We're going to Mexico next week (just south of Cancun) and we weren't planning on renting a car but I decided to just look at it today and it's like $60 for the entire week which makes it pretty tempting. Anything I should think about when renting a car and/or driving in that area?
GPS either provided by the rental company or bring your own with maps. My ex rented a car for us for the day when we were in Playa Del Carmen and we drove to Tulum and Coba. We drove back to resort at night and it was just really dicey not to have GPS. As in I was terrified we were lost... We didn't have GPS but I could of turned my data on my cellphone on I guess if it was really bad.
It was a last minute decision to rent the car. I would of probably googled beforehand driving in Mexico if I knew before we left. Because at night families and single people would stand along the highway to try and hitch. And I mean a good amount of people and they stand really close to edge. I felt like we would nearly hit them. If I knew this a bit beforehand I would of been less freaked out about the first person we drove by. When you are driving you can go by fields of nothing and then bam little village where you drop your speed and go over a ton of speed bumps (Topa) They are marked with signs ect but make sure you watch for them and actually slow down. Because if you miss the last one and think you can start speeding up... You can be like my ex and clunk out the Automatic transmission. Children and adults will also be at these Topas selling things sandwiches, birds, ect. Nothing threatening about it. Just the way of life there! But like the hitch hikers on the road if you don't know about it. It can be a bit shocking that you might hit them. Also lots of dogs on the loose which can be hard for an a airmail lover to see.
Ok I don't know what the deal with gas is. Because I didn't leave the car for this part. But I think we could only pay cash. Maybe it was just the station we were at. Anyway.... The mess of the gas station day for me 100% was a mess because of the douche I was married to. I'm pretty sure he had to pay for the gas with random euros he had in his wallet. So I say Google filling up in Mexico.
The Mexican police carry bigger guns in some places and are way more present then the U.S. A bit shocking on first glance. Something I wish I knew before hand so I was more informed. As in there are times where you slow down and go through a sort of police check point. Nothing much happens. But it exists.
I can't say if I would rent a car again in Mexico. Depends on what I wanted to do. It was only a bad experience partially because of who I was with at the time. It made for seeing tourist sites much cheaper. Tours from the resort were pricy!
We rented one in Cabo last year. It was fairly necessary for us based on where our hotel was. A couple things I learned:
Don't assume the car will be automatic.
At least in Cabo, although some of the agencies were part of Alamo or other big companies, the affiliation isn't the same as we're used to here and it's no guarantee of quality, nor will the parent company be any help if you have an issue. I read through the Cabo forum on TripAdvisor and went with a smaller company that came highly recommended.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. Mark Twain
Look into the insurance. I feel like I remember there is an issue with that. I can't totally remember what the story is. Something is mandatory and your credit card won't cover it or something... It can easily make the price a lot higher than $60.
We were able to rent an automatic. I can't remember which company it was with however (probably Hertz) but got it in Cancun and drove south. It's an easy drive all the way down to Tulum (that's as far as we went - we did head off to Coba which was also an easy drive).
And as someone said - be aware of the "Topes" (speedbump) signs. We blew past one and were like, huh, what's a topes? and found out pretty quick as we flew over it.
Talk to your insurance agent, but I'm 99% positive your personal auto insurance doesn't cover you in Mexico. You'll have to buy a short-term Mexican policy when you get there.
Carry cash with you to pay off the cops. We got pulled over twice and both were just cases of the cops seeing Americans and knowing they could get some money out of you. They threatened to take DH's driver's license and he said that was fine because he had his passport back at the hotel and would be able to get home with that. It was easier to give them $20 than deal with their crap. I would never rent a car in Mexico again.
Carry cash with you to pay off the cops. We got pulled over twice and both were just cases of the cops seeing Americans and knowing they could get some money out of you. They threatened to take DH's driver's license and he said that was fine because he had his passport back at the hotel and would be able to get home with that. It was easier to give them $20 than deal with their crap. I would never rent a car in Mexico again.
Same shit also happened to us.
We rented in San Diego and drove down to Ensenada for my husband's 30th birthday. The trip was fine until we returned and were about 10 minutes from the border. We were at a red light waiting to get on an on ramp and we saw two Tijuana cops take a rope and two cones and literally rope off the on ramp. This caused us along with a few cars to be detoured down some side streets. We were going about 20-25mph because we were lost, we had no idea how to get back to the border and suddenly a motorcycle cop was on us. We were all relieved at forst because we thought he would help us get back on track.
He motioned for us to turn onto a roped off side street where another cop lifted the rope up and we drove under it. We were told we were going UNDER the speed limit which apparently is illegal to them. We were threatened with being taken to the station or pay him $200. We only had $120 between the 5 of us and he took that, put it in his pocket, told us how to get to the border and then drove off. I will never go back to Mexico. Fuck driving there.
