Surat is about 280 kilometres north of Mumbai — five hours or so by the Ahmedabad highway, depending on the hour you leave and the traffic at Dahisar and Vapi. Far enough to want the day off your hands; near enough to be there and back before midnight.
I
A working day
Leave at six, reach the Diamond Bourse or the textile market by eleven, and the car waits through every meeting. Home by ten at night, with the evening's calls taken in a quiet cabin.
II
A wedding weekend
Families travel to Surat for weddings in their dozens. The house sends the cars together — a Carnival for the elders, a Marque car for the couple — and they stay for the days you name.
III
The road
The highway north through Vasai, Vapi and Valsad. Parts of the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway run alongside; the house takes the better of the two on the day, and tells you which.
Ten hours, then restA sarathi's day at the wheel ends after about ten hours of driving. A longer road is two days, with a night on the way that the house arranges — or a second driver, written into the figure.
Not between midnight and fiveThe open highway is not driven in the small hours. The house plans the day so the miles fall in daylight and the evening.
Every state, licensedThe car carries a tourist permit for every state it enters, with its papers in the glovebox. Any state's charge at the border is inside the written figure.
One figure, written firstThe car, your sarathi, fuel, every toll, parking, the sarathi's stay and GST — written before you travel. Nothing is added on the road.
About five hours for roughly 280 km, more at the start of a long weekend. The house times the start to miss the worst of the traffic out of Mumbai.
Can I go to Surat and come back the same day?
Yes. Leave early and the car waits through your meetings; it is a long day, about ten hours on the road there and back, which is the limit the house keeps for one sarathi.
Can the cars stay for a wedding in Surat?
Yes. The cars and their sarathis stay for the days you name, written as one figure, with their stay arranged by the house.