A few questions for those who know

Hello -- Thank you if you can venture an educated guess:

1) private car cost from Shangri-La to Shaxi
2) private car cost from Shaxi to Dali Hilton
3) private car cost from Kunming all day to rice terraces (middle of September)

Bonus:
4) best way from Shaxi to Dali Hilton (other than #2)

What we hope to do is get private cars on an 'as we go' basis. We'll ask at our hotels (Intercon in Lijiang and either Banyon or Shangri La in Shangri La - neither set yet).

Can we expect that finding drivers will be a feasible option between our stops? When would this be the best option? If it takes an hour to get to a bus station and then the bus (x2 for us) costs more than a taxi or car, we feel the bus would not be the best option. Correct? We are reasonably flexible and have traveled to many places (but not to this part of China). We have good English but rudimentary Chinese skills. We know how to ask someone to write our destination down for us beforehand however.

Plan is:
Sept 4-8 Lijiang (Intercontinental)
Sept 8-11 Shangri La (see above)
Sept 11-12 Shaxi (two nights: maybe the Old Theatre Inn? - rent a bike for the day)
Sept 12-14: Dali (Hilton resort with free shuttle into old town)
Sept 15: fly from Dali to Kunming (worried there will be no bus tickets left when we're there to book at the station: justified?)
Sept 16: fly home (South Korea) from Kunming (got good non-stop flight)

Please feel free to comment and thanks in advance for all advice!