Anybody have any good car rental stories?
I recently rented a jeep for a week from a rental company at POP Airport which i will not mention in case dr1 has advertising revenue from them, though i don't see any at first glance. let's just say the whole thing was a real adventure. I asked in both english and spanish if the price included collision insurance and was told that it did. as i was in a rush to leave so that i would not have to drive in the dark, i did not take the time to read the fine print which basically says that i was insured but would have to pay an undetermined deductible in case of an accident. this was on the back of the contract and only in spanish (front of contract is bilingual) so i don't know how non-spanish reading tourists could understand this.
of course, murphy's law and one of those beaten up guagua/taxis clips me in santo domingo and takes off and eludes me in the traffic. A small dent and scratch on the jeep were his signature. It turns out that I was insured but would have to pay up to a U$950 deductible! But I could have had full insurance - i.e. no payment of deductible - if only i asked! As I had a flight to catch, I bargained her down from close to RD$6000 to RD$4000 for something that would have cost about RD$500 to repair according to our local body shop in Samana. Sounds like a scam to me.
So beware to get full insurance and have it clearly stated in writing that no deductible will be due in case of accident - big or small. Moral of the story - i should have taken the vehicle to a local body shop and had the damage repaired and hoped that the rental company didn't see the damage.
As well, what kind of rental company delivers you a vehicle with less than a quarter tank of gas?
As well, I received my first traffic ticket in Santo Domingo the other day for a U-turn, though there was no sign that said i could not take a u-turn. i was told that clearly since it was a busy street that i should have known better. My response was that the malecon is a much busier and longer street; and there are "no u-turn" signs everywhere. So the Amet officer took my driver licence and gave me a ticket and told that us we could pay the ticket in a few days and once paid i would get my driver's licence back. is this complete idiocy or what? i was immediately enraged because i knew that i would never see the driver's licence again; and I have just been a victim of credit card fraud and don't need my i.d. to get into the wrong hands. as i was leaving the country the next day, my (dominican) wife took over the conversation and after about an hour and 4 other Amet officers, she fortunately came back with my driver's licence and the ticket cancelled. Just another day in paradise.
Is the holding of the driver's licence typical pratice? As in normal countries, why don't they just give a ticket, whereon it tells you where to pay (i think she said BanReservas) and if you don't pay and you get stopped down the road then you're in deep doo-doo?
I recently rented a jeep for a week from a rental company at POP Airport which i will not mention in case dr1 has advertising revenue from them, though i don't see any at first glance. let's just say the whole thing was a real adventure. I asked in both english and spanish if the price included collision insurance and was told that it did. as i was in a rush to leave so that i would not have to drive in the dark, i did not take the time to read the fine print which basically says that i was insured but would have to pay an undetermined deductible in case of an accident. this was on the back of the contract and only in spanish (front of contract is bilingual) so i don't know how non-spanish reading tourists could understand this.
of course, murphy's law and one of those beaten up guagua/taxis clips me in santo domingo and takes off and eludes me in the traffic. A small dent and scratch on the jeep were his signature. It turns out that I was insured but would have to pay up to a U$950 deductible! But I could have had full insurance - i.e. no payment of deductible - if only i asked! As I had a flight to catch, I bargained her down from close to RD$6000 to RD$4000 for something that would have cost about RD$500 to repair according to our local body shop in Samana. Sounds like a scam to me.
So beware to get full insurance and have it clearly stated in writing that no deductible will be due in case of accident - big or small. Moral of the story - i should have taken the vehicle to a local body shop and had the damage repaired and hoped that the rental company didn't see the damage.
As well, what kind of rental company delivers you a vehicle with less than a quarter tank of gas?
As well, I received my first traffic ticket in Santo Domingo the other day for a U-turn, though there was no sign that said i could not take a u-turn. i was told that clearly since it was a busy street that i should have known better. My response was that the malecon is a much busier and longer street; and there are "no u-turn" signs everywhere. So the Amet officer took my driver licence and gave me a ticket and told that us we could pay the ticket in a few days and once paid i would get my driver's licence back. is this complete idiocy or what? i was immediately enraged because i knew that i would never see the driver's licence again; and I have just been a victim of credit card fraud and don't need my i.d. to get into the wrong hands. as i was leaving the country the next day, my (dominican) wife took over the conversation and after about an hour and 4 other Amet officers, she fortunately came back with my driver's licence and the ticket cancelled. Just another day in paradise.
Is the holding of the driver's licence typical pratice? As in normal countries, why don't they just give a ticket, whereon it tells you where to pay (i think she said BanReservas) and if you don't pay and you get stopped down the road then you're in deep doo-doo?
