I set prices for a living here: car rental, bars, restaurants and property. Tell me what you were quoted and I'll tell you straight whether it's fair, a bit high, or time to walk away.
By Shane RuddleOwner of 7 Pattaya businesses · prices checked November 2026
1. What were you quoted for?
When it goes wrong
What I'd do in the six situations visitors ask me about
Most visits go without a hitch, and Pattaya is a lot more professional than its old reputation. But if something does happen, this is what I'd tell a friend.
My estimate
A jet ski operator says you damaged it
This is the one you'll read about most: you bring a jet ski back and you're shown damage you didn't cause and asked for a lot of money. I'll be honest, it's never happened to me or to anybody I know. But it's the story visitors ask me about, so here's what I'd do.
1Before you go out, video the jet ski all the way round, with the operator in the shot.
2Agree the price and the time, and hire through your hotel or a company with a proper office.
3If there's a dispute, stay calm and polite. Don't hand over your passport.
4Call the Tourist Police on 1155. They speak English and deal with exactly this.
Plenty of small rental shops ask to hold your passport as a deposit. You need it for hotels, banks and immigration, and it's your strongest card in any dispute, so I'd rather leave a cash deposit.
1Offer a cash deposit and a photocopy of your passport instead.
2Photograph every scratch and dent before you ride off, with the shop owner watching.
3Get a written receipt for the deposit.
4If they won't budge, there's another rental shop a few doors down.
The police do check tourists on scooters, but it's a lot more professional than it used to be. Stops have to be organised checkpoints and they can't single out foreigners.
1If you don't have a licence they're happy with, it's a ฿500 fine.
2These days you can't pay it there and then. You go to the police station to pay it.
3Avoid it altogether: get an International Driving Permit before you come. It's cheap and saves the argument.
If it's an emergency, call an ambulance or the police first. Otherwise, call your rental company before you do anything else. With our cars, we always ask customers to phone us first.
1Phone the rental company first, not the insurer.
2If you call the insurer yourself, it becomes an insurance claim and you can lose your ฿5,000 deposit over a scrape that might have cost a few thousand baht to fix.
3Take photos of both vehicles and the other driver's details.
You've almost certainly hired it as a private taxi, usually by getting into an empty one and saying where you want to go. That's normal practice, not a scam.
1Pay what you agreed, or ask before you get in next time.
2To ride shared, flag one already driving along the route and don't tell the driver where you're going.
3Press the buzzer to stop and pay the driver ฿15 to ฿20 when you get off.
Screenshot this before you go out. Prices marked from my articles are ones I've written about; the rest are my estimates of what a local or a regular would pay. Tap any row to check a quote.
฿15 for most trips around town and ฿20 for longer ones, since fuel prices rose in 2026. It was ฿10 for years. If you hire an empty one privately, agree the price first.
Not if you live like a local. A meal costs a couple of hundred baht, about ฿300 with a drink, and a one-bed condo is around ฿18,000 a month. Prices go up where tourists cluster, so a quick check saves a lot.
They're the scam visitors ask me about most. It's never happened to me or anyone I know, but video the jet ski before you go out, agree the price first, and call the Tourist Police on 1155 if there's a dispute.
