Car with Driver in Abu Dhabi — From AED 599 per Car (Market Is AED 1,400)

Related Guides

Visiting the mosque? See the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque tour. Arriving by air with hours to spare? See the airport layover guide. Going between cities? See the Abu Dhabi to Dubai taxi fare guide.

Car with Driver in Abu Dhabi: Every Price

Note the USD 218 / AED 799 seven-seater. At USD 36 / AED 114 per person it is cheaper per head than most shared coach tours in Abu Dhabi, and it is your own vehicle, on your own schedule, with nobody else in it. That is not a marketing claim, it is just division.

Children in the car: the UAE law nobody on this search mentions

Not one page-one result mentions child seats or a child policy. That is remarkable for a service sold largely to families, because in the UAE this is not a courtesy, it is the law.

A child up to four years old must be in a child safety seat; the penalty is USD 109 / AED 400 and four black points. A passenger in the front seat must be at least 145 cm tall and no younger than ten. And every passenger including those in the back must wear a seat belt, or the driver takes an USD 109 / AED 400 fine and four black points. Source: u.ae, the official UAE government portal.

We supply the correct restraints free, because you are hiring the vehicle rather than the seats. Tell us your children’s ages and heights when you book and the right seats are fitted before we arrive.

When you should not book a car with driver

If you need one short hop, hotel to the mall, airport to the hotel, a taxi or a ride-hailing app is cheaper and you should use one. A chauffeur only earns its money when the car waits: a day with four or five stops, a route the Metro does not reach, a school run and a meeting in the same afternoon, or travelling with children, shopping or a wheelchair, where reloading a new vehicle at every stop is the actual cost.

And if you want a self-drive car, hire one, you do not need us. What you are buying here is not the vehicle. It is not having to park it, not paying tolls separately, and not losing forty minutes to a ride that never arrives.

Car with Driver vs Renting a Car Yourself

The honest way to compare these is not headline against headline. It is everything you actually pay, plus everything you actually have to do.

So which should you actually do?

• Rent the car if you are staying a week or more, you are comfortable driving abroad, and you want total freedom at the lowest cost. The roads here are excellent and the signage is in English. It is a completely reasonable choice.
• Hire the driver if you are here for a few days, you are moving a group around, you do not want to hold a deposit on your card, or you would rather look out of the window than at a satnav.
• Hire the driver if the day involves anything where parking is a genuine nuisance, the Grand Mosque, the Corniche, a mall on a Friday.
• Do not hire a driver just to get from A to B once. That is a taxi, and it is cheaper.

What You Actually Get

• A private vehicle: yours alone. No other passengers, no pickups on the way, nobody else’s schedule.
• An English-speaking driver who knows Abu Dhabi. He will suggest a route, tell you what you are looking at, and know which entrance to use at the mosque.
• Fuel, Salik tolls and all parking: included. There is nothing to settle at the end.
• Hotel pickup and drop-off anywhere in Abu Dhabi city.
• Bottled water.
• No prepayment and no booking fee. You pay the driver when the day is done.

What you do not get

• A licensed ADTCA tour guide. Your driver is an experienced driver-guide, not a badge-carrying licensed guide. If you want one, say so and we will arrange it at extra cost. We are not going to call him something he is not.
• Attraction tickets. You buy your own, at the gate, at the gate price. We take zero commission on any ticket, ever.
• Meals. You choose where to eat and you pay your own bill.
• A limousine. See below.

Why We Price Per Car and Not Per Person

Almost every tour and transport company in the UAE quotes per person, and there is a reason: a per-person price looks smaller. “From USD 27 / AED 99!” reads better than “USD 190 / AED 699“. It is the same trick as an airline fare that becomes something else entirely once you have chosen a seat and a bag.

The problem is that per-person pricing punishes exactly the people who should be getting the best deal, families and groups. Six people at “USD 41 / AED 149 each” is USD 244 / AED 894. The car is the same car. The driver is the same driver. The fuel is the same fuel. Nothing about the trip costs more because there are six of you in the vehicle rather than two.

The arithmetic, plainly

Read the top row honestly: at two people, a per-person tour beats us. We are not going to pretend otherwise, and if there are two of you, you should probably book one of them, or take a taxi. Our model is built for three or more, and it is genuinely strong at five and six.

About the Driver

With a car with driver in Abu Dhabi, the driver is the product. The vehicle is just a vehicle.

Ours are English-speaking, they live here, and they know the city properly, which entrance at the Grand Mosque, which side of the Corniche is worth stopping on, where you can actually park at Emirates Palace, and what time the light goes gold on the Etihad Towers. They will suggest a route and talk you through what you are seeing, and they will do it without a script.

What they are not is a badge-carrying, ADTCA-licensed tour guide. That is a formal qualification with a formal cost, and we are not going to describe our drivers as something they are not in order to charge you more. If you want a licensed guide for the day, for the mosque in particular, where a good guide genuinely adds something, tell us and we will arrange one at extra cost. Most people do not need it. Some do.

Child seats

Available on request at no drama, tell us the child’s age when you message. Taxis in Abu Dhabi do not carry child seats, and you cannot rely on finding one at a rank, so for families with infants this is frequently the actual reason to book a car rather than flag a cab.

Going Outside Abu Dhabi City

We will not publish a number we cannot honour. Message us with where you want to go, how many of you there are and what date, and you will get a fixed price back before you commit to anything.

How to Book

Send this to +971 58 228 2683 on WhatsApp. No prepayment, no booking fee, and you pay the driver at the end of the day.

That last line is serious. Ask us, and if the answer is yes, we will tell you.

Booking terms, in full

• No prepayment. Nothing changes hands until the day.
• No booking fee. The quote is the price.
• Free cancellation. Because we have not taken your money.
• Fixed price. Fuel, Salik and parking are in it. Nothing is added at the end.
• Per vehicle, not per person. Bring six.

Related Abu Dhabi Guides

Abu Dhabi City Tour

Want a planned route instead of an open day? The guided city tour, from USD 190 / AED 699.

Abu Dhabi Airport Transfer

Just need the airport run? A taxi is USD 20–22 / AED 74–80, and we will tell you if that suits you.

Al Ain City Tour

Taking the car out of the city? Jebel Hafeet and the UNESCO oasis, 151 km inland.