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alli
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Registered: 8-26-2020
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Car Rental VS Own Vehicle
Hola all. I am doing some preliminary research. I am trying to plan a trip to Baja. Dates are TBD. It would most likely for a month. I'm looking at
both driving my own vehicle, an older subuaru, all wheel drive, not at all fancy. Or renting a car in San Jose del Cabo. Would probably go as far
north as La Paz, including Todos Santos, Cabo Pulmo. I could also drive a large pick up.
I know that I will have to get insurance for Mexico. Any advice vs my car or rental? If this has already been covered I apologize!
Thanks for any insight.
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David K
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Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Hmmm... you might be happier in your own car... Subarus are great in Baja! Bring an electric air pump for the tires... as all you need to do to drive
across sand is to deflate the tires... Subarus are great in the sand!
You can buy your Mexican auto insurance online, print it out at home, for the days you are in Mexico. A 6-month or annual policy is probably cheaper
than 30 days of coverage, and you won't stress about the insurance expiring before you leave! You can check the quotes online: www.bajabound.com is a sponsor of this site.
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JZ
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Quote: Originally posted by alli  | Hola all. I am doing some preliminary research. I am trying to plan a trip to Baja. Dates are TBD. It would most likely for a month. I'm looking at
both driving my own vehicle, an older subuaru, all wheel drive, not at all fancy. Or renting a car in San Jose del Cabo. Would probably go as far
north as La Paz, including Todos Santos, Cabo Pulmo. I could also drive a large pick up.
I know that I will have to get insurance for Mexico. Any advice vs my car or rental? If this has already been covered I apologize!
Thanks for any insight. |
You can rent Jeeps in Cabo. I've done it before. It was pretty reasonable and would think it would be the same now.
For the rental you get insurance right from the rental company.
For your own car, use bajabound.com. Their website is very good.
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David K
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Posts: 64855
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Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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If you rent a Jeep, make sure it has a working four-wheel-drive. It has been posted (in the past) that the front driveshafts of rental Jeeps were
removed to keep you turistas from off roading!!!
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alli
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Thanks JZ and David. @David, yeah I get it. i live in Colorado and the same thing happens to tourist renting an SUV and thinking that aromatically
means a 4X4.
Any though re: Subaru VS Tundra? The Subi has somewhat beefy tires, for the vehicle, the Tundra more so. The truck would allow us to bring more toys.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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| Quote: Originally posted by alli | Thanks JZ and David. @David, yeah I get it. i live in Colorado and the same thing happens to tourist renting an SUV and thinking that aromatically
means a 4X4.
Any though re: Subaru VS Tundra? The Subi has somewhat beefy tires, for the vehicle, the Tundra more so. The truck would allow us to bring more toys.
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Indeed, your call!
I would guess the Subaru will give you over 30 mpg vs. half that for the Tundra?
A truck gives you cargo room!
I drive a 4x4 Toyota Tacoma now, but Subaru 4x4s were my choice back in the late 70s to 90s (I owned three). They lost me when the went to AWD (and no
low range).
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JZ
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Bring the Tundra for sure.
If you want advice on great off road trails around the area don't hesitate to ask. I have tracks I can upload for you. Baja Sur has amazing places
to see on dirt roads.
Watch the video in my sig to see some.
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AKgringo
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Have you driven down Baja before?
If this is your first trip, I recommend traveling light and seeing as much as possible, so I would take the Subaru! Like David, I had a long standing
love affair with the old style, early eighty's with low range and huge tires!
If your intent is to go way off road with toys, the Tacoma would do you well, but I can almost guarantee that you will return home with stuff you
didn't need!
I assume the Tacoma is valuable enough to carry full coverage, but an older Subaru with liability only could be far less costly. I drive old iron
with liability only in the states, so I buy an annual drivers license policy that will cover me when I decide to cross southbound whenever I get the
impulse!
You might want to checkout the coverage with Bajabound for a DL policy, which would also cover both of you for most other vehicles, not just yours.
[Edited on 8-27-2020 by AKgringo]
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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advrider
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Registered: 10-2-2015
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Word of caution when dealing with Cabo rentals. When we rented at the airport they charged us more for the insurance then the car rental and we
couldn't leave without said insurance! No other cars we're available at the other rental offices so we were stuck.
We videoed the car with the agent before we left the lot. When we went to return it they started saying we owed $50 per hubcap that were
scratched and started pointing out other "damage", when we pulled out the video, they said have a nice day!
