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My credit card will cover the CDW, I just need to get 3rd party liability. Was it easy to find your way around town using google map? Would you recommend driving or just using public transportation and taxis?
I'd double then triple check that credit card coverage. Most cards don't cover rental cars in foreign countries. And your regular car insurance almost certainly exempts coverage in Mexico. (We lived in Mexico part time for two years. I'd HIGHLY recommend that you use public transport and taxis.)
Hello,
We are going to be in mexico for about 2 weeks and wondering if its worth renting a car or relying on ublic transportation. We will be staying in Playa del Carmen, but would like to explore other towns , cities, excursions, ect. What towns, cities would you recommend we visit? The thing is, most of what I have read about car rental and insurance online is a nightmare. So looking for advice, would you recommend driving? did you use any car rental place you would recommend? what has been your experience driving around Mexico? TIA
I always rent a car when traveling to Mexico. A car gives you the freedom to go wherever you choose. We have discovered lots of wonderful little restaurants and bars driving around Mexico.
Yes, there are insurance scams. Be sure to understand what your CC covers and what your car insurance covers.
I'd double then triple check that credit card coverage. Most cards don't cover rental cars in foreign countries. And your regular car insurance almost certainly exempts coverage in Mexico. (We lived in Mexico part time for two years. I'd HIGHLY recommend that you use public transport and taxis.)
I go to Mexico almost every year and we always rent a car. My credit cards (both Capital One and Citibank) DO cover rental cars in almost all foreign countries.
Anyone renting a car in Mexico should read the rental agreement and also contact their CC help line if you have questions. Mexico does not accept third party liability insurance from a US insurance co or CC so you must buy that in Mexico.
Another vote for getting a rental car for your upcoming Mexico trip.
I rented from Alamo at Cancun International the last two times I have been in the area, with no issues. As other have pointed, many credit cards provide insurance for car damages. I personally Amex's premier insurance coverage. In addition, definitely get the third party liability which is required and cost abour $18/day.
As to the towns, and sites to visit, a couple of suggestions:
1) From Playa del Carmen south, visit the ruins of Tulum and of Coba. You can cover both in one single day trip.
2) There is a new toll "cuota" highway that takes you west and get you quickly to the colonial town of Valladolid, and the nearby Maya ruins of Chichen Itza and Ek Balam (the latter, one of the few pyramids, along with Coba, that you can still climb!）. Within a few blocks of center of Valladolid is the Zaci cenote (underground water hole), don't miss it!
3) Further out west is the colonial city of Merida, I would recommend that you stay here for at least three to four nights to truely enjoy this time (the night life in downtown Merida is fantastic!). There are several pyramids south of Merida worth visiting, e.g. Uxmal, as well as several cenotes that you should not miss if you happen to be in the area.
We drove our own car in MX, as well as rental cars from time to time. No big deal...always us the cuotas (toll roads) when they are available for better time, conditions, less crowds.
I highly recommend the city of Izamal, about 2.5 hours from Playa del Carmen...it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world! Also, a tad farther northwest is Celestun, where you can see pink flamingos in their natural environment (small boats will take you there for a reasonable fee).
Thank you everyone for your recs & comments. I am here to report back, and hopefully this can help anyone else looking to rent a car in the future. We did rent a car, we didn't get that supplemental insurance they try to sell you at the car rental place. I did a lot of research online, read many blogs, and different articles and found out that the only required car insurance in Mexico is actually included in the car rental quoted daily price by law. The agent at the rental company will try to confuse you and tell you, that no "you need xyz insurance in addition" and lots of misinformed people end up paying for that extra insurance they don't necessarily need. So, once I found out online that the required insurance by law is already included in the price quoted, and recommendations to always reserve the car online first, I found a car on Hertz, then called Hertz from the US before making the reservation and confirmed with them that the required insurance is already included in the price. The lady from Hertz said it was and told me that the people at the car rental office will try to sell me additional insurance, I just have to be firm and tell them no, I don't need any as I was planning to use my credit car insurance in addition ( Both Citi and American Express, that I called confirmed they would cover cars in Mexico if I use my cc for the reservation). So, I printed the letter from Citi confirming proof of coverage for my rental and brought that with me in Mexico. Of course, the agent wanted to sell me additional insurance and said " no, no by law u need xyz' and I cut him off right away and said" I already called Hertz and the rep told me that the mandatory insurance is already included in the quoted price" he was like yeh but don't u want anything additional, I said no, I will use my credit card insurance for the rest. He was like " but you do understand if anything happens to the car, we will charge your credit card, are you okay with that" I said Yes! So the cost for everything, gas included ( prepaid a full tank), + taxes, ect was going to be around $320 for 11 days. As we were exiting the Hertz, we were stopped by another salesperson telling us to go listen to a sales pitch in Tulum about a resort and if we did, we would get $200 cash or $150 in Hertz credit. We thought it was too good to be true, but we were going to go to Tulum anyways, and were like what da hell, lets try the Hertz credit option, there is a free lunch included and potential savings, we will lose 2h of our time at best and walk away. We did go to the salespitch in Tulum, we had a great lunch and listened to someone talk about buying into a resort package ( a bit different from timeshares). It was actually an interesting discussion, as it was personalized, we said no at the end, and we still got the $150 Hertz credit. Returned the car at the end of our trip, and ending up only paying $170 because of the Hertz credit, so the car basically cost us about $17/day
So yeh, do your research beforehand and don't be scared by all the things you read online. Driving in Mexico is pretty easy, we used Waze & GoogleMaps for directions and didn't get lost once. We only took the toll road a couple of times, as we enjoyed taking the longer route and discovering all the little villages on the route. If anyone is on the fence about renting a car in Mexico, do it, it gives you so much flexibility, we did things on our own term/timeline and felt bad for all the people we saw in crowded tour buses. We were able to visit so many different places: Merida, Izamal, Progresso, Coba, Valladolid, Tulum, Playa. Loved Merida & Izamal. Uxmal and Coba were our favorite ruins, and Chichen Itza was such a let down. If anyone has any questions, let me know, otherwise, we had an awesome time in Mexico and are sad to be back and will definitely rent a car there next time! Don't get scared by all the horror stories online, I am sure some of them do happen, but that would be true for any country, even in the US.
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