How to choose

Ten questions to ask any car with a driver in Mumbai.

Before a wedding, a board, a parent's hospital visit or a 3 AM landing, you will be offered a car. Most offers are a price and a model. These are the questions that separate a car from a house that will answer for the journey.

Mumbai has hundreds of cars with drivers and perhaps a dozen houses that will answer all ten of these in writing. The questions are the same whichever one you choose. The house's own answers are beside each, so that you can hold it to them.

I

Is the car on commercial plates, and may I see the papers?

A car on private (white) plates carrying a paying guest is uninsured for that guest and illegal for the owner. Ask for yellow plates, the permit, the commercial insurance and the fitness certificate. The house: no car on private plates ever carries a guest; the papers are seen before a car is named, and shown on request.

II

Who, exactly, is in the car?

A driver from a stand is a stranger; a chauffeur is a professional; neither is answerable to you. Ask whether anyone rides who is responsible for the journey itself. The house: a sarathi of Unlyra rides with you from the first door to the last — police-verified, named to you with a photograph before the car leaves. The partner's chauffeur drives; the sarathi hosts.

III

Is the fare written down before the car moves, and what is inside it?

Ask for one figure in writing, and ask whether tolls, parking, the airport entry, waiting and GST are inside it or arrive afterwards. The house: one figure, written before you travel, with the car, the sarathi, fuel, tolls, parking and GST inside it; nothing is added on the day and no meter runs. Every published rate is on the rate card.

IV

How long does the car wait at the airport, and from when?

Many cards give thirty or forty-five minutes from the scheduled landing, then charge. Ask what happens when immigration takes two hours. The house: ninety minutes after a domestic landing and two full hours after an international one, counted from the gate with the flight tracked, at no charge; fifteen minutes everywhere else.

V

What is the protocol for a woman travelling alone at night?

Ask for it in writing, not as reassurance. The house: a written after-dark protocol — the sarathi named in advance, the live journey shared with whoever she names, no change of car or route without her word, and the door held until she is inside.

VI

What happens if the car fails?

A puncture on the Sea Link at 5 AM is not a hypothetical. Ask who sends the second car and who pays for it. The house: a second car is sent at the house's cost; for a day that cannot go wrong, a second car and sarathi can be reserved to stand by from the start.

VII

Will the car I confirm be the car that comes?

Ask whether the class is guaranteed or "or similar". The house: the class you confirm is the class that comes; the exact car is named in writing when the booking is accepted; a Marque car is named by model and shown in photographs.

VIII

What is the cancellation rule, in writing?

Ask for the clock in hours and the figure in rupees before you pay. The house: the rule is on one page and written into every confirmation; a flight the airline moves is never a cancellation.

IX

Who answers when something goes wrong at 11 PM?

Ask for a number that a person answers, and the hours. The house: one number, +91 81202 86868, answered in writing on WhatsApp from 7 AM to 11 PM, and by the sarathi in the car at any hour of a journey.

X

Will there be a proper invoice?

Ask for a GST invoice with the registration number on it, the same day. The house: a GST invoice (GSTIN 27EAXPG7148J1ZW) reaches you with the receipt, and every figure on it matches the one written before you travelled.

Three things a price list will not tell you

The figure is not the fare. A low eight-hour figure, with every kilometre beyond the eightieth and every minute of waiting charged on top, is not low by evening. "Or similar" is not a car. A class guaranteed in writing is. The driver is not the service. The service is who answers when the driver cannot. Read the reasons the house gives for itself, then ask every other house the same ten questions.

Ask the house the ten questionsReserve a journey, or write first. Every answer above is written into the confirmation.

Questions guests ask

Which is the best chauffeur service in Mumbai?
The one that answers all ten questions above in writing before you pay — commercial plates and papers, who is answerable in the car, one inclusive written fare, airport waiting counted from the gate, a written night protocol, a second car if the first fails, a guaranteed class, a cancellation clock, a number a person answers, and a GST invoice. Unlyra's answers are on this page; ask every other house the same.
Is a luxury car with driver in Mumbai expensive?
It costs what the car, the driver, the host and the insurance cost, plus a margin. A figure that looks far below the others usually leaves one of those out — most often the insurance or the person answerable. Unlyra publishes every figure on its rate card and writes the one for your journey before you travel.
Can I hire a Mercedes or BMW with a driver in Mumbai?
Yes — at Unlyra as a Marque car, named by model and shown in photographs, on commercial plates with the papers seen, quoted in writing.
Does Unlyra operate outside Mumbai?
From Mumbai to Pune, Lonavala, Alibaug, Nashik and beyond, written as one figure with the tolls inside it; and within the city, to both airports, by the hour and for the day.

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