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paranewbi
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Location: San diego
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Rental Story in Loreto
Rented car for a few hours to drive up to local mission (paid for full day). Returning the vehicle, the guy walks directly to the back of the car and
points out cracked plastic panel under body (you had to bend down and look under the car to see what he is talking about). I pointed out to him the
residue of Duct Tape that was left when someone removed the tape from some time ago.
He said 'Have and nice day' and walked away.
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wilderone
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Are you camping? Hotels? What toys? What activities are on your list? I flew into Cabo and rented a car at Cactus Auto Rental - online reservation
- reasonable (of course had insurance and was included). No hassle at the counter. It was a well used Camry, but always pulled me through the sand
and mud and over the rocks. No problems. I was camping - had brought all my camping gear and an inflatable surf mat which I used time and time again
(snorkeling, lolling at waterfalls, surf, sleeping). This was a 16 day trip only in the Cape area as far as La Paz - plenty to see and do. If you
drive and are coming all the way from north borders, driving all the way to Cabo Pulmo, etc., that's a LOT of miles and a lot of beaches, sites to
explore in between. Time might be better spent in the northern half OR southern half. I'd suggest fine-tuning and prioritizing your activity list,
budget, mpg, day-to-day itinerary (more or less - will fall apart anyway). You might want 3-4 days in one place before moving on. Also, whale season
is pretty special. A mule trip out of San Francisco would be memorable. Fishing at Rancho Leonero (poles provided - side trip to Cabo Pulmo can be
arranged) a classic.
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BajaMama
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Location: Pleasanton/Punta Chivato
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Mood: Got Baja fever!!
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To rent a car for a month will cost at least $2,000 - we rented a little SUV for just over a week in Loreto and it was about $750. Also flights into
Cabo. But if you choose that route you will save on travel time - 3 days each way into La Paz from USA. If you like to drive it will just cost
insurance (about $300 for 6 month full coverage policy, much cheaper if liability only) plus gas and hotels/motels. Significantly less expensive to
drive (and more fun IMHO). So it really depends on your budget - if you have the $ and want more days in Southern BCS, fly and rent a car, if $ is on
a budget, drive. Good luck!
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lav_ocotillo
Newbie
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Registered: 8-30-2020
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thank you for this thread! i'm planning out a trip as well. is it totally unreasonable to not have 4wd or awd?
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AKgringo
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There a plenty of places to go, and things to do that you won't need a 4x4! I like to go to places less traveled, so it is my choice to drive one.
Even on the backroad adventures I have had in Baja, 4x4 is rarely used, it is more of an insurance policy to cover mistakes!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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lav_ocotillo
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awesome, thank you 
i think since it's my first time i'll stick to main roads unless invited elsewhere hehe.
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thebajarunner
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Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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4 X 4 is muy macho, but not needed
I raced in all the SCORE races for 12 years, plus a few other random events. Drove a 2 wheel drive Ford pickup. Also did all of our pre-running in a
2 wheel drive pickup.
For the past 22 years have made an annual trek down to various places, always going off road for lots of great exploring
Only in my 2 wheel drive F150.
Drive with your brain, not with your foot, and you can pretty much go anywhere.
Sand was always my nemesis.
Only got stuck a few times, always in sandy spots, often in deep ruts that had filled with sand.
If you are concerned about getting stuck go to a steel shop and ask them to cut you a couple 4 foot long pieces of expanded metal.
They lay down flat in your rig and are great for getting unstuck.
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JC43
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I donno what the real problem is. Driving your own car means loosing at least a week from the US to CSL - back and forth. Monywise pretty much the
same. Flying against gas mony. And stying on main roads does mean you don`t need to go to a steel shop.
So where is the issue?
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Alm
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| Quote: Originally posted by JC43 | I donno what the real problem is. Driving your own car means loosing at least a week from the US to CSL - back and forth. Monywise pretty much the
same. Flying against gas mony. And stying on main roads does mean you don`t need to go to a steel shop.
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Puzzles me too. For one person the cost of gas, hotels and meals on the road is about the same as the flight to CSL if not more. Should consider (at
least) one week of his life wasted on the road VS car rental cost. If staying on main roads like he said, any car will do, whatever you can get for
less.
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JZ
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This not really true.
And you can't expect ppl like the op to have close to your knowledge of how to do it, even if it was true.
That said, 2 wheel drive is fine for a lot of Baja. But don't go very far off the beat path.
[Edited on 9-7-2020 by JZ]
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JZ
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Rice, beans, and rocks in BoLA stores strikes again.
"The journey is the destination."
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