The Accidental GrabCar Experience.

I have been wanting to try GrabTaxi, GrabCar or Uber for quite sometime now but I since my phone decided to say goodbye and the money I was supposed to buy for a new one went into a more productive thing, I had to endure the possibility of being snubbed by the taxi drivers or the +50 or more amount per ride aside from their meter whenever I would ride one.

Two days ago, I went out with some friends and had an overnight with some of them on our another friend's house somewhere in Makati. The next day, we had to go to our office and we wanted the comfort of not having to commute, so we naturally want to ride on our go-to: taxis. Unfortunately, the taxis that has been roaming around the area are already loaded. A nice barker suggested that we should just ride a tricycle to a nearby place where there's a lot of taxi would be available and so we did. When we arrived at the place, I smile because there are really taxis everywhere. But that high was short lived because no one's stopping in front of us. It's either they're purposely snubbing us or they shake their head without even knowing where we would go. We all got frustrated. There's a lot of taxis and taxi drivers around because there are a few eating stalls around. Another nice barker asked us where's our location and he tried to look for a taxi driver who would take us.

But none of them did. We just stood there, still trying our luck. The barker came to us once again and told us that there's this GrabCar driver and if we want, we can talk to him if he would want to take us. None of us did because one, we don't know what to do, really. Second, we haven't had an experience with the service so we don't know what to say too. The barker came to us again and asked us how much can we give. We said "We don't know." because we haven't had an experience with the service and that we don't have an idea with the rate. 

He talked to the driver again. He said he's offering 400php. We said it's too pricey. The barker negotiated into lowering it to 350php and Sic said we'll take it if it'll just be 300php.

Luckily, the GrabCar driver said YES after a few moment. He let us stay where we were and got his car from the other side. I smiled the moment I saw the car. I mean, I can already feel the comfort (I am not really very particular with the car model and type so I don't remember what type and model of car it was) and Sic was like "We're riding this?" Lol. He was thinking we're negotiating with a taxi driver. The windows were tinted and it's one of the thing I liked more about it. It felt personal. I don't really like having been seen by other people on the road so this is a plus point.

Anyway, just as expected, the car's air conditioner is perfectly functioning. I like the cold. The car itself felt luxurious inside. The seats were leather and it's very comfortable. The driver is about late twenties to early thirties guy who looked very presentable. He was wearing a collared polo. While on the way, he told us he was really actually going home and he wanted to sleep already so he said yes to our offer since it can also be added for the gas and since he's just from Quezon City too anyway. Me and my friends were using a little bit of vulgar words while talking and the driver never made us feel uncomfortable. We teased him and he kind of joined the fun. I like the fact that he already knew the place we were going. Most of the taxi driver we dealt with going to our office needs me to tell them which road we should use or where we should turn left or something. He said thanks when we got off.

It was a nice experience and I wanted to know more about GrabCar so I looked for their website.

They got me with PER KM. 

What I also like about this type of service is the fact that it's either they will give you the fixed price or the estimate. You don't have to keep on looking at the meter or keep thinking if you have enough cash or money with you. It's one of the few advantage of this aside from the fact that you don't have to give tips or they can't ask for more than the meter.

Unlike other taxi drivers.

• They sometimes adds a fee aside from the meter even though the destination is just nearby


• They say no for different reasons (which mostly are the reasons why people wants to ride taxis rather than to commute and they complain of the same thing)


• The safety is kind of in question since there's a lot of news out there regarding taxi drivers with hidden agendas like committing criminal acts towards passengers.


• They snub you just because

They complain about how their business is getting affected badly because of these services without even realizing they're the one who drove their customers away. They're choosy and sometimes rude. Some of them feels suspicious too. They often trick the passengers too and if you're the type to just give them what they were asking just to shut them up already, they won. I actually don't really mind if the taxi is old. I just want the services I was expecting to receive. I want to arrive at my destination with intact and composed self.

So yeah. I'm promoting this service to my friends. Although I know there can be a possibility that we can encounter a little problem along the way (let's face it, there' no such thing as PERFECT lol) And I also read some reviews with complaints and such, but it's still a better choice since you can calculate the time not just the money you'll spend for this service.