Frugal Expat

Entries categorized as ‘Bills’

Rent a Car in Abu Dhabi

May 18, 2010 · 7 Comments

Out of necessity for my new job post, I am obliged to have a car. I have a mixed feeling whether to purchase or simply rent a car in Abu Dhabi. I abhor the long financial commitment of availing a car loan and with the current job market condition; I honestly don’t find it the best solution for the time being.

So while on the process of getting acquainted with my new role, I decided to rent a car for the next few months. The average range for monthly car rental price here in Abu Dhabi is between AED 2,200 (USD 600) to AED 2,500 (USD 685). In fact, established car rental companies are more expensive.

Before renting my car, I called up many car rental companies to scour a cheaper deal. The price and insurance coverage are my primary deciding factors. Although there are cheaper price for auto rent in Abu Dhabi, I am not comfortable with their insurance coverage.

I am a new driver and considering the driving etiquette and parking issues here, comprehensive car insurance is the most favorable option for me. It means that if ever accident happens, insurance will cover it as long as I provide the car rental company with police report.

After calling numerous car rental companies in Abu Dhabi, I eventually found a better deal. It is the Auto Rent Company. The monthly price is AED 1750 for a 2010 model of Renault Logan with comprehensive car insurance.

The only hitch is they will charge AED 0.75 per kilometer after reaching a total mileage of 4500 km per month. Honestly, I am fine with it. I just drive within the city and occasional drive on weekends to Dubai or other Emirates.

The required documents for renting a car in Abu Dhabi are copies of your passport, credit card and driving license. If you are new in Abu Dhabi and don’t have credit card, you can always negotiate it with them.

As for their service, so far I am happy with it. If you want to get in touch with this car rental company in Abu Dhabi, here are the details.

Phone  : +971   2 6350250
Mobile  : +971 50 5542860
Fax      :+971    2 6350822
Email   : anandw@autorent-me.com
Website: www.autorent-me.com

Just to let you know, this is not a paid blog post or review. I am simply recommending this auto rental company because I am satisfied with their service and it is the best deal I found in the city. If you have any other recommendations, please let me know and I’ll be delighted to try it as I plan to continue renting a car until end of the year.

Categories: Bills · Life in Abu Dhabi · Reviews · Transpo
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Obtaining Bank Statement is now Expensive

March 20, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: www.caribbeanunionbank.com

Processing loan transactions here in Abu Dhabi or UAE in general always require a bank statement of 3 months. Since I wanted to apply for car loan, I went last week to the bank to obtain the same.

I was really stunned to know that the new fee for acquiring bank statement is AED 50 (approx USD 14) for each month. So I shelled out AED 150 for the 3 months statement. I don’t know maybe it was ages ago since the last time I requested for bank statement but I really found it expensive.

Earlier the monthly bank statement is sent by postal mail and it can be used for any credit cards or personal loans application. Then lately the bank starts sending it by e-mail and I receive the monthly e-statement in my inbox. Unfortunately, the bank will not honor this because they need the company stamp.

Ideally the fee should be cheaper since they are no longer sending it by post. On contrary, the fee is even doubled than before. If they have continued sending it by post, I would have not spent AED 150 for that.

Honestly I can really feel the skyrocketing cost here in UAE after living and working here since 2002. Hence, it is another motivation for me to stay frugal in my expenses and way of life.

Categories: Banks · Bills · Finances

How am I Saving 70% of my Telephone Bill?

November 24, 2009 · 9 Comments

Photo Credit: www.freeclipartnow.com

It all started with the YM (Yahoo Messenger) offline messages from my mum in September this year. Through the help of her younger colleague, she learned to open her yahoo account and to send messages to us (I and my brother).

I was ecstatic because I knew Mum. At her age (mid 60s), we can’t expect her to be techie at all. A simple feature in her mobile phone can be extremely complicated for her.

Since she learned to send messages in YM, my brother and I received daily messages. To catch us online, she will rush to her faculty room every break time because by then, we are up already and at work. Then for few minutes we chat.

By the time we have our lunch break, my Mum is already at home where unfortunately she doesn’t have internet. She can only access her YM at her workplace hence it limits our time chat.

So, we decided to purchase her a desktop and also subscribed for internet connection. My sister, who stays and works four hours away from home, traveled and spent a weekend with Mum so she could teach her all the basics in computer from switching on to turning off the machine.

My brother and I were anticipating to chat with her the following week. To our dismay, YM had always a system glitch. Sometimes I was unable to log-in for days for whatever reasons. Then my brother introduced us to Oovoo, a web based free video conference facility.

Since then, we chat every night and weekend. Sometimes due to work demand, I need to stay late and I miss them joining in the video conference. We also demanded curfew for our Mum. With the time difference, we told Mum that she could only stay online until 11.30pm which is 7.30pm in our time. We don’t want her to suffer the next day because of lack of sleep.

On occasions where I miss the video conference with my brother, my Mum would send me a video message. Oovoo is really nice. Rather than leaving offline message at YM, Oovoo has a better option – video messages though it has also a chat facility.

With this, it slashes my phone budget by 70%. I no longer buy phone cards to call Mum and our communication nowadays is even more frequent.

Then yesterday, I discovered the 160by2.com, a website where you can send free sms in UAE, Saudi, Kuwait and few Asian countries like India, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore.

So now, I need only a phone card for emergency calls and when I don’t have internet access.

 

Update: I learned from a friend about smsteriod, a site for free sms. It’s actually better than the 160by2 because you can send sms anywhere in the world.

Categories: Bills · Frugal Tips
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