for the source of your angst if you must but I won't lose any sleep over it.

 

[Julerb1]

I have less of an issue with the taxi’s than I do with secrets/aura charging me $10 apiece to use their pier for diving pickup by outside diving operations.

 

[JFS]

I have less of an issue with the taxi’s than I do with secrets/aura charging me $10 apiece to use their pier for diving pickup by outside diving operations.

simple solution, jump off pier and swim to your boat.

 

[brsnow]

I didn't say "enforce" the rules, I said WE should play by the rules of the places we visit. We should play by the rules regardless of whether there are some locals who would benefit from our circumventing the rules at the expense of other locals. We have a choice.

Do you flout laws in other countries? Just because this may not be a law but rather a local taxi regulation doesn't mean the people who made the regulation did not have a good reason for making it--a reason that we, as outsiders, have no business questioning. I don't travel to another country and say to myself, "Well that's a silly rule; if a local asks me to be complicit in circumventing it for his personal benefit, I'll do it."

You say you don't go on vacation to "work" but rather the opposite, which I presume is to relax and have fun. I feel the same way, but I don't consider refusing to take part in the taxistas' scam to be a hardship. Traveling should be fun, but I don't expect everything to always go smoothly, and traveling doesn't mean the more money I have the less the local rules apply to me.

I travel and lived abroad and never asked to see a fare card before paying what i was told will be the fare. I have likely take a hundred or so taxis in Cozumel and have never seen posted fares. Not a concern for me.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I travel and lived abroad and never asked to see a fare card before paying what i was told will be the fare. I have likely take a hundred or so taxis in Cozumel and have never seen posted fares. Not a concern for me.

You must have lived in a place known for its dead-honest people. Japan, maybe? In places I've been where the taxi did not have a meter, I was under the impression that fares were unregulated, and so a wise foreign visitor had better determine in advance approximately what the fare should be and agree on it with the driver before taking off. Coz is different, because I learned here on SB that fares are regulated, and there is a rate card that lists the fares from zone to zone. I haven't seen a rate card "posted," either, but apparently they are supposed to be available to the public.

As I said in a post above, here in my own city I used to carry a copy of the rate card/zone map when I would take a taxi from the airport home (nowadays it's Uber for me), because I lived near the boundary between two zones, and on one occasion a driver tried to tell me my home was in the outer zone when it was not, according to the zone map. If I had a rate card for Coz, I'd carry it with me the same way.

I do hope they switch to meters at some point, so we can stop discussing the issue.

 

[34109411]

when you need a cab from an hotel ask to bellman to call the taxi for you and agree with the driver and the bellman how much it cost. Once you are outside the resort it s become little more sporty. My only advise is to make sure you agree on a fix price before going to point A to B. When you are not happy with a rate you could always ask to another cab, it should be more or less the same in general.

Cheers

i understand the situation is very frustrating but to go around the van and start taking picture is a very bad idea. Think will just escalate and become out of controls. Speaking by experience live 3 years in Yucatan peninsula Playa Del Carmen, Cancun and Cozumel.

 

[34109411]

The big issue I see here is overpaying just continues to set the wrong precedent that taxi drivers are free to overcharge gringos and all tourists alike. I really I don't mind paying an extra 25-50 pesos. It's not always about the money. I realize this amounts of less than 3USD most of the time. A lot of people who make this argument are infrequent visitors to the island.

It's primarily the principle of the matter. It just encourages continued pricing gouging and bad behavior if you don't call them out. I really hate when people say it's only 2-3USD. Because that quickly becomes, "well it's only 5USD, and it's only 10USD."

Yes, I can afford it but it adds up. I'm likely to tip this amount over anyway. I fully expect there is a "gringo tax" but I've experienced some down right outrageous price gouging in the past. If people are not educated then they likely to just blindly pay it. Wet dive gear? lots of grocery bags? Other gear/equipment? You can bet I am tipping well.

An example: I've had taxis try to charge me 20USD from Centro to Caleta. The fare should only be 110-120 pesos (7USD). For 20USD I kept walking until another taxi stopped and was willing to give me the correct rate. I've had similar experiences taking a taxi from Centro to Puerto Abrigo, etc.

I do not consider myself a "local" by any means of the definition but I live on the island part time in the winter. I try to walk as much as possible but unfortunately my activities require a vehicle.

My solution to this was simply to drive my vehicle from the United States so I have a vehicle on the island.

EDIT: Spell/grammar correction. One thing I will say, If you find a taxi driver you like get their name/number. Call them ahead of time if you can. It's very helpful to have a good relationship with a driver you trust.

what you saying in the last part is really good.

 

[ReefHound]

i understand the situation is very frustrating but to go around the van and start taking picture is a very bad idea. Think will just escalate and become out of controls. Speaking by experience live 3 years in Yucatan peninsula Playa Del Carmen, Cancun and Cozumel.

So what exactly is your experience that you reference? Driver get mad and knife the passenger? Run him over?

 

[rick00001967]

If you lived there for some time you would likely be unhappy that people like you waltz in from "rich" countries and upset the normal price structure. Locals complain that they cannot get a taxi to pick them up in the barrios or stop for them on the street because why provide a local for a ride based on zone rate when you can gouge a tourist for 5x the amount?

truth
and most tourists never give a moments thought to how their spending habits affect the locals in the area.
well said.