Renting a Car in Delhi in Winter? Read This Before You Book

Last December my cousin flew in from Bangalore for a wedding in Chhatarpur. Flight was due at 8 in the morning. It landed at 2:40 in the afternoon.

The cab he'd booked? Billed him for nearly six hours of waiting, plus the driver's breakfast, plus something called a 'fog surcharge' that nobody had mentioned on the phone.

He wasn't happy. I wasn't surprised.

Winter in Delhi does funny things to travel plans, and car rental in Delhi is no exception. So if you're going to book a car on rent in Delhi anytime between November and February, here's the stuff worth knowing. Some of it I learnt the expensive way.

The shaadi season problem

Everyone thinks Diwali is peak time. Diwali's busy, sure. But the real crunch hits around the last week of November and goes on till about the 15th of December, when it seems like every family in the NCR is marrying someone off on the same three dates.

Innovas vanish first. Then the Dzire and Etios type sedans. Luxury cars for the baraat (the white Audi, the vintage convertible) are usually gone by October. I've called four different car rental services in Delhi for a December date and got the same reply from all four, more or less: 'Sir, only Ertiga is left.'

So book early. Like, now-early, if your dates fall in that window.

And look closely at the night charges. Weddings run late. 1 a.m., 2 a.m. Most operators start driver night allowance at 10 or 11 p.m., and some charge it per night and not per trip, which adds up when you've got three functions back to back.

Fog and airport pickups

This is the one that catches outsiders. IGI fog delays aren't a rare event in January, they're basically routine. Four hour delays happen. Flights get diverted to Jaipur or Lucknow sometimes, and then your pickup is pointless anyway.

If you've hired a chauffeur-driven car, ask them straight: do you track the flight number? A good operator does it on their own and just shows up when the plane actually lands. The bad ones park at Terminal 3 at the original time and run the meter. My cousin's guy was the second kind.

Highway trips have their own fog headache. Yamuna Expressway to Agra, NH-48 towards Jaipur, the stretch near Panipat if you're heading up to Punjab. Early morning visibility can drop to almost nothing.

People leave at 5 a.m. thinking they'll beat traffic and end up crawling at 25-30 km/h behind a truck with no tail lights. Honestly you'll often reach faster leaving at 9 or 10.

Read: Force Urbania Van on Rent Delhi – Safe and Spacious Ride

GRAP can take older cars off the road

When the AQI goes really bad (and in November it usually does) the government moves Delhi-NCR up the stages of GRAP, the Graded Response Action Plan. At the higher stages, older BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers have been banned from plying in past winters.

There've also been curbs on some vehicles coming in from outside Delhi.

Why should a renter care? Because some cheaper operators still have older diesel cars in their fleet. If a ban kicks in halfway through your trip, that car may not be allowed to move. It's happened to people.

Before you rent a car in Delhi in these months, ask what emission norm it meets. BS-VI is fine. CNG and EVs are fine.

Anything older, think twice. And check the current GRAP stage a day or two before you travel, since the rules get updated every season and I'm not going to pretend I know what this year's will look like.

Self-drive vs driver

Self-drive is great value, especially for week-long trips. I use it myself for Chandigarh runs.

But driving in Delhi on a foggy winter evening is not fun if you don't know the city. Ring Road around 7, Dhaula Kuan, the ITO mess, a scooter coming at you from the wrong side with no headlight. If it's your first time here, pay for the driver. You won't regret it.

Going to the hills? Shimla, Manali, Mussoorie? Check if the self-drive company even allows it in snow months, a few of them don't, and it's always hidden somewhere in the T&C you scrolled past.

Questions I'd ask before paying anything

The per-km rate on the website tells you almost nothing. When you compare car hire in Delhi, ask about the minimum kilometre charge for outstation trips (most will bill you 250-300 km a day whether you drive it or not).

Ask if tolls and state tax are in the quote. Crossing into UP or Haryana means state permit tax and a lot of quotes conveniently leave it out. Ask when night allowance starts. For self-drive, ask about the fuel policy. And ask who picks up the phone at 11 at night if the car dies near Mathura.

Get it on WhatsApp. Every single fight I've seen over a rental bill came down to 'but he said on the phone…'

At pickup

Walk around the car and take a video. Odometer, fuel needle, every scratch. Check the RC, insurance and PUC are in the glovebox, and that the PUC hasn't expired, because traffic police get a lot stricter about it once pollution season starts.

Switch on the fog lamps. Switch on the defogger. You'd be amazed how many cars go out with one of those not working.

That's really it. Car rental in Delhi in winter isn't hard, it just punishes people who plan like it's October. Book early if there's a wedding involved, pick a newer car, and don't fight the fog. You'll get there. Maybe a bit later than planned, but you'll get there.