Renting a car in Mexico?
Learn from my mistakes.
I rented a car in Aguascalientes for 3 days in july through kayak. It was my first trip renting a car in Mexico and we were already there when we realized we would need one for one leg of our trip.
Hence I didn't research things as well as I normally would have.
I was quoted a total cost price $92.41 CDN for a full size car through kayak at the airport site.
I addition to this I would require additional 3rd party liability insurance as the only additional insurance as my HSBC jade card covers the CDW/LDW.
I was prepared for the usual rental car upsell.
I was advised that additional 3rd party insurance would make my total around $85USD per day.
I was given a Nissan sentra. I asked the Alamo agent inside the airport to confirm if this was a full sized car, he adamant it was. I am not familiar with nissan cars.
I inspected the car and it seemed very small. The agent at the curb also insisted it was full sized. Both employees insisted it was full sized even when I pointed out how small it was. I did not have internet access at that point.
Later during my trip when I had access to the internet I went onto the Mexican alamo website.
1. A Nissan sentra is a compact not a full car. A full size car is a Nissan Altima. Oops!
2. On the mexican Alamo website additional 3rd party liability insurance is an additional 342 pesos per day. Give or take around $25 CDN a day.
This makes my total around $55 CDN a day for 3 days not over $85 USD a day.
When I returned the car to Alamo I pointed all of this out to the guy at the desk.
The guy at the desk still insisted a sentra was a full sized car. Then I showed him the alamo website.
Then he changed his story and told me he had no idea about any of this and he would adjust my final bill after I got his manager involved. I was a lot of hassle when I should have researched this before I rented the car.
I just received my credit card bill and I was charged $206.64 for 3 days. So they made some adjustments after I pointed everything out.
Its marginally more than I should have paid but the car was 1/2 the size it should have been.
So the point of all of this is what do you actually need?
First off, this is a first world problem.
Well obviously I didn't research things as well as I should have.
1. Additionally 3rd party liability insurance. Mexican rentals come with some 3rd party liability but it's quite small. The Mexican Alamo website it turns out is very open and transparent regarding fees for pretty much everything. I would recommend additional cover, but that's up to you. If you have comprehensive cover on your car in Alberta, mine covers me for Canadian and US rentals but not Mexico.
2. CDW/LDW This covers damage to the car you are driving and loss of use. My credit card covers this. But as I learned last year in Vancouver when someone damaged my car with budget. Budget doesn't bill directly. Budget billed my credit card, I called VPD for a police report number, paid budget and had a cheque from the credit card insurance a few weeks later. So be prepared for that if you use your credit card insurance.
If you dont have a few thousand knocking around, that could be a problem.
3. Personal injury insurance. If you have travel insurance or extended care from work that covers travel then you dont need it.
You just need your CANADIAN license to rent the car and they wouldn't release the car without signing for a deposit.
Mexicans in aguascalientes were far more civilized drivers than Calgary.
Overall driving there was a great experience apart from the over charging and the wrong car.
For internet, just go to an oxxo store, kind of like a 711. They are everywhere. Get a telcel sim, make sure your phone is unlocked. 50 peso to activate the sim, then 6gb of data for 30 days was 500 pesos, <$40CDN

I think using the term 'Full sized car' caused some of the confusion. I didn't really know what you meant and I can imagine in a foreign country where people are speaking English as a second language they wouldn't really understand. I suppose you wanted a Sedan over a more compact car? Most cars in North America are huge, at home I'd see a compact car as 'full size' the alternative I'm imagining as a clown car!

Simon not at all, Its was on the printout from the form i had and the alamo Mexico site uses the same lingo.

Lester Brayham seems a weird choice of wording on their website!

Simon Not at all, these are standard terms around the world when you rent cars with global brands like Alamo, Hertz, Avis etc.
However I have rented cars in a couple places where they use the terms A-E. But you go by the car sizing off of the vendors website. In this instance Alamo Mexico.