Ugh. I just found out that the shuttle to/from the airport is $300 for all of us but renting 2 cars will be less than $150 (not counting gas). WWYD? It seems like a no brainer to rent the car, but maybe not?
Were your plans to only stay at the resort (assuming your at a resort sorry if you are not)? Were you planning to do any tours outside of the resort?
If you were planning tours and already budgeted the cost. Then I probably wouldn't rent a car. Rental car makes it nice to see sites cheaper than a tour. But it's not exactly ideal driving in Mexico. If you are definitely just staying at the resort and have no plans for outside travel. Then I would just pay extra for the shuttle.
Post by definitelyO on Jan 15, 2015 12:37:33 GMT -5
I would make sure that the quoted price includes all insurance. in mexico I would buy all insurance offered by the rental company as I don't trust them to not try to get you for something after you've turned the car back in. Also - if you get a flat tire they charge you if you haven't purchased the insurance.
are there other private (reputable) shuttle companies? seems really really expensive at $300 for the hotel shuttle! what a pain!
Ugh. I just found out that the shuttle to/from the airport is $300 for all of us but renting 2 cars will be less than $150 (not counting gas). WWYD? It seems like a no brainer to rent the car, but maybe not?
Again - this includes all insurance? You really need to make sure of that. There is some sort of insurance that is mandatory in Mexico that is not included in the quoted price and is not covered by your auto insurance or credit card. And as another poster said - make sure you get all the insurance in Mexico - they could come after you for something really lame and it could cost you a lot of money.
If you are looking at transfers -I've always used USA Transfers (they are great - no complaints at all) - I'm not totally positive, but I think they price by vehicle, not by # of passengers? Look into it. It might be an economical way to get everyone to the resort.
I would only look at getting a car if you have plans to drive around a lot. Or are staying somewhere remote (which is what happened in my case when I did rent a car). Its not worth the hassle of jacking around at the rental place or dealing with the hassle of driving. I had no problems driving there, but many other people do. The stories posted in this thread about money extortion are not uncommon.
Post by majesty318 on Jan 15, 2015 14:12:10 GMT -5
Not sure what town you will be staying in, but there is bus service from the Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen and I imagine many other resort towns, too. I took the bus when I did a girls' trip to PDC a couple years ago, and it was fine - easy to find at the airport, cheap (I want to say $20- ish?), and direct
Ugh. I just found out that the shuttle to/from the airport is $300 for all of us but renting 2 cars will be less than $150 (not counting gas). WWYD? It seems like a no brainer to rent the car, but maybe not?
How many people are there? Depending on the total people 300 for everyone isn't too bad. I am also assuming it is for the return trip. Check out different companies. Where did you get this price information? There are tons of shuttle services including the major companies such as Hertz, Apple Vacations, etc. all offer vans so compare prices. The one bad thing about the vans are usually there are other people in the vans to be dropped off. If you are the last stop it can be a long ride and vice versa coming home, you will get picked up first and pretty early even for a later flight.
We have rented cars on a couple of occasions but not for the whole week. We have rented cars for the day to take daily trips. The cars are small, old, and do not come with automatic air condition. Also, more than likely you will be stopped by the cops and will need to pay them off. A couple of years ago on trip advisor there was a long forum about this where we were told to print this letter to give to the cops if/when you are stopped. For the life of me I can't remember what it was but it came in handy; well that and a 20 dollar bill.
What about a cab? You can negotiate with them pretty easily. Personally, depending on where you are going, how far the resort from the airport is I wouldn't want to drive. If in Cancun there is only one road to get to the resorts which are littered by police.
Talk to your insurance agent, but I'm 99% positive your personal auto insurance doesn't cover you in Mexico. You'll have to buy a short-term Mexican policy when you get there.
Def check with your agent about your policy specifics.... The company I used to work for covered accidents within a certain # of miles from the border, but that was it.
Post by DirtySouth on Jan 20, 2015 14:26:36 GMT -5
No way in hell would I drive a car in Mexico. The government, including the police, are very corrupt. If you are in an accident, it is quite possible that you will end up in a Mexican jail with a bit of a mess to sort out. That just isn't worth it, imo, and I'd pay $300 for the shuttle.
Ugh. I just found out that the shuttle to/from the airport is $300 for all of us but renting 2 cars will be less than $150 (not counting gas). WWYD? It seems like a no brainer to rent the car, but maybe not?
Does that include insurance? Is there a place to park at the resort? For how much money? Sometimes, having a car can be more of a hindrance than a help and you can easily find yourself paying another $100+ in taxes, insurance, gas and parking.
Not sure what town you will be staying in, but there is bus service from the Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen and I imagine many other resort towns, too. I took the bus when I did a girls' trip to PDC a couple years ago, and it was fine - easy to find at the airport, cheap (I want to say $20- ish?), and direct
We took the shuttle from Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen 2 years ago. I want to say that it cost about $45 RT per person.