How to Avoid Istanbul Taxi Scams?

Taxi drivers, especially in big cities, are the main actors in the disgrace and frauds that will be the subject of the news.

If you are planning to visit Turkey and stay for a long time, it is essential to have full knowledge of the Turkish taxi and taxi driver culture.

First of all, you can take the first step by watching the documentaries made on this subject and talking to your friends who have experienced Turkey.

Taxi drivers in Turkey frequently land passengers on the road, especially on the pretext that they will enter heavy traffic.

When it comes to the destination, not opening the taximeter or demanding high money are the most common fraud methods. If the passenger in the taxi is a woman, they harass the woman along the way. Of course, we shouldn't generalize here either.

Tips To Prevent Popular Istanbul Taxi Scams:

• As a tourist you don't know the shortest route, so the taxi driver can easily take an extra tour around the block and spice up the bill.
• Make sure you always have plenty of small notes and even coins on your taxi rides so you can give the taxi driver the full amount due.
• Since you are not familiar with the shape of Turkish banknotes, when you give large bills of high denomination, they may replace them with smaller denominations.
• 5 Turkish lira (0.31 USD) and 50 Turkish lira (3.05 USD) are similar.
• In a scenario where you pay 50 TL, they can claim that you only paid 5 TL. When you come to Turkey, I say take a close look at the coins.
• Saying that they can't give change because they don't have coins is a form of fraud that even us Turks are dealing with. So make sure you have coins on you and pay in full.
• The driver suggests agreeing on a price to get to your destination instead of using the taxi meter. This is a common fraud method. Never agree and take a different taxi.

Have you heard that there is a taxi driver who defrauds tourists by saying "Government needs a visa here" while crossing the Anatolian Side of Istanbul?

Don't let this list scare you or assume that there are no honest taxi drivers in Istanbul. There are really good and pure-hearted people in Turkey.

BiTaksi is a taxi application with an English version that you can download to your phone. The app is very similar to Uber or Lyft and only has registered taxi drivers offering standard meter rates.