Lester Brayham when you have a quick look on Hertz they give options like Sedan and Wagon/Estate (below was the options given when selecting Mexico) which to me makes things easier. If someone asked me if my car was full sized I wouldn't really know what they meant! This is by no means a go at you but I don't think the term 'Full Size Car' would translate well to a lot of people, even if it's their officially used term. It is a really broad description of vehicle type.

Simon you go by the vendors website that you are renting with. I didn't rent with Hertz, I rented with Alamo. It's really that simple.

Lester Brayham like I said I'm not having a go, it looks like Avis use Full Size and Standard as terms for their cars but the example images show no real difference in car size. All I'm saying is I can see where the confusion on the employees side could happen, especially in a non native English country.

Simon you are not making any sense. If I rent a car with hertz, it's the Hertz employees responsibility to know their lingo and what is on their rental agreement. If I rent with Alamo, it's the alamo employees responsibility to know their lingo. Once they have my booking reference number it comes up on their computer and they are aware of the class of car I rented.
The guy at the desk spoke perfect English and had lived in the US for a few years.
There was no confusion, I just didn't get what I paid for and was over charged.
Its very simple.
Hopefully other people can learn from my mistakes of not researching this enough.

Just to note, if you have third party liability on your personal car insurance as you mentioned, you don't need purchase it from a rental but the process will be must easier if you get an email confirmation of your car insurance policy from your provider, or printed proof as the rental will require that to waive the fee.

Not usually valid in Mexico. Only canada and US

Christin you are correct - only Canada and United States (no "usually" about it)

Ka as others have said, dont do this it's very bad advice. Canadian insurance will not cover you for 3rd party liability insurance in Mexico. At least not Intact or All State.
If you have a credit card that covers CDW/LDW then check that's its valid where you are going, mine was. This covers damage to the car you are driving but not anything you hit.

Lester Brayham yes thank you, I was referring to CAD/US

Christin also not valid in Quebec.

Thanks for this post Lester - appreciate the info.

Following

I am not familiar with that area. If you travel to Puerto Vallarta I always rent from Gecko. Owned and operated by a Canadian. The service is impeccable.

Deborah had a great experience with Gecko back in February in PV, highly recommend them!

Deborah we also have rented from Gecko & great luck with them

Did you manage to get an automatic transmission?
I found it very difficult, you'd reserve one, show up and no autos were available and I'd be given a manual transmission vehicle.
My last trip to Mexico, I just didn't even bother renting, and we used uber for almost all of our trips.

Christop yes everything on offer from Alamo was automatic. We also used uber's and taxis but on one leg of the trip it wasnt practical. The rental experience was the same as N America or Europe, complete with upselling and over charging!

I think they may have been confused, even though they should know what it shows on there website, but 90% of the cars in Mexico are compact. I personally have always been to nervous to rent because everyone seems to rip around like crazy and the traffic patterns are different

Amanda aguascalientes is an affluent old colonial city in central Mexico. The driving was much more civilized than Calgary.
No confusion from this particular car rental site, just dishonesty.
There is a gigantic Nissan factory in aguascalientes so a good chunk of cars on the road are Nissan's, loads of full sized Altimas. Not just small cars like you see in other places.
I messaged alamo Mexico. The car rental counter gets a computer push from alamo Mexico as to the class of car I rented and the price I booked it at. It's all automated to avoid confusion. Whether you call it full size, D, Venti, or El Grande Gringo, the counter knows the class of car you booked.
Alamo Mexico was actually quite helpful as they have a brand to protect. This was a local issue.
That said I've had similar experiences in Portugal.
Just as they knew additional third party liability insurance is 342 pesos per day (circa $25 CDN) not the over $50USD they charged me.
Again, it was a fabulous trip. I would love to back there again.
Hopefully others will learn from my mistakes and not be misled by knowing how the system works in advance.

