How to rent a scooter in Siquijor

Two things drive the price: the machine, and how long you keep it. An automatic 110cc or 125cc scooter, a Honda Click or a Yamaha Mio, is the island standard and genuinely all you need. Siquijor’s roads are sealed and gentle, and nothing about the loop asks for a bigger engine. A 150cc bike is worth it for two adults with luggage; a tuktuk or a self-drive car is the family answer.

Walk-up shops on the island will often shave something off a long rental if you haggle for it, so it is worth asking. On Roam there is nothing to haggle over: the owner sets one daily rate, you pay it for each day you keep the bike, and delivery is already in it. Better pricing for longer stays is something we are actively working on.

We deliberately do not print a rate card here. On Roam the owner sets their own daily rate, so any number typed into a guide is a number somebody would have to honour six months later. The live fleet is the only honest answer to what today costs.

Fuel is your other cost and it is small. The full loop takes well under a tank, and there are proper stations in the larger towns plus roadside stalls selling petrol by the litre in glass bottles more or less everywhere else.

• A valid driver’s licence that covers motorcycles. If your home licence is not in English, carry an International Driving Permit alongside it. Not instead of it: the IDP is a translation, not a licence.
• A helmet, required by Philippine law for rider and passenger both. Any legitimate rental includes one. An outfit that shrugs at helmets is telling you what the rest of the experience will be like.

Police checkpoints on Siquijor are not constant, but they are real, and they cluster near the ports. Riding without a licence or a helmet is the quickest way to turn a cheap day into an expensive one.

Worth knowing before you travel rather than at the pier: a lot of home licences do not actually cover two wheels. Roam verifies yours before a booking is confirmed, so it is better to find out now.

The Siquijor rental scene mostly runs on Messenger threads and roadside stands, and plenty of the people in it are straight as a die. These are the patterns that separate them from the rest.

1. 01

   “We keep your passport as deposit.”

   Never, anywhere, for anything. A passport is not collateral. Once someone else is holding it, every disagreement at return time is one you are going to lose, because the thing you need to leave the country is on their shelf. A cash deposit does the identical job and can be handed back.

2. 02

   No written contract.

   Verbal terms have a way of changing between handover and return. If there is nothing to read, there is nothing protecting you, and the version of events that wins is whoever is more confident on the day.

3. 03

   No handover photos.

   Photograph the vehicle from every side, with the owner standing there, before you ride off. Every pre-existing scratch you did not document is a scratch you can be charged for. This is the single cheapest thing you can do to protect a deposit.

4. 04

   The price that grows.

   A “friend price” quoted on Messenger that acquires a helmet fee, a delivery fee and a cleaning charge by the time you hand the keys back. Get the total, in writing, including delivery, before you commit.

5. 05

   “Insurance included.”

   On a Philippine island rental this is almost never backed by a policy you can actually read. Ask to see it. The answer tells you everything you need to know about who you are dealing with. What genuinely protects you is a written contract with clear damage terms and a documented handover, not a word said out loud at the counter.

Whoever you rent from, do this before you ride away. It takes five minutes and it is the difference between a deposit you get back and an argument you cannot win.

• Brakes. Both of them, rolling, not standing still.
• Lights and horn. Headlight, brake light, indicators. You will want all of them.
• Tyres. Tread and pressure. Wet sealed road on bald tyres is the most common way visitors get hurt here.
• Photos, with the owner present. Every side, plus the dash and the odometer. Timestamped by your phone, which is the point.
• The contract and the total. Read the damage terms. Confirm the number, including delivery, before money moves.

Roam checks those first three in person before a vehicle goes live and photographs it for the listing. Do your own walk-around anyway. It is your deposit.

This is the problem Roam was built to fix. Your ferry docks, it is hot, everyone on board wants transport at the same moment, and the pier fills with offers of wildly varying paperwork. You can absolutely sort a bike there. You will also be negotiating tired, in the sun, with your bags. The alternative:

• Browse verified vehicles online. Papers checked, mechanically inspected in person, photographed for the listing.
• Read the owner’s rental contract on the listing before you pay anything, and sign it at booking. The damage terms are settled before the trip, not during it.
• Reserve online with a card. A small part of the total, which comes off what is left. You settle the balance with the owner in person at handover, in cash, GCash or Maya, whatever they take.
• Free delivery to Siquijor port, Larena port or your accommodation. The bike is there when the ferry docks.
• Your passport never enters the conversation. A refundable deposit does the job a passport should never be asked to do.

The owner keeps 85% of every booking, in cash, at handover. Roam is the layer that checked the bike and holds the booking, not a shop taking a cut of a local business’s day.

Roam rentals are not insured, and realistically no rental on this island is. What you get instead is the contract, in writing, before you pay. Arrange travel insurance that explicitly covers motorbike riding, and check the licence conditions on the policy.