If you rent from a major car rental (Budget, Alamo, National, Hertz) they won't honor the insurance? Can't you request something in writing in advance that the rental agency will honor the CC Insurance?Originally Posted by tampabukkake
One of the .01% banned from I.S.O.C.
If you rent from a major car rental (Budget, Alamo, National, Hertz) they won't honor the insurance? Can't you request something in writing in advance that the rental agency will honor the CC Insurance?
Senior Member
I agree Adventure is the way to go. A buddy of mine fucked up a Jeepeta really bad. Had local insurance and they brought him another. Just like that. Credit Card insurances only reimburse you. Your on vacation. Don't go the cheap route when it comes to cars. I've seen too many accidents happen down there. Driving on the roads kill the small economy cars. Get a beefy vehicle.
Member
I called the credit card companies on this, and it turns out the CC insurance only covers collision and comprehensive, not liability. So you definitely need the local liability insurance from the rental agency. I already said a few posts back that I was planning to get that.
One of the .01% banned from I.S.O.C.
Right now that is not my concern as I found the same information on Visa.com. What I don't understand is in the event of an accident does the CC pay the bill or reimburse you. That is a major factor to consider.
One of the .01% banned from I.S.O.C.
Try going to Budget.com. The rate does not include the fees. Using your CC for CDW the cost will be $238.17 for a 1.1 litre manual ship matchbox.
CIO
I second TB here. They even came out to me & Reel Deal to fix a flat because while the Jeepeta had a jack, spare, and tire iron, the tire iron didn't fit the lugs!Only in the DR!
They will work with you price wise if you visit often, but don't look for a discount on your first trip. Jason mans the POP office and Gipsy is in STI and she is the half owner of Adventure.
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One of the .01% banned from I.S.O.C.
DT the website says they have an office at SDQ but I can't get any price quotes. Does the SDQ office still exist?
CIO
The major car rental places are in name only, franchises, not answering to the home office, except when their franchise fee is late.
You can read some horror stories on DR1 about renting.
CIO
No there is no physical office but they are willing to drop a car off there, they charge a fee, forget how much.
One of the .01% banned from I.S.O.C.
Thanks for clearing that up. Now I understand why Alamo and National rent the exact same cars and have the same address to drop off.
I have read some of the horror stories. That is what keeps me from making the move to rent a car. One thing to have a freak accident in the states but in the DR???????
Member
Herb
In the case of a friend, AMEX Gold would pay the charges directly to the rental agency!
All he had to do was get an estimate from the rental agency and send it in. AMEX would proccess the payment. No problem right? Just had to enjoy his stay at Hotel Miraflores (Police Station) and wait for the transfer. AMEX told him they would due their best to have it all wrapped up within 72 hours! Or he could post a deposit equal to the damages.
Well my friend decided it was better to put $1500.00 for the damages on his Credit Card and for me to loan him $500.00 to pay for the damages to the other car than sit in jail. Top it off, I still don t believe it was my friends fault.
I tried calling in some favors and the best we could arrange was instead of jail, he would be held in the office of the Politur Major.
By the way.... imagine what a Fiat looks like when it runs into a horse or a cow?
DT is right Adventure has somewhat of a satellite office in SDQ. Once they couldn t send me a car, they had another rental agency waiting for me at arrivals with my name. I used it for a couple of days then when I got to Santiago dropped it off at Adventure and they gave me another Jeepeta! Now that is service!!!
I think DT is the King of Rentals and Repairs in the DR!!!
One of the .01% banned from I.S.O.C.
Doesn't seem like it's worth it. So CC CDW is a scam. I think I will email visa and see what they say. I will put them on the spot and see how they wiggle out of it.
So am I correct to say the only safe way to rent a car is to get the rental agency's insurance?
Headquarters
Hey Tampa,
They couldn't just charge it all to his AMEX then let the car place and Amex work it out later??? Amex told me let them charge whatever they want on it and call them afterwards to straighten it out.
Headquarters
I guess I will go back to getting both of their insurance. Tampa, if you have both the rental companies insurance are you then covered ( no time spent at police station)?
