SQTraveller

Though I don't think the no lane awareness is not just a Philippines problem... In many parts of Asia, I can see this - even when I travel to Singapore, I see it - though I think this is for road hogging purposes.

This is something I've heard of and not just for foreigners. If you are caught up in a situation, don't get argue too much and don't make the mistake that the police will help either.

jeffrocowboy

you will need a police report though for insurance purposes

SQTraveller

Yes indeed. I was just saying that the police wouldn't necessarily be helpful

tvhead

I rented from Hertz once 'at' MNL airport. There was strange experience waiting for a shuttle to pick me up and take me to an offsite Hertz agency. As others have noted, the traffic is horrible. It can take an hour just to drive from one terminal to another.
Once at the agency, the car was found to be pretty much a POS. I don't recall the mileage (kilometrage), but it was several years old. The AirCon worked, but the transmission was balky, and the engine was a bit shaky.
Most of the driving was in the provinces. That went alright. I can be an aggressive driver when the situation calls for it. And without some fire in your belly, you'll never manage to pull into traffic from a side street. Driving back into Manila several days later was another total traffic nightmare.
I would do it again if I had to. But I'd work harder to be sure that I had a vehicle in better condition. I was naive to think that since I was renting from Hertz that I'd have the same sort of vehicle quality as in the US or Europe. And, god knows, I certainly paid enough that it should have been in better condition. For what it's worth, I had a similar experience with the on-airport Hertz franchise at Kuala Lumpur KLIA on a rental. Long waits, poor service, car was dirty and did not run well.
Philippines requires you to factor in some of these considerations when you travel there.
I also like the alternative that others have suggested: hire a car with driver.

maverick17

There are not that many Filipinos that have cars, so there are definitely options even if Grab isn't working out there because of fewer drivers. There are likely some drivers available there anyway on the old system - call or text. Just get a recommendation from the family or their neighbors. Or you can ride the jeepneys or trikes or whatever else they have out there the locals use, if you wanted, after getting a driver from/to the airport booked.

This post was generally very informative, but I disagree with this statement. As I tell VN visitors, just because you don't understand the rules doesn't mean there aren't any, and thinking there are no rules sets you up for getting a ticket or into an accident. Maybe your Filipino partner said this, but even so it isn't correct. I've rented cars in MNL, CEB, and often borrow a friends scooter for Manila driving when I am visiting nowadays. The roads to Batangas aren't horrible, and Taal is a popular spot so there are decent roads there also. Traffic is hectic and you have to stay alert, but it's doable.

I can't say I'd recommend it though, in OP's case. You will have too much liability if anything goes wrong, and it's too easy to get a driver, and keep him the whole time, or just use local options when there and use him for the airport portion.

I will add one more note. Didn't notice a date, but rainy season Manila traffic is worse, as the traffic backs up even more than usual. So if you're going July to October, could be more difficult than usual.

jeffrocowboy

ah yes clumsy phrasing - there are indeed local rules that are followed, and as I said elsewhere there is a good deal of give and take that makes things work.

However I think though the local rules do not match what a driver from a country like NZ would expect - e.g., making a 3 marked into 4 lanes of traffic, ignoring red stop signs at some intersections, ignoring of pedestrian crossings, tricycles driving on wrong side of road etc.

tentseller

There are written rules and then there are the local un-written rules.

I have driven around Metro Manila in my NGO's vehicles. I am an ambidextrous driver.
I just prefer not to deal with the stress of driving in the Philippines unless it is absolutely necessary. If you look at PH travel sites there are many driver with cars for a day service that is around the same price as a Major brand rental.

SQTraveller

Other than grab, which I found good for short distances within Manila, does anyone have an recommendations for a driver.

Sudin Bhatta

Does that count? I spent 2 weeks in India.

ajca

A foreigner renting a car and driving in Manila is really a terrible and potentially lethal idea. Manila has some of the worst traffic in the world and when the traffic goes away some people drive really fast and incredibly dangerously.

I have seen my life flash before my eyes more than once on the roads in Manila and that was in a huge SUV driven by a hotel driver who was able to narrowly dodge a catastrophic accident. If I had been driving I surely would have been dead.

The cost of a driver will be a lot less than the transfer of wealth that you will go through cleaning up the very messy aftermath in the high probability event that you crash into someone (regardless of what actually happened, that's how it will be seen!)

Mabuk dan gila

I'm not at all afraid to drive in Manila but I find it very taxing and am usually happy to pay a Grab driver to do the dirty work for me. Its a tough job they do and the cost is quite inexpensive. Additionally though I am not afraid to drive, I am terrified of trying to find a parking space. Filipino drivers do some crazy stuff but they are usually cautious in their own kind of way (with some major exceptions) and though it may not seem so they can be comparatively courteous, again, in their own kind of way, given the totality of the traffic circumstances. When you have to make that impossible left turn and there is no option but to cut off a few hundred cars, they will let you go and just go with the flow whereas in the west if traffic was similar no way would anyone let you get in front of them. So I try to be a bit sympathetic if someone cuts me off as well. Any encounter with the police 'could' go wrong but it is not fair to say that accidents are always blamed on the foreigner and I know of a few actual foreigner involved accidents where the police showed up, did a thoughtful assessment of who was at fault, wrote up reports and assigned blame fairly. I wouldn't recommend any visitor drive in Manila until they had spent some time there first but it's not quite as impossible as it seems at first. Except the finding a parking space. I never have adequately come to grips with that problem.

teddybear99

Ended up using my nephews 2017 Chevy Tracker in the province of Camarines Sur. However, in Manila, took the hotel shuttle to/from SM Mall of Asia and to the Airport. Used taxis elsewhere, but w/o Grab. Was screwed a couple times with the taxi charging a flat rate 2/3 times the metered rate, but reported them to the authorities. It helps when one of your nephews is a lawyer with the PNP.

DeepUnderground

I had considered it for a road trip around Bataan a few years ago, and one of the smartest decisions I ever made was to just hire a driver instead. It cost me around 100 bucks a day for a 10 pax van including driver hotel and food.