Margariet
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: 8-30-2008
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Driving to Los Cabos from Tijuana / San Diego in rental car
Hi to all you experienced nomads. It is our first time to Baja, not to Mexico, and we are planning to drive all the way down to Los Cabos with a
rental car. We would like to drop the car off in Los Cabos and take a one way flight back to LA. The drop off costs are huge but then again we don't
want to drive back. I have read many topics on this forum and on Tripadvisor and in several books about car rental, driving, crossing the border etc.
but I still don't know which option to choose. It seems like everyone has another advice. What's the best option, also for crossing the border.
Renting a car in Tijuana or in San Diego? By the way, we are from Europe and we live part of the year in Spain so we are used to what Americans call
the European style of driving and we can manage in Spanish. Thanks for helping us out on this matter!
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
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Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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welcome. i'd doubt that US company would want to get their vehicle back from cabo (1 way rental). i'd just rent in tj and not worry about it. how are
you going to get to the border from LA if you rent in tj?
always, more questions....
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Diver
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4729
Registered: 11-15-2004
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Definitely rent your car at the TJ airport.
The rates will include insurance and will be much less as will the drop off fee.
Also consider a RT to Cabo and a rental car for the time you are there.
You may be able to travel as far north as you want this way and maybe cheaper overall.
And all your driving will be in Baja Sur !
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805gregg
Super Nomad
Posts: 1344
Registered: 5-21-2006
Location: Ojai, Ca
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Just skip northern Baja and fly directly to Loreto, La Paz or Los Cabos.
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Kell-Baja
Nomad
Posts: 360
Registered: 1-18-2003
Location: San Diego
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www.cabaja.com specializes in rentals from San Diego to Baja. They also have one way rentals to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
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Margariet
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: 8-30-2008
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Thanks for your advices. I am still working on it because every car rentla company has different rates and different conditions and the costs of one
way rental vary enormously. However it's better to rent in Tijuana and not in San Diego. The rental costs and the one way costs of cabaja.com are
huge! Several times higher than the costs of the big chains.
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Margariet
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: 8-30-2008
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Yes, we did it! We made our trip by rental car from Tijuana to Los Cabos. We had a wonderful trip! Everything went well, according to plan except our
initial car rental from Hertz. But after that we had a smooth journey which I recommend to anyone who likes to see more of the wonderful landscape of
Baja California. We dropped our American rental car in San Diego, took the bus from the airport to the trolley stop, took the trolley to San Isidro,
crossed the border on foot (no check) and took a cab to Hertz. In another post I mentioned our problems with Hertz. We made arrangements in advance
with Hertz Tijuana for a rate with CDW and TP included, which were confirmed by e-mail but when we arrived there they presented us the same rate
without any insurance. We had to pay about $ 1000,- extra for all insurances. We then went to Alamo where we got a good rate with all insurance
included and a decent midsize car. Afterwards we complained with Hertz and were rewarded with $ 100,-. Hertz told us that there were problems with the
independent Hertz car rental offices in Mexico. We made the trip to Los Cabos in 7 days. We took our time to enjoy the landscape and made overnight
stops in Rosarito, San Quintin, Catavina, San Ignacio, Loreto, La Paz and then in Cabo San Lucas. We stopped along the way to vist places like
Ensenada, Guerrero Negro, Santa Rosalia, Mulege. The landscape with the cactusses, cirios and rocks and the views onto the sea are great. Only the
agricultural part between Loreto and La Paz was quite boring. The trip went very well, the car was good, the roads were in good condition and
unbelievable how few cars we met! Often we had the road to ourselves. Coming from a densed country like the Netherlands in Europe and used to travel
to France and Spain, it was actually so quiet. We often saw the same cars or drivers the next day! Of course there are no shoulders everywhere but it
was nothing compared to countries in South America where we have driven. We had about 6 to 8 security stops, which went smoothly. Only once our car
was quickly inspected. We always had enough gas and had no problems with the Pemex, only once in Santa Rosalia where the man pretended that he had
filled up for $ 10 but we heard that there went no petrol in the car! Not a good cheater! We took our tourist card in Ensenada. Contrary to other
posts I've read it's no problem at all to get a tourist card over there. We paid at the bank the normal price and at another bank a seperate fine
which was only $ 5. Since it was very quiet in Ensenada - we were the only ones - and the fine was so low - I would recommend this to other
travellers. Besides they have very good espresso in the local Starbucks in Ensenada. Afterwards we stayed a few weeks in San Lucas and San Jose del
Cabo, toured around the cape to lovely Todos Santos and the eastern side. Saw some wonderul beaches and lovely places. We dropped the car of at the
aiport for about $600,- and flew back. It is a must for people who like to drive and who want to see something differently than the more tourist
oriented places like Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo! Thanks to all the advices on this forum!
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Woooosh
Banned
Posts: 5240
Registered: 1-28-2007
Location: Rosarito Beach
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Great trip! What was your total cash outlay for transportation? Seems like you got twentied and fiftied- not nickeled and dimed.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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BajaNuts
Super Nomad
Posts: 1085
Registered: 5-11-2008
Location: eastern WA, the DRY side
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Mood: no worry, no hurry....it's all good!
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sounds like these European travelers did some good research and had a great trip!
Margariet, you had an awesome trip! Maybe you would want to visit Baja Mexico again?
Don't worry about the "5&dime" needle.....there will always be someone saying "you paid how much for THAT?!?!?!?"
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