Car Rental in Mexico | Car Rental in Yucatan Peninsula

Safety was one of the most frequently asked questions during our trip to Mexico. And when you rent a car on the Yucatan Peninsula, these questions are "Is it safe to rent a car?" Added question. We were also a little nervous while renting a car in Mexico. While some examples we read and watched pointed to the security problems in Mexico, it was also showing that the police were using various tricks to take bribes. Car rental in Mexico Things to consider during Car rental prices in the Yucatan peninsula A lot of information you need is waiting for you in this article, have a pleasant reading.

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Why Did We Rent a Car in Mexico?

Let me first clarify why we rented a car in Mexico. We wanted to be able to move quickly when our time was short and the number of places we wanted to see was high. When a friend of ours, who had been to Mexico before, said that car rentals are very affordable in Mexico and that the Yucatan Peninsula is very safe for foreigners, it made a lot of sense to rent a car for the 5 days we will spend in the Yucatan Peninsula.

After we decided to rent a car, we decided to take our flight from Mexico City to Yucatan Peninsula to Merida instead of Cancun. Thus, flight tickets from Mexico City to Merida are more affordable than Cancun, and car rental fees are more affordable.

We have rented a car abroad many times before. One of the international price comparison sites when renting a car Rentalscar.com We looked at the price options. You can think of this site as the Booking.com of car rental. It lists the prices of many international and local car rental companies.

After listing the vehicle options, we rented our vehicle from Avis, which we have rented many times before. While renting a car in underdeveloped countries such as Mexico, we prefer international companies instead of local companies, because we want to be sure of the service standard.

When we landed at Merida Airport, we immediately went to the Avis office. They don't take any action at the airport office, they call you a shuttle after seeing your reservation printout. Avis has a large parking lot right next to the airport, the shuttle takes you there. All your rental transactions are made in that parking area. It is important that you do not forget that you are in Mexico, because as with all works, the rental process is done slowly 🙂 Although it is slow, you get very professional and high quality service at Avis standards. We received our vehicle easily.

As in most places, they deliver the vehicle's tank full and receive it full. Let me make a note here; The officer at the office at the airport said, "It doesn't matter if you can't buy gas, we reflect the warehouse difference to your credit card, which you rent at the market prices." However, the officer in the parking lot said, "If you do not bring the tank full, the gasoline price will reflect 2-3 times the market price, you must fill it up and bring it." We secured our job, filled it and left it, while leaving.

By the way, when you receive the vehicle, they put a block of 1200 Usd on your credit card, make sure your card limit is available.

Car Rental Prices in Yucatan Peninsula

We did a 5 day car rental on the Yucatan peninsula. The vehicle we rented was a middle class, automatic and gasoline vehicle, they gave us a Chevrolet Aveo sedan as a brand. We paid a total of 5 USD rental fee for a 68-day, middle class car. We made a rental with the standard insurance package, we did not receive any extra coverage and we did not need it.

Depending on the variables such as the vehicle class you want, gear type, fuel type, and how many days you rent, car rental prices in the Yucatan peninsula start from 12 USD per day and go up to 35 USD.

We traveled about 5 km in Yucatan for 1000 days, and our gas cost was 60 Usd.

Highway Tolls in Mexico

After Valladolid, we used the highway to go to Cancun, Tulum directions, we paid 34 Usd highway fee, it was quite high for us.

• After a point between Merida and Valladolid, the highway toll is collected. The fare from Merida to Valladolid is 185 Pesos, about 10 Usd. Since we did not use the highway between Valladolid and Tulum on the way, we only paid for this.
• On the way back from Playa del Carmen, we paid 266 pesos for the route between Playa and Valladolid, about 14 Usd.
• For the route between Valladolid and Merida, we paid the highway fee of 185 Pesos, ie 10 Usd.

Highway fares differ for motorcycles, cars, trucks, and trucks. The photo below is of a highway entry point.

If you say you can go without using the highway, yes, there are alternative ways to the highway. However, the roads pass through the settlements, there are always very high bumps. There is almost no possibility of speeding up, we went between Chichen Itza and Valladolid without using the highway, but it is worth noting that it slows down quite a bit.

Police Translation in Mexico

At the top of the security alerts with Mexico are the police stopping and intimidation to take bribes, unfortunately. On the way, we came across the police turn around 3 times. More precisely, there are more frequent spins, but they stopped us on three of them. When they stopped, we immediately said that we were Turkish because rental cars are generally used by Americans and they see Americans as money machines, we said they would be fair if they realized that we are not American. We never had a problem with the police in any of them, they checked and left the driver's license/license.

None of the cops who stopped spoke English, it's helpful to learn Spanish for certain words or use your body language. But a little Spanish is very useful for understanding what the police are saying. We are Turks: saying origino Turko helps a lot, for example.

Our old driver's licenses do not have an expiration date, new ones do. They hung on him the most. No expiration date: saying “sin fecha de vencimiento” might be helpful. There were even people asking if my husband's date of birth was this expiration date.

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Traffic on the Yucatan Peninsula

Although the roads we use are quite busy, we did not have any problems with the flow of traffic. We reiterated our claim that anyone who drives in Istanbul can use it everywhere. As we expected, we did not come across anyone driving to death. However, we can't say that they are using very regular vehicles, those who overtake suddenly, those who turn without signaling are waiting for you in Mexico, be ready.

The most important problem in Mexican traffic is that there are very high and wide bumps on all roads except highways. Especially if you are passing through residential areas, there are frequent bumps, the bumps are very high and some of the bumps are so wide that they have become roads.

All standard, general traffic rules apply here as well. It's critical that you obey speed limits and wear your seat belt, especially when there are so many police flips.

There are quite frequent U-turns on the highways, we do not have kilometers, there are almost turns like every 10 km.

Parking and Parking Fees in the Yucatan Peninsula

in the Yucatan Peninsula; We have been to Merida, Valladolid, Tulum, Playa del Carmen and Izamal. Between cities, except Merida, we parked on the street and did not pay any parking fees. We paid parking fees in almost all of the ruins.

• We left our car in the parking lot because we wanted to spend time in the old city center of Merida and the streets were very narrow and there was no place to park. We paid 5 pesos, about 70 Usd for 4 hours of parking.
• We paid 80 pesos, approx 4,5 Usd in Chichen Itza and Uxmal.
• We paid a parking fee of 100 Pesos, about 5,5 Usd in Tulum Ruins. When you return to Tulum Ruins from the main street, people in uniform jump on the road and try to lure you in, saying that they are the official parking lot, and they ask for 150 pesos for the parking lot. Keep going all the way to the end of the road, the official car park is there, it's 100 pesos.

In general, we handled the car rental business in the Yucatan Peninsula without any problems. The situation may be different in deserted or less touristic places, Yucatan is the most touristic region of the country.

If you have any questions, please write them as comments and I will answer them.

Mexico Travel Writings

All the Mexico travel articles I have written are listed below. You can reach the article you are interested in by clicking on the link, if you have questions that you cannot see the answer to, you can add them as a comment.

• For answers to questions such as do we need a visa before going to Mexico, is there a visa fee, is there a gate visa; Mexican visa
• If you would like to go to Mexico for only one week, if you go, what should the travel route be? 1 week Mexico itinerary
• If you are wondering if Mexico is a cheap country, what are the food and beverage, transportation and accommodation costs? Mexico trip cost
• Answers to the questions of is it safe to rent a car in Mexico, how much does it cost: Car rental in Mexico

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