Anyone Rent a Car in the Caribbean?

[Mainsail Minnie]

I'm thinking of doing this to have more comfortable transportation to the beach we plan to visit, which is not a beach regularly frequented by taxis. I'm trying to avoid open-air vehicles you protect my sensitive ears.

Experiences?

 

[mousefan73]

I can only say my colleague happen to mention last week they rented a car in Cozumel to visit some nice, off the beaten path beaches. Were no issues at all. Me personally I would not want to rent a car on any island that is super hilly, narrow roads and especially if driven on the left side of the street.

 

[cdoc29]

I've rented cars in St. Thomas and St. John as well as Puerto Rico. Didn't have any problems on those islands and the experience was great not to mention the freedom of coming and going when we wanted too.

 

[aliceinvunderland]

We’ve rented in Cancun (not Caribbean), Grand Cayman, and Turks and Caicos. No problems in any of those locations!

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

I've rented cars in St. Thomas and St. John as well as Puerto Rico. Didn't have any problems on those islands and the experience was great not to mention the freedom of coming and going when we wanted too.

Who did you rent from on St. Thomas? Can you rent an automatic with a GPS?

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We rented through Avis for our land trip to Belize. On landing, we were told that the Toyota 4x4 that we'd reserved wasn't available so we had to go to 'Local Rent-a-Car Guy' down the road where we jammed into a Jeep Patriot. Super not awesome. It had seen MUCH better days. This was through Avis, a reputable company here stateside. Yes we got compensated when we got home and DW flame-sprayed corporate about the bait and switch, but didn't help much there. That being said, if you're going to rent in a US territory, I'd be much more confident of a positive result.

 

[Calantha]

It wasn’t on a cruise but my mom and I rented cars in Puerto Rico and in Costa Rica and never had any issues in either place.

 

[cdoc29]

Who did you rent from on St. Thomas? Can you rent an automatic with a GPS?

We rented from Budget right at the dock in Havensight. I don't know about GPS. Verizon worked with our smartphones as part of our domestic plan so we used that.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

We rented from Budget right at the dock in Havensight. I don't know about GPS. Verizon worked with our smartphones as part of our domestic plan so we used that.

Are automatic cars available, or do you have to be able to drive a standard?

 

[cdoc29]

Are automatic cars available, or do you have to be able to drive a standard?

If I remember correctly ours was an automatic

 

[mab2012]

I've rented in Cozumel on a cruise, and in St. Lucia on a non-cruise vacation, both with Avis. I think they were manual in both cases (definitely in Cozumel), but you can probably reserve an automatic if you prefer.

It's worth keeping in mind that the local companies are franchises of the large rental agencies, and they do not necessarily use exactly the same procedures or have quite the same standards as you'd find in North America. That's true even in Europe (they're not necessarily worse, just a bit different).

When we returned from Cozumel I had to have my credit card replaced due to fraudulent charges in Mexico. I know it was the car rental place, because I used that particular credit card exactly once on the entire trip. I don't recall the card being removed from my sight, but it's not difficult to memorize a 3-digit CCV number for the five or ten minutes they would need before writing it down.

I didn't have any trouble in St. Lucia, but the service was sooo slow. IIRC the agent was on a break or something at the time the car was reserved, and then it just took forever to do the paperwork.

Also make sure you check the hours. Often the offices close early, and sometimes also have a mid-day break, and there may not be anywhere to just leave the car when you're done with it. In Cozumel we had to park on the road several blocks away from the port. We went back to the ship briefly, and then I went back out to collect the car and return it after the office re-opened.

Having said all that, I would for sure do it again. I find renting to be both far cheaper for a family of four and more flexible than other transportation options, so we do it frequently. But it's good to know what to expect.

 

[AquaDame]

We've done this in several spots - San Juan, Grand Cayman, Barbados, Aruba... never had a problem yet (knock on wood) though the logistics can differ greatly. We are planning on doing it again in Aruba this Jan as well as on Curacao. Which island are you thinking..?