Member
That is exactly what he did, figured they would work it out later..... but by agreeing to the charge AMEX gave him a bit of a hard time saying it was over priced, in the end he settled with AMEX for 750 each
As far as getting both insurance, I will say I am no expert.... but I would rather have them on my side
In two cases where Adventure was involved, Gipsy ( Jason once) came to the scene talked to the Policia and everybody went on their merry way (with a little pay off I am sure)
I have also heard the their is a guy in Caberrete ( Prestige I think) who gives the same service
Only thing is I don t think he is in Santiago
CIO
Hey now some of the issues were out of my control like the windshield meeting "una roca loca" and a side window meeting a fucking ladron!
CIO
There was a similar thread on DR1 about Gipsy who came to the police station in the middle of night to argue the renter's case. The Dominican rear-ended the gringo and at first it was the gringo's fault until Gipsy showed up.
Seriously I highly recommend Adverture over anyone else, a local company that is professional! And all I am is a customer.
I have a second story to share, I never elaborated in my trip report because I was on "family" business. But I was litterally going up a mountain offroad, seriously offroad, ask gdogg! 4x4 only, all red clay about 5,000 ft up the side of the mountain, one hour past the nearest town to a coffee plantation, just describing it so you get an idea of what I was putting this rental through. While we (7 of us, Dominican style) were headed a familar face came by on a dirt bike, a real dirt bike a moto never would make it. It was the other owner of Adventure!!!!!! He stops and asks "What are you doing here? You are in trouble!", I was at a loss for words at first since he was absolutely the last person I ever expected to see! Then he sees Reel Deal a few trucks back and goes to him, also I couldn't just stop and chat or I would start sliding backwards, I am talking serious offroad. So the relatives in the back tell me he is a distant cousin, thank god! So when he came back around I started fucking with him. He asks again what am I doing here with his jeepeta. So I reply "¿Dónde está la playa?", "¿Dónde está las putas?" he tells me Just turn right here and go down the mountain until I hit water! Well we finally meet up at the family reunion and he tells me, "I had a feeling you needed an upgrade this trip, I must by psychic". Nothing was ever said when I returned the car.
Last edited by Don Tomas; 06-26-2006 at 02:06 AM.
Speaker Of The House
DT, I remember that like it was yesterday. Talk about a small world. Was that the greatest weekend or what!!
Restored to Green, 03/30/2010
I have only rented once on our last visit last month - however I would fully recommend them.
I admit - I had no accident, no damage to the car and didnt need to use a jack - i guess you can only tell how good a company is when things go wrong. If things dont - MELODY rentals were cheap, cars of a average standard, cheap and the team a pleasent bunch.
Location - With Playa Dorada on your right go along the road past Cafe Cito - then you come to a small row of shops. At the end of this row you will find Melody.
I will definately rent from them again when we return in January.
Dan
Como fuera, parce' ?
I am renting a car from Alamo for a week upon my arrival at STI in October. After reading this post last night, I felt compelled to make a few phone calls to AMEX and Alamo to clear up some of the mystery behind car rental insurance.
I have premium car rental insurance from AMEX which provides complete CDW/Theft Protection coverage...meaning no money out of my pocket for any damage to my rented vehicle. It is automatically activated once I use my AMEX card to rent the car... and a one-time charge of $24.95 per rental is billed to my account. If I elect CDW/Theft Protection from the rental agency, it cancels and supercedes the AMEX policy. The AMEX plan, however, does not provide any liability coverage for damage to a third-party vehicle. The AMEX people advised me to contact Alamo to see if Primary Liability Insurance (PLI) could be applied separately to the rental period.
When I called Alamo, they checked my reservation, and informed me that I would not need their CDW/Theft Protection, if I used the AMEX coverage, and that liability insurance in the DR is already included in the basic rental agreement...no additional coverage from Alamo is required. (I will make it a point to have this confirmed in the written agreement when I rent the car.)
I always carry a paper copy, and store an electronic copy in my e-mail account, of my AMEX premium rental car policy (with phone numbers) whenever I rent a car.
Blue Devil
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