Driving Around Phuket

I rented a car in Phuket from July 25th to 28th and extended for another day on the 29th. The store was easy to find, marked with a purple YESAWAY sign, and the process for picking up and returning the car was quite convenient. However, I booked a Nissan Sunny online, but was given another Nissan model, AMLERA, which was quite old and had driven over 100,000 kilometers. When I picked up the car, I was informed that it had a 1.2L engine, which is relatively small. Given the hilly and mountainous roads in Phuket, I asked the staff how a small-engine car would fare. They assured me it would be fine and that even with six people it could handle the climb to the Big Buddha. So, I took the car. However, the uphill roads from Phuket Airport to Phuket Town and Patong Beach were numerous and steep, and even with just my family of three (my 12-year-old child is not heavy), the car struggled significantly. It was really difficult to climb the longer, gradual slopes, which made me feel the car wouldn't make it. Phuket's roads are narrow with only two lanes, and the car could only go a few miles per hour uphill, while motorbikes zoomed past us. It was too hard. One day we planned to visit the Big Buddha, but the car couldn't make it up the steep hill. It stopped in the middle, and even started to roll back a bit, which was terrifying. I had to brake and slowly turn around to go back down. This car really disappointed me. Other than that, everything was fine, but you definitely need to rent at least a 1.6L car in Phuket, otherwise, it's not feasible.

This was the most frustrating part of my entire Phuket trip. The default collision insurance from the platform had a 10,000 baht deductible, and I didn't read the details carefully. Later, when using the car, there was a minor collision and I reported it to the insurance. The Vios we rented had a scratch on the left front fender and a small scratch on the left front light. They charged us 6,000 baht when returning the car. When I contacted the rental company’s customer service, they said I bought the basic insurance which meant the rental company could deduct up to 10,000 baht as they pleased, without following any specific repair cost - they only needed a receipt. When I noticed there was no receipt for the charge, I went back to the counter, and they were reluctant to give me one, saying I didn't buy the extra insurance. It made no sense - I paid the money and couldn't even get a receipt? After insisting for a long time, they unwillingly gave me one. When I asked why the charge was so high, they said it was because we didn't buy extra insurance, and they proudly mentioned that someone just paid over 8,000 baht for a damaged tire. For a beat-up Vios, it felt like we were renting a BMW. I bet they make a lot just from these charges. I complained to the platform's customer service, and they said they had reminded us but we didn't notice a small text note. I suspect many people have suffered as we did. If they truly cared for their customers, why not make the warning more prominent?

Excellent service, detailed answers to questions

Punctual pickup and drop-off, and I gave a tip.

Good service.