Hillbilly said:
Unless you have passed your Formula 1 Driver's Test and the Indianapolis Rookie Test, you should probably not drive on your first four visits to the DR.
Perhaps only in DR could you both be so far apart and at the same time both be correct!
Best advice falls somewhere in between, I think, depending on the newbie and their travel plans. Without details, "use a taxi or driver upon arrival. you can switch to a rental car on day #2, #3, or never as you see fit"
Remember, there's a surprising # of people that fly to Punta Cana & think they'll make a day trip to Samana using the shortest route visible on a map!
WOULD NOT RECOMMEND a non-spanish speaking newbie fly into Santiago at 10pm, has a rental lined up, and plans to head to Cabarete or Rio San Juan. I'm not recommending that, are you?
GO FOR IT if you're a Spanish speaking newbie arriving in SDQ at 10 a.m. & wanting to drive to a hotel on the Malecon & spend a few days driving around the capital.
Those of us who are comfortable driving here typically gained that comfort level over time and know things that a first time visitor doesn't. Few of us headed off across country for the first time without some insight from friends & probably one or two people we could call for help.
We know:
a) at pickup the rental car will likely be running on fumes and where to find the nearest station before it runs out
b) how to head out of an airport toward town and arrive at our hotel (without many/any signs pointing the way)
c) around which curves on the mountain roads half of the road is washed away
d) to travel the mountain road thru Moca, not the old Carretera Turistica
e) driving Santiago to POP is going to take an extra 30-45 minutes due to road construction - more on a rainy day
f) that from Punta Cana to Samana to go through the capital as opposed to the 'shorter route' on a map
g) that to take the roads along the haitian border north to south is not the 3 hour trip it appears on a map
h) to generally turn around and take another route when we see burning tires or little mounds of rocks scattered in the road
i) what someone waving a red flag on a rural road signifies
j) where to turn off the autopista and what turns to take in moca to head to the north coast
k) which roads are truly one way and which one way roads are merely suggestions
l) how to tell if the 3 guys standing in the road with semi-automatic weapons who want to stop our car are the good(semi-good) guys or not
m) how to deal with political rallies in the street
n) how to get gas in the mountains or rural areas
o) enough spanish to at least get by