Once your trip is approved, offers start arriving from vehicle owners around Sri Lanka. Each one is a real price from a real person who wants your booking.
This page explains what you are looking at, and the one thing people miss.
What each bid shows you
Every bid card gives you six things:
- The price, in rupees. This is what the owner is offering to do your whole trip for.
- An extra kilometre rate, on some bids. More on this below.
- Photos of the actual vehicle. Tap them to see the full set.
- The vehicle, with its make, model and year.
- With Driver or Self Drive, matching what you asked for.
- A note from the owner, if they wrote one.
You also see the owner’s name and how long ago the bid arrived.
The extra kilometre rate
This is the part worth slowing down for.
When you posted your trip, the distance was worked out from your itinerary. Some owners add a rate per kilometre beyond that distance. If your trip stays as planned, you never pay it. If you add a detour on the day, or the route turns out longer, it applies to the extra distance only.
So the lowest number is not always the cheapest trip.
A bid of Rs 45,000 with no extra rate can easily beat a bid of Rs 42,000 that charges Rs 80 for every kilometre past your estimate, especially on a long tour where plans change. Look at both numbers together, not just the big one.
If a bid has no extra rate shown, there is nothing extra to pay for distance.
Read the note
You cannot message an owner before you accept. Messaging opens only once a bid is accepted.
That makes the note attached to the bid important. It is the only thing the owner can tell you beforehand, and it is where a good one will mention things like fuel, tolls, or what happens if your flight is late.
An owner who wrote a clear note about your specific trip has read your itinerary. An owner who wrote nothing may still be excellent, but you are choosing with less to go on.
Look at the vehicle, not just the price
The photos are of the actual vehicle that will collect you, not a stock image of that model. Open them.
Check the age of the vehicle and whether the inside looks like somewhere you want to spend eight hours. On a multi day tour that matters more than a few thousand rupees.
You do not have to reject anything
You can leave bids sitting while you wait to see if better ones arrive. Nothing expires early, and owners are not told that you are thinking about it.
⚠️ Declining a bid is permanent. If you reject one, it cannot be brought back, even if you change your mind an hour later. The owner would have to place a new one. If you are unsure, just leave it alone.
What happens when you accept
Accepting one bid does five things at once:
- That bid is accepted and the owner is told immediately.
- Every other bid on your trip is declined automatically. You do not have to turn anyone down yourself.
- Your trip becomes confirmed.
- Messaging opens between you and the owner, so you can arrange pickup details.
- The owner receives your trip details by email.
Take a moment before you press it. It closes every other offer on the trip.
If you do not choose
Your trip closes by itself on your travel date, and any open bids close with it. Nothing is charged and nobody is penalised. If your plans change, post a new trip rather than waiting on an old one.
If you are not getting bids
A trip with no offers usually has one of three things wrong with it.
The dates are very close. Owners plan their week. A trip posted for tomorrow competes with work they have already committed to.
The vehicle type is too specific. Asking for one exact type means only owners with that type can bid. Leaving it open lets more owners offer, and they will tell you what suits your group.
The itinerary is vague. An owner who cannot tell how far they are driving cannot price it, so they skip it rather than guess.
You can edit a trip while it is still open. Widening the vehicle type or adding detail to the itinerary usually brings offers within a day.
Paying
Let’s Ride does not handle the money. You pay the vehicle owner directly, and only the amount you agreed. We charge you nothing at any point, and we never ask for payment on an owner’s behalf.
Agree how and when you are paying while you are messaging, before the trip starts. It saves an awkward conversation on the day.
Still stuck?
If a bid is not behaving the way this page describes, tell us. Contact support and a person will reply.