10 photos
Car rental In Santo Domingo
I want to thank Jackson for operating this site, which is a great forum to exchange ideas, info, experiences, etc. I have met great guys and lifelong friends on this site.
On each of my last 25 trips or so, I have rented a car in the DR. I have not been involved in any accidents and I have driven to many different areas of the Dominican Republic, in the daytime and at night.
I personally know guys who have been involved in car accidents in the DR, who did not go to jail after the accidents. To keep one ISG member from exploding with anger, let it be known that if you drive a car in the DR and you get into an accident, you might go to jail (In the US, some American drivers involved in some car accidents are thrown into jail after some car accidents).
This past trip I rented a Nissan Tilda (nissan versa in the US) , four door car, good air conditioning, compact disc player, the car had under 1000 miles on the odometer. Alamo and National are owned by the same company. I rented from National this past trip and used the rental counter that said Alamo at the las americas airport in santo domingo (SDQ). I paid $238US for a 7 day rental, which included Third Party Liability insurance for $7US per day and tire, windshield protection for $3. 75US per day. I decline the collision / damage theft protection which costs $19. 50US per day (my mastercard credit card provides collision / damage theft protection and this past trip I purchased the custom luxe travel insurance from CSA for $54US, which includes $50, 000US for rental car damage as well as other coverages for medical, dental, death payouts, etc, [url]http://www.csatravelprotection.com/[/url]).
This past trip I was told that the $19. 50US per day insurance offered by National / Alamo includes the third party liability insurance and the glass, tire protection (if you decline the $19. 50US Alamo insurance, according to the Alamo website you have to take the $7US per day Third Party Liability insurance). My past 20 or so car rentals in the DR, have been with Alamo / National (same cars and same rental counters in the DR). I make the car reservation online at least 24 hours before arrival and print out a copy of the reservation with the price and bring it with me to DR. With Alamo / National the price on the reservation, is the price I paid. Alamo / National Car rental is open 24 hours per day at the las americas airport (SDQ) in santo domingo.
This past trip I used a $30US off coupon code from BJ's travel site; [url]https://www.nationalcar.com/index.do?action=/hotDealsTemplate&msg=ZL_BJVacations_splash&cm_mmc=bjs-_-web_offer-_-mop-_-5027379.[/url] (the codes in this link saved me about $45US on a weekly rental in the DR). I have never been asked for a BJs membership card in the DR at Alamo / National.
For the week that I used the car in the DR, I paid 3166 pesos for gas (about $83US). First two days in DR, I used taxis, because I was drinking alcohol those days, the last five days I drank no alcohol, because I knew I would be driving the car.
Some road photos west of Santo Domingo, highway near Bani and smaller roadway near Azua. Beach is Playa Monte Rio in Azua. Lots of mountains visible, drier climate with some large cactus plants growing, lots of farms growing tomatoes and onions, guys selling jars of cashews at slowdown spots on the road.
I try not to drive at night in the DR. I will not give AMET or Policia Nacional any reason to break my balls while I drive, so I drink zero alcohol the days I will be driving. I have all the rental documents with me in the car, insurance info from alamo (seguros universal in DR) , New York Driver's license and my US passport. This past trip AMET did not bother me. I was asked to stop one time in the afternoon near GBP, by two guys on a motorcycle who I thought were policia nacional, but maybe weren't, no name tag on the outside of their clothes and the guy questioning me would not let me copy his complete name from the identification card I asked to see. I also told those two guys to come with me to the US consulate or the US Embassy, which was close-by and they refused, they wasted less than 10 minutes of my time, no money and in hindsight they may not have been real police. That was the only stop I had this past trip.