Renting a scooter is super easy, common and awesome in Thailand
Especially on the islands it's an amazing vehicle to get around, get a tan (or get burned), enjoy the breeze aswell as the landscape.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of scams going on and about in Thailand. Especially when it comes to scooter rentals. They will say that existing damage is new damage and will make you pay for it.
Story time!
Once upon a time in Koh Tao, we were too cheap to rent scooters for 250 Baht at our hostel and wanted to rent them for 200 Baht elsewhere. We were with the four of us and rented two scooters. As the deposit, my friend gave her passport and we were on our way.
We had a lovely day and the next day we wanted to return them. Apparently, the scooter guy decided to actively inspect my friend's scooter for scratches and accused us of damaging the scooter. My friend made pictures of the scooter before, but he decided to pick the spots which weren't too visible on the taken pictures.
He 'calculated' the damage around 300 US dollars and wanted us to pay that otherwise he wouldn't give the passport back. Yes. Oops.. Expensive scooter rental huh?
Fortunately for us, the girl who gave her passport has two passports. The one on which she was traveling, wasn't the one she gave. And the one she gave was about to expire anyway. We left it as it was, she filed her passport as lost and left the island.
Moral of the story: NEVER give your passport as deposit and rent the scooters at a place you or someone trustable knows
Whether you are staying at a hotel, a hostel or anywhere else -- please rent out a scooter where you can trust them. If you are staying at an Airbnb, ask the landlord if he knows a reliable place. More than often, people get scammed or ripped off and that is not something you want to get yourself into.
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My name is Shannon, I am a digital designer and I am currently on my world trip which I am exclusively blogging about on Steemit! :D There is not a specific goal to my trip other than to have fun, discover places and unravel the secrets of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia (for now). Follow me on my adventures!