Wally
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A Maddening Bargain With a Mexican Police Officer
You'd think a "travel writer" might be better at keeping his wits about him...
And this gem: "where I had selflessly agreed to take on the assignment of reviewing a brand new resort for this newspaper" makes me want to barf.
Not Baja but could be.
A Maddening Bargain With a Mexican Police Officer
By JEREMY W. PETERS NOV. 5, 2014
NEW YOK TIMES
I should have known that renting a car in Mexico was a bad idea. Before I had my keys in hand, the price had doubled.
I booked through Kayak and landed what I thought was a great deal: $20 a day in peak season for a little compact four-door — all the vehicle I thought
my partner, Brendan, and I would need for the two-hour drive along the Caribbean coast from Cancún to Tulum, plus the added convenience of not being
beholden to taxi drivers once we got there.
Turning to Brendan as we drove out of the parking lot in our $40-a-day car, I dryly observed that maybe our idea to get out and explore the Yucatán on
our own was a little more of a gamble than we had thought. “See, they’ve got their hands in your pocket even before you can leave the airport,” I told
him.
Little did I know that was only the beginning.
The drive down to Tulum and our trips from the beach to town were mostly uneventful. But after three nights, when we packed up and drove back north to
Cancún — where I had selflessly agreed to take on the assignment of reviewing a brand new resort for this newspaper — we hit trouble.
We weren’t yet 20 minutes outside Tulum when the police car pulled alongside us on the highway. We noticed one of the officers inspecting us from
behind his dark sunglasses. Brendan and I immediately flashed back to the couple we had seen suffer the same fate on our drive down. Clearly they were
foreigners like us — moving targets, right down to the pastel polo shirt and boxy white sedan that could only have been a rental.
We hadn’t done anything wrong that we knew of. Knowing how Americans could be ripe for the picking by corrupt cops, I was driving in the right lane,
cautiously sticking to the speed limit.
I pulled over to the shoulder. One of the officers approached Brendan’s side of the vehicle. He rolled down his window. No English.
Brendan was left to translate the best he could in his rudimentary Spanish. All I heard was “Infracción! Infracción!”
Then Brendan relayed to me that the officer wanted my license. I complied. After some more rough translation, Brendan said that the officer was going
to keep my license and that I would have to travel back to the police station in Tulum to pay a fine and retrieve it on a weekday. (It was Sunday.)
That was out of the question. We weren’t about to get back on this highway again without my license, not to mention that turning back would take us
far out of our way.
To our complete lack of surprise, the officer offered a compromise. It would be so much easier if we just paid him directly. In cash, of course. Then
the matter would be all settled, and we could be on our merry way.
When he announced the price — roughly $360 in American dollars — I erupted with a string of expletives. The sanitized version: “Let him take my
license. I don’t give a damn. I’ll get a new one. If he thinks I’m paying him almost $400, he is out of his mind.”
Evidently the police officer’s English improved considerably while negotiating. Because before Brendan could translate my outburst, he threatened that
if I didn’t pay, he would have to contact the American Consulate. That was the very threat that I should’ve been issuing, but the officer seemed to
think that when I tried to board my flight back to New York, the authorities would stop me at the airport because I hadn’t paid the proper fine.
Fine by me, I said. As if the American Consulate has nothing better to do. I brushed him off with a dismissive wave of my hand and told him we would
be getting on our way.
This seemed to fluster him. He came back at me with a counter offer: $120, and I could have my license back. Brendan and I talked it over: $120 — or
$60 apiece; he kindly offered to split it with me — did not seem terrible.
We ended up handing it over. Because the only thing more maddening than being extorted by a Mexican police officer for some invented “infracción” was
the thought of spending hours at the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles waiting for a new license.
[Edited on 11-18-2014 by Wally]
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DENNIS
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That's exactly why I make copies of all my IDs and laminate them. I write in small but clearly legible letters...COPIA..... front and back so as to
avoid any BS claims that might ensue. They look good.
Let the a-hole keep it. I have plenty more just like it.
.
[Edited on 11-18-2014 by DENNIS]
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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motoged
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Not a very experienced traveler....her credit card, for starters, would have paid for the daily extra $20 on the car rental (if she had a decent
card).
Her second mistake was letting her license out of her hand.
Her third was not agreeing to drive to the police office....and the list goes on.
More naive whining..... 
Don't believe everything you think....
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DavidT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by motoged
Not a very experienced traveler....her credit card, for starters, would have paid for the daily extra $20 on the car rental (if she had a decent
card).
Her second mistake was letting her license out of her hand.
Her third was not agreeing to drive to the police office |
Uhh, I don't think Jeremy is a "her".
