The addition insurance for the car was only about 86 pesos it was a drop in the bucket, plus since we used a platimun cc it was also insured through that which was good since we got smashed by a pick-up truck. Yes you can also go about renting a van for a day with driver for about 600-700 pesos a day depending on where you are trying to get to. My parents hired someone (from my village) to actually drive them around so that they didn't have to worry about the crazy drivers. [I should point out here that when we did get smashed by the other pick-up my father was driving, we were on our side of the road and so was the pickup coming around a blind curve at excessive speed]
So it is all relative. Friends of mine once rented a minivan to take us from Santiago to Samana for 600 pesos because it turned out to be cheaper than the bus, plus we made many colomado stops for Presidente!
