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Puerto Morelos, Yucatan
Peninsula, Mexico
Thursday 15 December 2011
“You did get a good rate,” said the Dollar (Thrifty) Car Rental agent at
the Cancun Airport, “would you like to purchase additional car
insurance?”“No,”
replied Ray, “it is covered under our Visa credit card.”
“Let me
explain the PLI, Personal Liability Insurance,” said the agent, “the
Mexican government now requires that you purchase this insurance as
there are no local representatives in Mexico for American or Canadian
credit cards. The cost is $20 USD per day.”
“But that
is more than twice the daily rate of the car!” exclaimed Ray.
Ray and I
had just arrived from Ottawa that morning. We the extreme kindness of
our friend Al Robinson, we had been driven to the airport at 3:30 AM to
catch our 6:00 AM flight to Cancun. We were tired and didn’t need any
agrevation. We had reserved a car through the Westjet website for the 18
days we would be in Mexico. We had flown to Cancun with Westjet and used
the same car rental company in Wales. What started out being an
economical way to explore more parts of the Yucatan Peninsula was
suddenly ballooning to unacceptable limits.
Another
man in the car rental office, at a separate desk, beckoned me over. “If
you agree to attend a session explaining our hotel, the Mayan Palace, I
can give you discount coupons to cover the extra insurance,” he told me.
The Mayan
Palace was where we had arranged a timeshare condo for one week starting
next Saturday. It sounded like a good compromise and we told the car
rental agent to add in the extra PLI insurance. He figured out the cost
on a hand calculator and showed us the total. We couldn’t believe our
eyes! It was more than four times what our original arrangement had
been!
“Can you
please explain how that total was calculated?” we asked the
agent.“Certainly,” he answered, “there is an 11% tax on the PLI and an
extra 15% airport tax on top of that.”
That was
just too much for us. Even with the discount coupons the cost was more
than our budget could take. The public bus system, our usual mode of
transportation, was looking better and better. We left the Discount Car
Rental office with no car and headed to the airport bus depot across the
road.
A short
time later we were on a comfortable bus heading for Puerto Morelos, just
20 km south of the airport. It cost less than $5 CAD per person. We took
a $2 CAD taxi from the bus stop on the highway into Puerto Morelos and
arrived in time to have a relaxing lunch before finding our condo
rental. We booked into a pleasant studio apartment, complete with
kitchen, a block from the town square and three minutes from the white
sand beach. The town is so small we don’t have to drive anywhere.
Besides, walking is good for our health.
We are
staying in Puerto Morelos for two nights before heading to the Mayan
Palace on Saturday for the next week. Then it is back to our studio
apartment in Puerto Morelos until after New Years. Once again, it will
be public transport with the occasional taxi ride for us, no expensive
rental car this trip.
Note: This comment I
received on the blog may be worth checking out
if you want to rent
a car in the Yucatan.check out “Easy Way Rent A Car”. This is a local
company with very tied prices (very low over-head and management
expenses). The booking can be done through their web site at
www.easywayrentacar.com . The price that you see online, with insurance
or without insurance, is the final price that you will pay when you pick
up the vehicle: no taxes, no airport fee, no mandatory add-on, no fine
prints.
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