David
Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
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motoged
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Whoops....small oversight.....please forgive me
Don't believe everything you think....
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Mulegena
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| Quote: | Originally posted by motoged
Whoops....small oversight.....please forgive me
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S'ok, motoged. Jeremy was wearin' a scarf -- hard to tell.
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
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Hook
Elite Nomad
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Location: Sonora
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Mood: Inquisitive
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| Quote: | Originally posted by motoged
Not a very experienced traveler....her credit card, for starters, would have paid for the daily extra $20 on the car rental (if she had a decent
card).
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You mean the kind of card with the annual fee, so that you're paying for that privilege, even when you aren't using it? And most of the cards only
provide secondary coverage to your own existing coverage. And you often must decline the coverage offered by the rental company.
Last time I checked, Visa EXCLUDED coverage in Mexico on all their cards.
AMEX charges a separate fee for collision/comprehensive.
Mastercard only offers it with their premium cards.
Irrespective of the insurance ripoff, I do love it when Mexico's corruption makes the headlines. Nothing like shooting yourself in the tourism foot
while a travel reporter watches.
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elgatoloco
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The good news is that we all know this is an isolated incident and..........
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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motoged
Elite Nomad
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Mulegena
S'ok, motoged. Jeremy was wearin' a scarf -- hard to tell. |
Thanks...
Don't believe everything you think....
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motoged
Elite Nomad
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Hook
You mean the kind of card with the annual fee, so that you're paying for that privilege, even when you aren't using it? And most of the cards only
provide secondary coverage to your own existing coverage. And you often must decline the coverage offered by the rental company.
Last time I checked, Visa EXCLUDED coverage in Mexico on all their cards.... |
Hook,
My Visa card has an annual fee and it gives me a range of benefits....the best being points that I use for flying for longer flights every several
years. So, yes I pay for the privileges...that's business.
My Visa card covers auto rental collision/damage and I decline it when offered by rental company....I have confirmed this three times over the past
six years.
Don't believe everything you think....
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
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| Quote: | Originally posted by elgatoloco
The good news is that we all know this is an isolated incident and..........
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Yeah......Obviously one of them there pilot programs.
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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mexicali-kid
Junior Nomad
Posts: 44
Registered: 4-28-2014
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Wally
You'd think a "travel writer" might be better at keeping his wits about him...
And this gem: "where I had selflessly agreed to take on the assignment of reviewing a brand new resort for this newspaper" makes me want to barf.
[Edited on 11-18-2014 by Wally] |
I've been pulled over plenty in Mexico. Running stop signs, talking on cell while driving, and worse offenses including...beverages.... well I
shouldn't admit to anything here.
I always tell them my boss sent me here to check on something or other and he promised to pay for all expenses including police fines. But I need the
official receipt. Then I tell them I'm on the clock and I get paid while in "Jail".
Never paid a bribe. Once I was taken to headquarters where I paid a 100 peso fine.
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chumlee57
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we've all been subject to this and all deal with it by listening to other peoples experiences with it. a tecate cop nailed me for simply looking at
him ( don't even acknowledge them ) he said I didn't use a blinker, but it was a moot piont, as i was going straight, I demanded to go to the police
station, where I pleaded a case to no avail, ( stopped at a light, was not moving ) paid $65 us and was on my way. I did explain in the best spanish
i could muster up, that it was a shame that a country with such proud citizens are subject to this type of policing, the smirk i received was classic.
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BajaBlanca
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Terrible every time it happens.
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o3dave
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Location: Oregon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by motoged
Not a very experienced traveler....her credit card, for starters, would have paid for the daily extra $20 on the car rental (if she had a decent
card).
Her second mistake was letting her license out of her hand.
Her third was not agreeing to drive to the police office....and the list goes on.
More naive whining..... |
4. Pull out cell phone and video the whole transaction. Seems to make corrupt police officers REAL nervous
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Bob53
Senior Nomad
Posts: 661
Registered: 2-24-2014
Location: Fallbrook, CA & Bahia de los Angeles
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DavidT
| Quote: | Originally posted by motoged
Not a very experienced traveler....her credit card, for starters, would have paid for the daily extra $20 on the car rental (if she had a decent
card).
Her second mistake was letting her license out of her hand.
Her third was not agreeing to drive to the police office |
Uhh, I don't think Jeremy is a "her". |
For some odd reason I thought he was a she while reading this post too.
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
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bajaguy
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Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
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Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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Get an inexpensive dash cam from Amazon.com
| Quote: | Originally posted by o3dave
4. Pull out cell phone and video the whole transaction. Seems to make corrupt police officers REAL nervous |
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