Originally Posted by
pennywern
Let your hotel organize a driver for you. They have an interest in not pissing you off too much, and they're likely to have access to more candidates than you will.
There's never a shortage of drivers in Bali so availability isn't an issue. It's more a matter of, as you intuited, not being endlessly pestered with unwanted gift-shop stops.
Interesting. I didn't have a single instance or issue with the unwanted stops with any of the impromptu drivers I used. It was just never tried, or even suggested. Anyway, if you do-it-yourself, probably something to add to the upfront negotiation. "I hate shopping...no shopping stops!"