Car company, telecom, broadband internet, home advice

Depending on where you are coming from be prepared to wait and wait and wait when getting things done.

Re Accommodation, 2 to 3 weeks might be pushing it, you need to inspect yourselves before accepting anything, standards very considerably and what you might think just ok others will consider 5*. You both pay agents finders fee which is ridiculous. So you pay the agent and the Landlord pays the agent Normally a months rent each. So if you can rent yourself better. Some places advertise private rentals such as in the entrance  to Super U shopping centre etc. Also Check facebook group "Mums of the North" i think its called

Re Internet I suggest Mauritius Telecom if you need a new connection. Go into their shop at La Croisette in Grand Baie, Top of the main escalator from outside to the right. Bring Passport etc. Bring Passports everywhere actually they love looking for them. Fibre optic is readily available  varying speeds and packages. We have 20mb and its fine for most things you can go up to 100mb, Start with 20 and you can upgrade if you need later. Get there early in the morning the q's build up and they are slow. Do it first thing and they may surprise you with a connection. They are normally fairly quick, in my experience to respond to calls etc. Do your mobile  plan with them also to keep it simple. Should be straight forward to setup. Passport ready

Setup your bank first. MCB i think is best. They have a good app MCB Juice. In La Croisette just down from  Mauritius Telecom, again get there first thing in the morning. I mean waiting at the door before they open. In the door turn left and take a ticket from the machine over on the far wall. It can be slow, have ID etc ready. Maybe employment letter, work permit or whatever. Just use your rental address if you have to and change later. Oh and dont fill in anything with a blue/red pen they can be funny like that. Black Pen please :-) they love details and form filling.

Finding the right accom depending your price bracket will be the biggest hurdle i think.

Best of luck..............be patient

Thank you for your valuable advice 😁

Hi,

You can buy a second hand car easily. There are lots of second hand showrooms around. They will assist you with all the paper work.

I will recommend Ginza motors. They are reputable firm owned by a licenced importer of brand new cars called ABC Group. They are in Port Louis and you can find the details on the WWW.

The other one which will be further from Pereybere, is Automaster in Belle Rose. I bought my latest car from them and I can't complain. They assisted me for all the paper work. The owner is a gentleman and an ex-car rally champion!

Cheers
GJ

Hi,

We are doing currently just as you plan. The above advise is great.

Re Car Hire - The well known airport companies can be v expensive here especially if you want anything more than a small run around. We needed a larger car and found through some local contacts there are many private car firms which are cheaper. We have hired a 7 seater for Rs1400 per month. Let me know if you want me to share the guys details. Very helpful. Pick up at airport. 15 mins to do paperwork... Actually haven't paid him yet because his mobile card machine was not working. Very relaxed.

Our permanent rental place in Black River isn't ready until Aug. We found the whole process easy with our agent. Whitesharkbait is correct on the rental payments. We intend to stay for a long period so managed to get a discount on the advertised rental by payment a year upfront. The lease agreements are straightforward and exactly what I would see in the UK.
We needed temp accommodation and found there were plenty of places through Booking.com and AirBnB, but with a family of 5, it was working out quite expensive for a month +. It is worth asking the rental agents if they have any clients that will let you do a short term rental. This is what we did and found it much cheaper.

I have not sorted out a contract phone yet but getting a prepaid one was easy. As above... Passport and letter (showing address - Property rental agreement worked for us) at hand, we just bought a Emtel SIM from stall in a mall. Downloaded the Emtel App and loaded airtime and data. Quite painless for a short term remedy.

As far as banks are concerned... I was recommended MCB and they have been very easy and simple. They communicate quickly via email and you can courier them any documents they need directly. I had an account opened within less than 10 days. When I arrived, I collected my cards from a branch which we arranged in advance. The staff helped me do everything for the on-line banking and changing PINs straight away. Painless process. in and out withing 15 min with all banking facilities explained and working.

I hope some of this helps. Happy to answer any other questions you may have. Forgive me in advance.... I do not regularly log on to this site, so there may be a delay.

Kind regards

Nick

NS808 wrote:

Re Car Hire - The well known airport companies can be v expensive here especially if you want anything more than a small run around. We needed a larger car and found through some local contacts there are many private car firms which are cheaper. We have hired a 7 seater for Rs1400 per month. Let me know if you want me to share the guys details. Very helpful. Pick up at airport. 15 mins to do paperwork... Actually haven't paid him yet because his mobile card machine was not working. Very relaxed.

Hi Nick,

Did you mean Rs14k per month? If so, can you please share the details of the car rental guy? I've been looking for a 7-seater as well and I find it pretty hard to find something on the same price range that you mentioned. Best I found is Rs15000 for a small car.

Regards,
J

Sorry J, I should have written 1400 per day. Which is still the cheapest I've found for a 7 seater thus far