Have been using the same driver for 4 years and he has always been reasonable. My wife and sister-in-law are going to DR for 8 days and his rate is 6000 from Santiago airport to Cabarete and 3500 per day to drive, BUT they won't need to be transported all that much. He will be driving MY CAR. He does not live in Cabarete and I realize there will be some hotel expense, but 3500 per day using my car seems like too much.
I think the price is a bit high. Your opinion--
I had a taxista take me from Cabarete to La Romana for 8000 including a stop at the beach and one for chicharrones (ewwwwwwwwwww). Had to negotiate pretty hard though.
Lately my regular motoconcho has been jacking the price up on me too. This after nearly a year of a good working relationship with lots of easy cash going his way.
It's like their ego takes over and they think you "need" them or depend on them or something. Or they see you have some money to throw around, i.e. offering to pay hotel, and want to see how much they can get their greedy little hands on. They really can sniff it out when you open up the wallet.
I've never seen anyone screw themselves out of a good thing like a Dominican.
My strategy with my motoconcho has been just calling him less and using someone else part of the time. We'll see if that works.
If you "trust" this dude, maybe counteroffer with less money; he can always say no and perhaps he will (see analysis above regarding screwing oneself over). Or he will accept and you can bask in the triumphant glow of having won (or probably not, since you aren't Dominican and are just looking for a fair price.)
Probably wouldn't hurt to mention that you have just suffered an unforeseen financial crisis like a sick mother, gambling debt called in, big platano buy, etc.