New to the board- Hi Everyone-Love the board! Need car rental advice please.

[Mike]

- went with Easyway and their insurance package.

I rented from Easyway in PDC once. Nightmare. Took over an hour to get on the road, they lie about everything before you sign and to get you to sign.

Where are your cars located? "no problem..."

Are they here or somewhere else? "Yes... yes, it's not problem..."

After you sign up with them they made us wait 30 minutes for their driver to show up and then drove us way back to another location to pick up the car and take another 20 minutes messing around waiting for them to bring the car around so you could leave.

 

[DandyDon]

They were slow with us. Nothing like that, but not as hot as one would hope. "Yes, no problem" is common Mexican BS frequently pulled on tourists and I'd get enough of that in short time.

 

[ccannon707]

Margarita's son runs the Isis Car Rental in Playa and gets the same stellar rep as his mom.

 

[DandyDon]

Margarita's son runs the Isis Car Rental in Playa and gets the same stellar rep as his mom.

I've only rented at PDC twice, attracted by Easyway's no drop charge to Cancun & prices, but I'll try him again when I may rent there again.

 

[mstevens]

Margarita's son runs the Isis Car Rental in Playa and gets the same stellar rep as his mom.

Isn't it her nephew, Edgar Dzul?

 

[scubavaquera]

This makes me nervous about even renting a car while I am there. I have one reserved through Isis, but now I am not sure I really want to do that.

I was not trying to scare you, just wanted you to know how things work here. Chances are you will be fine, but drive with extreme caution. Don't count on cars and mopeds to stop for you even when you have the right of way. Lots of them blow through stops without looking. Just be very defensive. You will be sharing the road with cars, mopeds, bikes, triciclos, and the occasional horse carriage. Also be very aware of taxi drivers. Rules never apply to them! People on motos will frequently pass on the right which makes me crazy. The driving 'rules' here are really only suggestions and pretty much anything goes. Some friends visiting last week had a rental jeep and were making a right turn into their hotel parking lot. Their turn signal was on, they were slowing down and a lady on a moped came up on them to pass on the right as they were turning in and she ran into them. Knocked her off the moto and cracked the fender but nothing major. She claimed she hurt her hand and said it was their fault. Ummm, really? Police came, she changed her story a few times and said there was no turn signal. She ended up asking for 250.00 cash. Police said if our friend wanted to go to the station and work it out he could. My husband, a local, said it would likely take hours and might cost more after the cops got their piece of the pie. Our friend said he would give her 150.00. She took it with a smile and suddenly her hand seemed much better. It is not a good system but it is what it is. The same thing happens to locals who are in accidents too. But when an American is involved they think they can get a pretty nice wad of cash. So, Isis is a great, honest lady and I would visit with her if you have doubts. But if you are just careful chances are you will be fine. Oh- and a funny saying here (which is only a joke) is that if you hit someone and hurt them, it is cheaper to run over them again because they are only worth 8000.00 dead. . Again, only a JOKE!

 

[cvchief]

Actually, I read they just raised the value of dead people. Apparently they are getting REALLY expensive in the state of Yucatan.

 

[ccannon707]

You are probably right. I had read somewhere else it was her son. In any case, the ISIS Car Rental in Playa del Carmen is run by a family member that has Margarita's good values. The concept of customer service, especially with banks and car rental places in Mexico, is slow in coming.

Isn't it her nephew, Edgar Dzul?

 

[stevep4444]

Familiarize yourself with the basic local driving environment,watch for the one way streets,drive with awareness and you will be fine. The biggest hazard may be the cruisers and other tourists on mopeds.

 

[will alter]

I'm a regular vistor to Cozumel, and just returned from a trip a few weeks ago. I have a family of four, and we usually stay at El Presidente. With the recent increase in taxi rates, my wife decided to rent a car for the week. She determined that Thrifty had the best rates, and wanted to pick the car up when we landed at the airport. One problem with that, we're all divers and we had too many bags for the car she picked out. El Presidente had a Thrifty agent on the premises, and we learned the internet rate is much better than what the local agent can offer. But the local agent honored the internet rate so long as we had a confirmation number. Some of this we did not learn until we spoke to the agent, and he had us make the internet reservation from our room, and then return with the confirmation. With regard to insurance, the My Cozumel website offers some advice about insurance you can and cannot decline. Check your credit card for coverage. We used one that provides the coverage that the website recommends. Be sure to look the car over for dings and nicks.