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

We've done this in several spots - San Juan, Grand Cayman, Barbados, Aruba... never had a problem yet (knock on wood) though the logistics can differ greatly. We are planning on doing it again in Aruba this Jan as well as on Curacao. Which island are you thinking..?

St. Thomas for our upcoming cruise, Cozumel for a cruise over a year from now. I'm pretty sure I'm going to rent a car on St. Thomas, but am more on the fence about Cozumel, because it's foreign, and because the cost of a DCL private vehicle excursion on Cozumel is about half the cost of what it is on St. Thomas.

 

[lklgoodman]

I haven't rented a car before, but there are some islands I wouldn't want to drive in. St Thomas was fine. When we were in Cozumel we had about a 20 min drive. Cars were zipping all around and it appeared there were no traffic laws, this would make me nervous. Just something to think about.

 

[AquaDame]

St. Thomas for our upcoming cruise, Cozumel for a cruise over a year from now. I'm pretty sure I'm going to rent a car on St. Thomas, but am more on the fence about Cozumel, because it's foreign, and because the cost of a DCL private vehicle excursion on Cozumel is about half the cost of what it is on St. Thomas.

Alas we haven't rented on either of those islands but I wouldn't personally think twice about renting one for St Thomas either. Mexico I'm a little more on the fence about... we did have a rental car for a week in Mazatlan and afterwards the stories poured out about how lucky we were not to be involved in any kind of accident as it's usually a "pay to get out of there without going to jail" situation. Numerous people have told me since to carry cash to buy your way out of tough spots if necessary. I'm still figuring out where my skepticism ends with that sort of thing.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Mexico I'm a little more on the fence about... we did have a rental car for a week in Mazatlan and afterwards the stories poured out about how lucky we were not to be involved in any kind of accident as it's usually a "pay to get out of there without going to jail" situation. Numerous people have told me since to carry cash to buy your way out of tough spots if necessary...

I just read something similar to that by a guy who wrote an article about renting in Cozumel: "Here's how to respectfully bribe a cop if you're pulled over...Whatever you do, don't give the police your actual passport..."

I also saw a review of Avis in Cozumel in which a woman said her credit card was used for fraudulent charges in Mexico, and she knew it was someone at the car rental place because that was the only place she used that card.

I've decided to stick to taxis or a DCL-booked car service in Cozumel. I travel as a single mom and am simply unwilling to put myself and my son at risk of getting into a difficult situation.

I will rent a car in St. Thomas, though.

 

[Intr3pid]

We rented from Avis in Tortola - it was an automatic SUV. Their office was a short walk from the dock.

We drove to the west end of the island, parked the car at the pier, boarded the ferry to Jost Van Dyke, and reversed the trip on the way back. Had time to enjoy a bit of the town as well.

St Thomas would be easier to drive, but we found plenty of cheap taxis right outside.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

We rented a car in St. Maarteen and had a great time doing our own thing all day. This was in 2008 and hurricane Omar hit the island after we left.
We got off the ship and there were 5 booths , 2 of them no names but the prices were good. You didn't pick the car you just got a car or a jeep. If I remember it was 45 dollars. They had the old paper credit card slide and kept it on file until you brought the car back and then they just gave me the whole thing back. The guy said look if you trash the car you get in a cab and go back you your ship and I'm out a car. Fair enough.
We got a small 4 door Toyota I can't remember the model but it kind of looked like a Dodge Neon, figure that out. It had seen better days but it was clean and the ac worked. We had friends take a Jeep and were driven to the house where it was and dropped off. The soft roof was all ripped when they put it down and it didn't have an exhaust. Not there was a hole in the muffler, there was no exhaust. I mentioned our car was clean and had air conditioning, same rental place.
Anyways before bringing it back we stopped and vacuumed it out because we had filled it full of sand and brought it back with a quarter tank. When we dropped it off the guy wanted us to keep it and go driving around some more to burn it off.
We saw a whole lot more of the island and visited more places than if we had cabbed it.