1

National Car Rental is a Mexican company and is able to give you the best rates but you must dicker with them to get a good rate. Then always follow all the suggestions from prior old posts about this as to getting all insurance, inspection and photographing the car when you pick it up. You will be driving in Mexico and insurance on you credit card will not work buy the insurance offered by the car rental company at pick up. Remember if there is an accident the one who speaks the best Spanish wins. Cant tell you about trustworthy you must guard your own back.

2

I think Mexican law say's you have to have Mexican Insurance.

3

I've used Easyway 3 times, they are great and will give you a quote to include all insurance including zero deductible. They will meet you at the airport outside arrivals with your name on a sign and take you to their office which is 5 minute drive away right off Highway 307 (this is good because the car rental sites at the airport have to pay an extra tax). Their cars are reliable as are they.

4

I have reserved from Cancun for a car in April with Budget, which had a better rate than Hertz. The CDW was an additional $25 a day and so I didn't take it. Should I? I'll look at the link above too. Anyone had any good or bad experience with Budget? I will look into Easyway too. But coming back we won't have much time; how long does it take to get from their office to the airport? Do you take you right away?

Thanks.

5

You should, and perhaps - must - have CDW. But your credit card may provide it free of charge as long as you use it with the rental. You need to check with your credit card and, as discussed in other threads, bring a print out if the policy with you in case rental agency tries to deny it.

Unless State of QR has a separate law, I do not think there is a Federal law that requires one to buy Mexican CDW - you credit card insurance suffices. We've done this a number of times in Mexico City and Queretaro without problems. Also, when we did damage the car (no third party, just hit too many topes too hard), our credit card did reimbursed us minus reasonable deductibles excatly as per policy, within a month. It is a less convenient process than when you buy CDW from the rental company but 1)you save $25 a day, 2)out of about 10 times we rented car in Mexico, we had to deal with this once and 3)the deductible on the policy our credit card provided was much better than in their policies so even when we did damage the car, we saved money.

The Third Party insurance is different. You must have it, it got to be underwritten by Mexican entity and my recommendation to take the max option.

6

The problem comes up when you try to show a Mexican police officer that insurance is included on you credit card used for the rental and he is looking for your insurance coverage and does not read English.

7

Patywolf - this is an important dimension I haven't considered and did not need to deal with in the past. Thank you for bringing this up!

Still, for me, my thinking right now is that next time we rent a car, we will still go with credit card's CDW. My logic is this: we have rental agencies Third Party Liability insurance, in Spanish, and this is what the other driver, in case of collision, will want. I assume this is the same a police officer will want to see as well.
As for CDW/LDW - this is for my car and should not be of their concerns (this is between me and car rental). If police officer does get involved and does ask for CDW/LDW -- I'll show my card's insurance paperwork and try to work it out.
What I'll try to do next time after reading your reply is I'll try to find if my card provides insurance policy details in Spanish to have it with me. It very well may, given the popularity of Spanish language in the States.

I guess, yes, the police officer may be "non-cooperative" and use lack of Spanish version of my CDW as base for a extortion. But I guess if this is a corrupt officer, he'll find ways to get money out of my pocket anyway.

Patywolf - did you have to deal with situations like the one you describe?? Again, thank you for bringing this up.

OP - do consider this scenario and see what you think works for you and what you are comfortable with.

Cheers,
/alter

Edited by: alterigor -- corrected statement re printing CDW in Spanish, if possible, and having it with me.

8

No I never had to deal with a problem like this as never had an accident with a rental car in Mexico but one of my friends did and he didnt have Mexican insurance and was trying to tell the police office that his credit card would cover him but the police just took him to jail as his accident had caused property damage to the auto of a Mexican national. The police told him he could take care of the problem by paying but he is an attorney and thought that would be bribing a police office so refused. He was three days in jail. He has never gone to Mexico again. I also had a Mexican friend who ran over a drunk lying in the road at night. He was also arrested and thrown in jail even though it really wasnt his fault and we all had to get together to bail him out.

9

I still say you need Mexican Insurance or you will most likely end up in a Mexican Jail. If you hit someone or something everyone one is at fault until you can prove you are not guilty. When you drive a car into Mexico you must have Mexican Insurance.

10

Paty, you wrote the police just took him to jail as his accident had caused property damage to the auto of a Mexican national -- I assume that you are referring the third party, a damage to the car with which your friend had collision with, correct? If this assumption is correct, then your friend was showing police officer wrong papers.

Credit card provides CDW for your car, not for the other car you had an accident with. The minimal Third Party insurance is actually always provided with your rental agreement and I always recommend, as per my original post above, to also buy additional coverage to the max that rental agency offers. This insurance is in Spanish so police officer should have not have problem reading it.

I think that there was two issues they your friend felt a victim of: first, he tried to show the police officer the CDW from the credit card while he needed to demonstrate a Third Party insurance that covered the damaged car . It's strange that an attorney would make such a mistake so I'd think it had to do with a stressful situation and police pressure which brings me to the second issue: it looks like from your description that the police officer wanted a bribe. If this is a case, let's face it, it does not matter whether you have all your paperwork correct and in Spanish. They'll find a way to extort money or will send you to the station.

11

Have no idea what he showed them as wasnt there but he did say he had refused Mexican insurance because he had coverage thru his credit card. He had an accident and then there was a problem. I always buy all coverage offered myself when using a rental car. One of my credit cards might offer coverage but I am not going to chance it.

12

BLUEWAY! We have rented from many time, recomended them to tons of friends and never had even a teeny problem! Great service, small cars, but reliable and CHEAP!

13

I just rented a car for two weeks at the airport in cancun from thrifty got a good price and they actually allowed me to decline all insurance,but it was an argument. I had to have them look up their own website to prove to them I didn't have to take the extra 3rd person liability.because I seemingly caused them trouble they gave me the worst car in the lot.which was another 15 min to switch cars. Whoever you rent from make sure to go over the car completely and mark anything you see on the picture of the car paper work.all in all had no trouble and wasn't hassled upon return

14

#14, This is truly new to me: I did not know you can lawfully decline entire 3rd party liability insurance. Did you have some other insurance? If not, if you damage another vehicle or injure a person, how are you going to handle this?? This is illegal in the US and I think is illegal in Mexico.
Honestly, I think you were allowed to deny the additional 3rd party liability while basic one had been included into the original rent quote, as per the law. This is a lawful option, even though I do not encourage to do so as if you do hit somebody, you'll be up for paying huge sums way above provided by mandatory minimal insurance included with the rental quote by default.

#13, Thanks! May come useful! :)))