superbusydad - 10-4-2016 at 09:20 AM
On more question I have gone to Baja for years and love it. This time I want to buy Liability Rental Care Insurance from Sanborns Mexican Auto
(largest in MX). They say their insurance works for both National and Hertz the two companies I renting vehicles. What do you think?
Beagle - 10-4-2016 at 01:02 PM
I'm going to chime in. I'm no expert and there are lots of Nomads with way more knowledge and experience but I will share mine.
First of all, where are you renting from? What area? There are places where Hertz and National are known to be a nightmare. They are not all
affiliated. They are independent and there are lots of issues with Hertz in Cabo, for example.
Most rental agencies in Mexico will quote you the liability insurance with the estimate. It also makes it a whole lot easier. If you are looking at
Kayak or Expedia, they probably are not. But that 4.99 dollar rate a day is not what you will get once you get on the ground.
Depending on where you are flying into, people can give you suggestions on which agency to use for the car. If it's Cabo, we always use Cactus. Alamo
and BBB are known to be honest as well.
In Loreto we used Fox and it was super easy and no hidden charges.
I could be wrong but people use outside insurance like Sanbourns when they are buying for their personal vehicle that they are driving down. I think.
Others will come in and probably correct me but these are the few little things I've learned about the rental situation in Baja.
Good luck
BajaUtah - 10-5-2016 at 10:31 AM
I think you are just opening a can of worms to deal with at the counter. The liability portion of the insurance is mandatory. It's been about
$14USD/day when I've rented from National in SJdC. That coupled with the $10/day vehicle makes a pretty cheap rental.
I can't tell you the number of times I've listened to potential renters arguing at the counter about this or that that they bought on line and the
rental company won't support. I walk in after these people and I drive off and they are still in the same spot fighting a loosing battle. Rental car
companies don't really give a chit about what you bought where unless it's from them and they have no problem saying no.
I can't imagine you are saving a huge amount of money going with an outside company but you will save a huge amount of wasted time and aggravation if
you don't.
On a side note - I always skip the optional comprehensive insurance but that is an easy fight and it's inside my comfort level.