My Experience with a Shanghai Taxi Scammer & How to Avoid Being Ripped Off

As a Taiwanese American, I blend in quite easily whenever I visit an Asian country. Thus, I’ve fortunate enough to rarely be taken advantage of, especially when it comes to taxi rides. I read beforehand of the possibility of riding with a unscrupulous driver at the Shanghai maglev station, but I was fairly confident that speaking somewhat broken mandarin would minimize any chance of being scammed. The taxi driver who picked me up from the official taxi line looked decent enough, and once I got into the car he “started” the ride by dropping the lever. It was an uneventful thirty minute drive through moderate traffic before we got to the Park Hyatt Hotel.

I knew something fishy was up when the driver tried to drop me off on the main street instead of the Park Hyatt entrance. When the taxi driver showed me the “meter price” of 206 RMB or $30, I was completely shocked.

Clearly this was incorrect and I told him in Mandarin that the price was supposed to be around 40 RMB and demanded the driver to drop me off at the entrance of the Park Hyatt. If you are in a situation like this, make sure to tell the taxi driver to drop you off at the hotel driveway. Surprisingly, the driver drove me to the Park Hyatt entrance without much fuss.

Once I arrived at the lobby, I rolled down my window and explained to the concierge that I thought I was being overcharged. At this point my taxi driver quickly went from his initial 206 RMB price to 100 RMB, which was still way too high. In the end I gave him 50 RMB, as I had no small bills, while the concierge sternly lectured the taxi driver.

Thankfully, I only was overcharged around 10 RMB, but the experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

Always take a picture of the offending Taxi’s license to use as leverage

Here are some tips that I recommend you follow to avoid being scammed in Shanghai:

When grabbing a Taxi, tell the driver to use the taxi meter in Mandarin: Da Biao Ma. Make sure the meter is actually turned on, you’ll know if this is the case as red numbers are displayed quite prominently. 

Always make sure to carry a few small bills, in case a situation like this arises. If you can’t speak mandarin and arguing with the driver is getting you nowhere, an easy trick is to say you only have 50 RMB and tell him that you won’t negotiate.

Finally, if your hotel driver is hesitant on dropping you off in the lobby, just come up with an excuse, like you have to meet your friend there who has enough cash to pay the driver.

This could all have been avoided if I’d use Uber, but for some reason the app payment system did not work while I was traveling.