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nj2va2fl2casa
  10/26/2016 13:53 EST

Should I hire a driver or is driving in Morroco easy?

Abdel10
  10/26/2016 21:38 EST

Hi, driving in Morocco is not that easy as here in us, but is not that hard to for hiring a driver, it's a little bit stressful and complicated, you have to drive before you decide.

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FarahL
  10/27/2016 08:02 EST

This greatly depends where you are living & for what purposes you need a car!
Driving in cities can be a nightmare as people here do not generally follow any rules of the road...you have also to contend, in Marrakech, for example, with donkey carts, horses & carriages, men pushing delivery carts, people on motorbikes, scooters and bicycles- almost none of whom wear safety helmets & last but by no means least, pedestrians, who have very few properly recognised pedestrian crossings.The condition/quality of the roads also varies immensely, not all roads have names & authorities have an unfortunate tendency to close roads or change traffic direction without notice.
Driving intercity on motorways/interstates , on the othr hand, is a breeze- apart from always having to pay a toll. By & large these are in very good condition , well signposted & with good exits/off ramps. Apart from during rush hours or on public holidays they are largely almost empty too.
Outside cities, on normal roads, driving is very varied as is the quality of the roads- and very few are lit at night. Many are one lane either way, so if you get stuck behind a fully laden old lorry, it can be very frustrating.
Additionally, unless you have special permissions, importing your own car will be difficult & expensive and second hand/ used cars are unreliable as to quality. You are not permitted to buy a new car unless you have a Resident's Card- & officially you are supposed to take a moroccan driving test-although I have never met anyone who has!
If your organisation is offering to pay for a driver, therefore, I would accept quickly. Otherwise you can either hire a driver easily when you need one,by the day, or use city taxi companies which are plentiful & cheap.
Good Luck!

Zer0chick
  10/27/2016 16:25 EST

If you want to drive here & intend to import your car remember import fees are extremely high, & every gas station seems to have diesel fuel only. If you buy a car here you're going to have a difficult time finding an automatic, but if you can drive a standard then that's a non-issue. They don't recognize American or even international driver's license and the test for a Moroccan license is in Arabic, however you can bring your own translator along ;). I've not yet gone for mine so I can't give more information on the subject of the test. My husband tells me it's relatively easy, especially if you give them a "tip" ($30 or so & you passed!)

The petite taxis are abundant but you may have to flag several down before one will accept to take you where you want to go.. their favorite thing is to refuse to take you where you're going. I've been here almost a year and still do t understand the logic in it. There are plenty of customers going in both directions & I don't live in a bad area.. maybe it just gives them a sense of freedom to make the choice of whom they will deliver where.. even though that's their job...

jodya
  11/1/2016 07:29 EST

It depends on where you're going to live and how often you need to drive. In general, driving here in Morocco can be hectic and frustrating because of erratic drivers. After living and driving in NYC for over 13 years, I can confidently say that driving here is crazier than a fleet of NYC cabbies. You can message me for more info.

moroccoexpat
  11/16/2016 16:08 EST

if you are living in the city, then for sure get a driver. the taxi's only cost about $1-2 per local trip. driving here is insane and not recommended unless you are great at playing video games...
just know that you should start by asking for the meter until you get the hang of the prices. some drivers will try to take advantage of foreigners and charge $5 instead of $1. if you take a car for the entire day, say 9 AM until 6 PM you should not pay more than $100-120, unless you are travling outside the city limits. Casablanca to Marrakech is about $150 inlc. tolls.

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