Following

Car rentals in Mex are always a bit of a risk and you never know what the price will be. We have rented them on many occasions and we landed on around the price we expected only 2 times. It is important to print out everything from the website when you book and take that with you. Also, know the costs of the extra insurance and what your credit card might cover. They may never have the exact type of car you expect (in fact we reserved once and they didn't have any cars left and handed us off to a third party that charged 3 times More!).....and then there is the chance that you will get stopped by some wannabe police type and shaken down for $400 but end up paying less (yes that happened to us too!)....it is Mexico and there are a lot of unknowns....Car rentals will never cost what the booking site says. It will always be significantly more.

Lana sound advice, I'm sure I would have avoided all of my problems with printed documents if that option was available. I've been to Mexico many times, haven't been shaken down yet and hopefully I never will. Doesn't sound fun.

I have given up renting cars, it’s too much stress and messes up the holiday. I just use uber, I find they are everywhere in Mexico and are cheap as chips, about a quarter of what the hotels charge for taxis. Only issue is that, whilst you can be dropped off on the hotels property, sometimes they don’t allow uber cars on to property to pick up.

Lewi we used uber and taxis most of the time. uber was hit and miss due to the "surge" pricing. Many times taxis were cheaper, other times it was uber. However in some instances such as this for where we wanted to go renting a car was the only realistic option.

Use Turo, way less hassle and nicer cars for less.

Tori not available in aguascalientes

We ordered a specific vehicle online to have an auxiliary jack in the stereo a number of years back. Wound up with a Nissan Tsuru that didn't even have a radio, nor power steering (can't remember if power brakes.) Those make a lot bigger difference than we realize! We found it entertaining at the time, and later found out that vehicle had the worst safety ratings possible. This was a local rental agency in Riviera Maya, who had a reasonable all-inclusive price (and no markup for us being under 25 at the time.) Basically, expect the unexpected, and generally set your standards low with csr rentals there. If there's something you absolutely need, I'm not sure what to suggest to ensure it's provided.

Jay what a dreadful car, maybe that crappy one they gave us wasnt so bad?

Far more civilized than drivers in Calgary!!!! Lol I love it. I'm 3 hours from Calgary and hate the drivers there.. heading there tomorrow and not happy about it!
Thanks for the info

Laura Calgary drivers make Egyptian drivers seem laid back and courteous.

I was shopping online and saw many rentals for $70 for 3 days. Anyone here has gotten those deals before? What's the catch?

They don't include the mandatory insurance. In many countries, you can just decline the extra insurance that car rental agencies try to sell you on ('I'm covered by my credit card / car insurance / etc"). This is different. It's insurance you *have* to buy or they can't legally rent you the car.
Yet, the car rental agencies in Mexico are still allowed to advertise prices through sites like expedia, kayak, etc *without* including this mandatory insurance, which is usually somewhere around $25-$35/day.
As a result, many prices on search engines for car rentals in Mexico are much lower than one can ever actually rent them for.

Vivian chris above nailed it.
If you look at this link for alamo Mexico and scroll to the bottom it will show you all of their fees for insurances.
https://www.alamo.com.mx/en/car-rental-policy
The one you need to/must get is the third part liability insurance for 342 pesos per day.
If your credit card covers CDW/LDW then you dont need that or personal insurance if you have medical insurance.
Print everything out for when you go to the rental counter. That's what I didn't do.
Your rental vouchers,
Copies of the car size from the vendors website.
This page with all the insurances on it.
If I had these I'm sure my experience would have been different.
Know the prices for the extra insurance before you go
ALAMO.COM.MX
Alamo Car rental policy

Thank you both!

F

We had a similar experience with Budget and a $500 charge for 2 days rental.

Rosalie OUCH!

Great heads-up. I don't like 3rd party sites for renting cars, it's my opinion they don't have your best interests at heart. When renting cars outside of N.America it's always best to ask if the rental cost includes all insurance coverage and to do your due diligence and see if your credit card will cover anything and what the downsides of that coverage is.