If the wedding car is already in the family (your own, a parent's, an uncle's pride and joy), you don't need to rent one. You need a wedding driver. Grandpride's driver service puts a driver in your car for an 8-hour day at RM 385, door to door, with as many stops as the day needs. That frees the cousin who'd otherwise spend the wedding behind the wheel, and it means the groom isn't parking his own car outside the bride's house.
What it costs
| Service | 8-hour day | Overtime per hour | After midnight per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Driver | RM 385 | RM 40 | RM 50 |
| Bodyguard | RM 440 | RM 50 | RM 60 |
| Driver cum bodyguard | RM 495 | RM 60 | RM 80 |
For most weddings the plain driver is enough. The driver cum bodyguard makes sense when the couple or a guest is well known, or when there's jewellery and ang pow cash on board; our guide to wedding security in Malaysia goes into that. Grandpride's drivers and bodyguards typically come from military and law-enforcement backgrounds.
How eight hours fits a wedding day
Wedding days start early. Many Chinese weddings fix the groom's departure to a lucky hour, and an akad nikah has its own set time. A typical shape, as an example:
- 6.30 am. The driver arrives at the groom's house, looks over the car and checks the decorations don't block the windscreen or mirrors.
- 7.30 am. Leave for the bride's house, with the convoy behind.
- 9.00 am to noon. Door games, tea ceremony or the nikah, photographs. The driver waits with the car and keeps it cool.
- 12.30 pm. Drive the couple to lunch, the hotel or home.
- 2.30 pm. Eight hours are up.
If the dinner is the same evening, you have two choices. Keep the same driver on overtime, or book a second session for the evening CHECK: can the 8-hour day be split across a morning and an evening, or must it be continuous. Keeping the driver from 6.30 am to 11.30 pm is 8 hours plus 9 hours of overtime: RM 385 plus 9 × RM 40, which is RM 745 CHECK: is overtime billed by the full hour or by part-hours, and is afternoon waiting time counted as overtime. Any hour after midnight is RM 50.
Settle these before the day
- Insurance. Read your motor policy for what happens when someone not named on it drives. Some policies apply an extra compulsory excess when the driver isn't named in the schedule, and the policy document lists the conditions. Ask your insurer whether you can add the driver as a named driver for the day. Whether Grandpride's driver service carries its own cover when driving a customer's car is CHECK: insurance or liability cover for Grandpride drivers driving a client's own car.
- Summonses. Camera summonses go to the car's registered owner, and the owner has to name the driver if asked. Agree who pays a summons from the wedding day CHECK: who pays a traffic summons incurred by a Grandpride driver in the client's car. Our guide on checking traffic summonses online shows how to look one up.
- Fuel, tolls and parking. Start with a full tank and a loaded Touch 'n Go card in the car, and agree who pays parking at the venues CHECK: are fuel, tolls, parking and the driver's meals paid by the client.
- The route and the timings. Send the driver every address and the lucky times in one message the day before. A convoy is easier when the lead car's driver knows where the next turn is; our notes on wedding convoy cars cover how to keep the cars together on the road.
- The car itself. Get it washed, serviced if it's due, and the air-conditioning checked. A driver can't do much about a breakdown on the way to the bride's house.
- Decorations. Ribbons and flowers go on with magnets or suction cups, not wire. Our wedding car decoration guide shows what holds at expressway speed.
- A contact on the day. Give the driver one person to call who isn't the bride or groom.
Booking
Send a request through the driver and bodyguard request form with the date, the hours, the car and the addresses. How far ahead to book for a wedding date is CHECK: minimum notice for a driver booking, and how far ahead popular wedding dates fill up.
Your car, or a Grandpride car with a chauffeur
If the family car isn't one you'd want in the photographs, Grandpride's wedding chauffeur service supplies both car and driver: the long-wheelbase S-Class in white, silver or black. The Mercedes-Benz 300SL, listed for weddings, is on the rental list at RM 2,200 a day CHECK: is the 300SL available with a driver, or self-drive only, for weddings. The driver service page explains what else the service covers.
