Has anyone ever been in a wreck.....

[Dale]

in Mexico, in a rental car and depended on their credit card insurance?

Yes...I have searched and read before posting.

I have rented in Mexico a couple of times before and put it on my AMEX card and not worried. But last summer we went to California and rented there and an unisured motorist (we were in California, so .........read "undocumented American") rear ended me. The police took her to jail and impounded her car. She had just gotten the car out of impoundment hours earlier!! The police told me the car would be impounded for 30 days so that my insurance company could lien the vehicle to make sure they were reimbursed for the damages. Well......my insurance company never made a claim against the vehicle. They just paid for the repair and AMEX paid the deductable. Ticked me off!!!! It's a principle thing!!
Anyway, I am wondering how it will work if this happens in Mexico. Right now, I'm planning on getting full coverage when we go in a couple of weeks, but it costs more for the insurance than it does for the rental.

I know...Peace of mind....Peace of mind....

[absoluteAL]

Originally Posted by Dale

in Mexico, in a rental car and depended on their credit card insurance? I have rented in Mexico a couple of times before and put it on my AMEX card and not worried.

Well, you were probably lucky because AMEX would not have covered you for car rentals in MX. Every credit card company has different coverage in MX (and basically most credit card companies do NOT cover you in MX for car rentals).
But to be sure, CALL YOUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY first to be sure as some do cover you but most don't.
AMEX does have a special rental car insurance policy that will cover your rental car for MX as long as you put the rental on an AMEX card. The policy coverage is activated when you put the rental on your AMEX card and the cost is $24 or $25 per rental. You should call AMEX right away to inquire about this special policy as you are leaving for MX in less than 2 weeks!

[Dale]

Yes, in the past I have always called them and let them know my intentions and wrote down the name of the person I spoke with. But then, a few years ago, they covered me without an extra fee. Haven't called yet, because I'm probably buying insurance at the rental company. Unless......

[denisea]

Originally Posted by Dale

in Mexico, in a rental car and depended on their credit card insurance?

Yes...I have searched and read before posting.

Hola Dale! Just in case you missed it during your search... below is a rather lengthy post by Blueseas about rental cars, accidents, and insurance in Mexico... who if you remember, had a run in with a MX police cruiser a few years ago.

Originally Posted by blueseas

Incidents and Accidents Car Rentals in the Yucatan

OP - To answer your question, in my experience Dollar rental really sucked. They gave me a funky old car, with a broken A/C. I insisted on something better and eventually got something a little better. Theyu were outside the airport so if you don't like the deal then it is a long trip back by who knows how.

I made the deal with Dollar on the sidewalk at the airport, because the local Cancun company, the one who was supposed to be waving a placard with my name, never showed, and didn't answer the phone.

Dollar and local companies went off my list.

National seemed a cut above, they are at the airport, but they tried the bait and switch trip on me. I had an internet reservation for an inexpensive car, $245/week, but when I got there I was told they didn't have it and I would have to rent a van at $700/week. National's big lot was full of cars and no customers. I sat and waited it out for an hour and they finally gave me something for less, but for more than the original contract. A week into my trip, and hundreds of miles away, the driver's side windshield wiper stopped working in the middle of a downpour. On to the next...

The only company I can recommend is Hertz. I always reserve the car before I leave the states by phone or internet.. The branches in MX are just franchises and if you walk in off the street I don't know if you will get the same deals.

Hertz has either given me the car i reserved or a free upgrade. In 2002 I reserved one of their cars with a Platinum Visa, and declined all the other insurance. At that time rental cars in MX were required by Mexico to carry $80K US in third party insurance - that is any damage that you do to another vehicle of person or property. The Visa platimun benefits covered the rental car.

On that trip I got into a nasty accident on the jungle road south of Tulum, a bad accident with a lot of damage. And the other car was a police car (!!!), that basically ran all the way across my car from behind, then rolled out of control down the road and into the jungle. To make matters worse my car rental contract seemed to have evaporated. Things were looking very, very bad. But I did have paperwork showing the $80K third party insurance, and that made everybody very happy. And Hertz did cover my rental car damage, all of it, after I provided them with lots of paperwork.

The hardest part of the whole thing, besides the hour or so of wondering how many years i would be in jail in MX, and how many different police departments I would have to pay off to get out, was getting together all that paperwork for the Visa people. We had to fly home less than 24 hours after the accident, so I had to track down some of the paperwork after getting home. Luckily i speak some Spanish. I would advise that you get the Visa benifits people to mail or fax you a list of everything they will require from you, if you have an accident, before you go down. They want every scrap of paper you have received from the rental company, including the little picture of the car with all the dings and scratches marked, return time, proof you used the CC, damage estimate, final bill, police report, etc. etc, etc. I eventually got it together and Visa paid for the total cost of the damage to the rental car. No deductable cost to me.

