SNEAKY SNEAKY
Originally Published the Week of June 2, 2023 in Western Outdoor Publications
Rental cars…
Sometime when travelling, they are just a necessity. An evil necessity at times, but admittedly, it’s nice to have the independence to move around when and where you want.
But, there’s a few downsides to that here in Mexico as well.
We deal with many of our fishing clients who rent cars while on vacation.
Especially for Americans…darnit…we like to have our car! It’s almost as important as cellphones and credit cards. They are just such a part of our collective psyche that there’s no question that you’re always going to rent a car on vacation.
It’s almost an American entitlement, if you will. No one has cars like Americans. Or is such a car culture.
But, renting and using cars down here can be tricky.
I think you really need to ask yourself how much are you really going to be using it?
Like many of our fishing clients here in La Paz, they’re fishing all day . They aren’t out sightseeing. At night, many of them find, it’s hard to navigate Mexican streets. It’s easier and cheaper to take a taxi or use Uber. Especially if they plan to hit the bars and nightspots.
On top of it, even if you use the rental car…where are you going to park it?
Here in La Paz, many of the streets were built when donkey carts and riding on horseback were the travel-method of the day.
They are basically converted cobblestone streets. Some are STILL cobblestone.
And they are just about wide enough for a donkey cart.
There’s no place to park. Even for a local like myself.
For work, I have to park two blocks away from our office/ restaurant on the waterfront.
But aside from that, there’s some wonky things we’ve noticed lately more and more.
Now, I’m not saying EVERYONE does this, but there’s some sneaky things some (not all) companies seem to be doing more and more. Just some things to keep in mind.
For one, there’s the bait-and-switch. You rent a car online.
When you get down here…OOPS! “I’m sorry senor. We don’t have that model today. But, we have this other one that is just a little more expensive. “
They got you. You have no choice. BAM!
Next, when you rent the car and do the “inspection,” Look at things very very carefully and critically. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take photos with your cellphone.
There’s two things that can happen when you bring the car back.
One thing just begs to happen.
You drive up to return the car. You and the agent do your inspection.
Suddenly, ever little nick and scratch is now something YOU did and you are now responsible for.
Just the other day, one of our fishing clients rented a car and sure enough, when he brought it back they suddenly and incredibly discovered scratches on the body work.
He told them those were normal road splashes. They refused to believe him. He was going to get charged despite his arguments.
He went and got a wet rag and wiped the “scratches” clean showing them there was no damage.
Another client who rented a car said he absentmindedly didn’t read all the paperwork he received when he drove the car from the rental company.
We’ve all done that. We assume everything is hunky-dory.
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the rental agency had “mismarked” the amount of fuel in the vehicle. They marked it ¾ full instead of ¾ empty.
When he returned it, they noted the fuel guage and were going to ding him for returning with an almost empty tank.
He told them he hadn’t even driven the car more than 10 miles during the whole week. They didn’t believe him.
“Look at the gas gauge, Senor! You left with ¾ full and came back with it almost empty!”
He finally convinced them of the “error” when he showed them the odometer had only gone less than 9 miles and logically, he could not have burned up almost that whole tank of gas.
There’s another sneaky little thing as well. I think it’s an outright scam.
You rent the car and everything is fine.
When you come back, they find “little things” like finding curb marks on the tires where the tire may have scraped against a curb. Or excessive bugs on the grill.
They tell you “no problem.” You don’t need to “worry about it because you purchased insurance.”
You see them mark it down on a claim sheet.
Hmmmm…that means they’re going to make a claim against the insurance company (that they had you purchase) that there was “tire damage” or “grill damage.”
They get money.
Really bad form. Sneaky sneaky.
That’s my story!
Jonathan
That's My Story 
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