Rome taxi warning!

My wife and I returned on 10/22 from Italy. Caution with the taxi's. We were almost suckered in taking a taxi ride in a non-taxi vehicle. Beware. The two crooks were taking our luggage to an unmarked taxi after negotiations on the price to get to the hotel before we leave the next day. I quickly grabbed all luggage out of their hands before we crossed the curb to their car. It could have been a scary ordeal. This all happened outside the Termini Stazione in Rome. We proceeded to the drivers outside the marked taxis. The ride was quick with the driver going in and out of traffic.

Be cautious and street smart!

I had heard about making sure you go with actual registered taxis - both of those who switched our 20s for 5s were registered taxis. Unfortunately, we didn't get the number from either one to report!

Unfortunately the switch is common and can occur almost anywhere. My approach is to carry some folded bills in one of my secured shirt pockets. I take out the bill -- 10 or a 20 -- then go into a dumb act of holding bill in front and asking in bad Italian if it is a 20 or a 10. By the time he takes it, I have asked two or three times about the bill and he has confirmed what it is once or twice. Never has had a switch pulled on us.

Sadly, shortchanging by taxis, streetvendors, and the like is common practice in parts of Italy. During my first visit to Italy, our tour guide told us that we will get the wrong change from street vendors and we will be overcharged by taxis...and not to take it personally. "Consider it a local custom," he said.

Learn the currency numbers in the language and when handing the amount to whomever, say the number out loud. Less likely you'll try to be swindled if the other person knows you know exactly how much you handed over.

I even do that here. Not because I'm worried I'll be swindled but that many of the people taking money aren't too bright. (IF they didn't have the cash register tell them how much change to give, they wouldn't be able to figure it out.)

In Milan, I wanted a taxi for the 1 km ride to my hotel from the Central Station (luggage issues). The taxi drivers were very pushy and wanted 20 euro, which seemed exhorbitant. I was ready to bite the bullet and start hoofing it, when another tourist came up to me and pointed to another car lane and said that was the "official" taxi line. Sure enough, I got a cab with a meter and a lovely driver for 7 euro.

BTW I was never short-changed, but I was also never south of Tuscany.

While in Rome recently we met a couple who arrived and got a taxi to their hotel. Little did they know that their hotel was close to their arrival location. It was night and they had never been to Rome. The taxi driver took them around for 45 min and then arrived at their hotel. The following day they realized that they were about a 5 min drive from arrival location to hotel. It cost them 50E!

We had our B & B call a taxi for us, don't know if it helps, but it actually cost us less than we expected. No problems.

Just got back from our Italy trip, and we too, almost got suckered by this scam. We took an official, metered taxi from Termini to our apt. somewhere in the Pratti neighborhood. My husband counted the money in front of the driver before handing it to him. As the driver was helping us unload our bags, he suddenly told us we didnt give him enough, and showed us a bunch on euros with 5's. I dont know if it was the adrenaline rush or the fact that I simply refused to be cheated, I looked at the driver straight in the eye, and firmly said "No, no, no, we gave you XXX amount". For a second I thought he was going to press on the matter and start arguing with me, but he pretended to walk to the meter to check it then returned and said apologetically "Oh, grazie". I'm so glad I read up on these scams before we left.

This can happen to anyone....even those of us that consider ourselves fairly savvy travelers. Just happened to us on our arrival in Rome.....and not our first trip by any means. Just got in a rush trying to unload luggage and unblock the street in front of our bnb. Couple days later, another driver tried this same scam. I knew exactly what my husband had handed the driver and so did he. He had even used the Italian word for "sorry" because he had to give the guy a larger bill. Guy tried to argue it for a couple of minutes, but finally caved in when he saw that we were not going to budge on the issue. I would have had no problem calling for a police officer had it continued as I was still mad from the first incident.

We learned to tell them where we were going and then ask how much before we even got in the taxi. From the Colosseum to our apartment by Piazza Popolo could cost us anywhere from 7 euro to 18 euro. I made one taxi pull over and let us out because he wanted to charge us 20 euro for a return trip that originally cost us 8 to get to. We had a number of bad experiences with taxis but mostly in Rome.
The other thing was the guys on the train that would block you from getting on and take your bags right out of your hands and take off down the aisle and then expect you to pay them. Geez!

I have taken many taxi's in Rome and I have never encountered a problem like the ones that everyone is talking about!!! I feel lucky!!! I should say knock on wood because It may happen on a return trip.

Yes , me too on sneaky cheating taxi drivers. Next time I will only take subway or bus into Rome. Being taken advantage of is the worst a business (or Taxi) can do to a tourist. It is the first thing that comes to my mind when someone says theya re going to Rome. Too bad a s Rome is a fantastic travel destination.

Yup, Rome cabbies are the absolute worst for rip-offs. We took to paying in Euro coins which we counted out one at a time! We also started ostentatiously writing down the cab number "just in case we forget something in your cab." It's really too bad that they don't crack down on these practices, it leaves such a bad taste in people's mouths about the city, which is one of the great cities of the world.

I have never encountered any of the problems being discussed here and have taken many cab rides on my numerous visits to Rome. However, I always make sure I take a licenced taxi and not a mafia run gypsy cab. Taxis in Rome cannot be hailed on the street - they must be caught at a taxi stand or called to your pickup point. Any taxi that will stop for you on the street will be a gypsy.

I do feel fortunate we didn't have any problems. Our B&B host had emailed us before we arrived, printing out the "new" rules the taxis are supposed to follow now - a set 40 euro cost to/from the airport. Now, that's just the airport, not closer places. When we left, he called the taxi the day before and helped carry out luggage out and said NUMEROUS things to our driver - I did hear "English" among other things. I seemed to pick up he was telling her she'd better treat us "right." She got us there much quicker than expected. Sounds like we were lucky.

Another "policy" to be aware of with Roman Taxi drivers:
If you have a taxi called for you by your hotel, the driver can legally start the meter from the time they receive the call, rather than from the time they pick you up. We found it more economical to walk to the nearest taxi stand. When we were leaving for the train station at the end of the trip, one of us walked to the taxi stand while the other stayed at the hotel with the luggage. Then the walker got a taxi, rode back to the hotel, and picked up the waiter and luggage. A little easier to keep track of the meter that way.

We got sucked into a non official taxi after a long bus ride from Sorrento to Rome. We arrived with our bike in two cases, and our 2 suitcases after a 4 hour trip. We are familiar with train stations, but this was our first bus trip (we'll do it again in a heartbeat!)

My hubby went to find a taxi to take us to our hotel - which was just across the street from Termini. He found a guy in a beat up Mercedes. He said 20Euro, and we figured that was OK, not knowing how far we had to travel, and being a bit hassled.

We accepted the fare, he took us right to the hotel, didn't ask for more, helped us with our luggage. Very friendly. I figured it was a cheap lesson to learn, and this guy was just trying to earn a living.

He didn't try to switch bills on us, and was really helpful to get us right to the door of our hotel and get our luggage up to the 3rd floor!

So, all in all, even though it wasn't an official taxi ride - we were happy to find someone to help us out!