On another road trip 2 years ago, again with a Hertz rental, I had an unfortunate encounter with one of those infamous piles of rocks on the side of the road, while attempting the park my car at night on the beach road in Tulum, leading to a rather large passenger side door crunch. Again the Visa people coughed up for the whole bill.

I was beginning to wonder if Hertz would ever rent to me again, but no problema! Last january I reserved the cheapest car available from them, a VW, to be picked up in Tulum. They didn't have the car, but they did have a real nice car several grades up, and gave it to me the same price! about $20/day.

This time I declined the CDW again and counted on the Visa coverage for the rental car, but now MX only requires rental companies to carry $35K third party insurance. I didn't really feel comfortable with that minimal amount so I did opt to buy the extra 3rd party insurance for $10/day, which gave me a huge amount of coverage. They also have medical coverage for people in the car, for about $3/day, that I get sometimes. My US medical insurance has not been good at paying ANYTHING at all these days at home in the states, and I know that it would be a nightmare trying to get reimbursed for medical costs MX.

I would definately rent again in the Yucatan, there is so much to see, but i would only rent from a large international company. I've heard some bad stories about renting on the cheap from local MX companies. In general I like to give my business to locals, but in the case of car rentals I'd say go with a big US company, or somebody from your home country that you can easily reach by phone and talk to in your native language.

AND one last thing: The LEFT HAND TURN SIGNAL RAP. !!!

A left hand signal has a totally different meaning in Mexico than it does in the US. In MX it is used to tell the car behind you that it is safe to pass, that in fact they should try to pass you as soon as possible and as fast as possible. It you use the left signal light like you do in the states, to let the car behind you know that YOU are about to pass the car in front of you, or that you are about to make a left hand turn, then you are very likley to find that while you are making that turn, or passing that car, that the car behind you ends up running through you, or over you.

That is exactly what happened to me. I signalled that I was about to pass the very slow VW in front of us on a narrow 2 lane jungle road with no shoulders. I pulled into the left lane, and the big black Suburban behind me seeing my signal, went to pass at the exact same moment. It was travelling at about 100mph and tried to squeeze pass to my left. Its two passenger side wheels ran across the whole side of our rental car, leaving a deep crevasse across both doors and fenders. It then lost controll and rolled down the road and into the jungle. Be very very carefull with that left hand signal!! I still have not got clear advice on how you are supposed to signal a left turn. Some people say you should use your hazard light, others say to pull off the road and wait till the road is clear. Anyway I'm sure you can see the problem.

It anybody knows what the rules of the road are on how to signal a left turn, I'd REALLY like to know!

[MaripositaII]

Originally Posted by Dale

in Mexico, in a rental car and depended on their credit card insurance?

Yes...I have searched and read before posting.

I have rented in Mexico a couple of times before and put it on my AMEX card and not worried. But last summer we went to California and rented there and an unisured motorist (we were in California, so .........read "undocumented American") rear ended me. The police took her to jail and impounded her car. She had just gotten the car out of impoundment hours earlier!! The police told me the car would be impounded for 30 days so that my insurance company could lien the vehicle to make sure they were reimbursed for the damages. Well......my insurance company never made a claim against the vehicle. They just paid for the repair and AMEX paid the deductable. Ticked me off!!!! It's a principle thing!!
Anyway, I am wondering how it will work if this happens in Mexico. Right now, I'm planning on getting full coverage when we go in a couple of weeks, but it costs more for the insurance than it does for the rental.

I know...Peace of mind....Peace of mind....

I can't help with your question, but can say that though we paid A LOT for the insurance (much more than the car itself), I would never do it any other way because I never had to worry. We rented from National and I only have good things to say about the company. We got exactly what we ordered (a VW Jetta) almost new, and they folks were awesome to deal with. Rented online and picked up in Cancun.

[Joana]

Um- those who, like me, thought this thread was about wreck-diving.....raise your mouse!!!

[absoluteAL]

Originally Posted by MaripositaII

We rented from National and I only have good things to say about the company. We got exactly what we ordered (a VW Jetta) almost new, and they folks were awesome to deal with. Rented online and picked up in Cancun.

I agreed with you and in my many trips to Playa (Cancun Airport), I only use National Car Rental and I always book online. If you take options "no AC" and "manual transmission" you will get the best/lowest price and a car with AC. In the past you would get a VW Bug with no AC but nowadays 99% of their cars have AC. July 7th I rented a car from National for $18.72/day and it was an almost new VW Jetta. I only used the car for 1 day as I have my car in Playa. I used it mainly to transport alot of luggage and get me to Playa as quickly as possible on my first day.