Car rental - driving San Diego to Baja Mexico

Beenie

We want to rent a car in the US and drive into Baja California (Mexico). We then want to leave the car there and fly back to the US.

We know that there's a drop off fee, that you need Mexican car insurance, etc.

The question is: is there a rental company that will do this for us?

Has anyone done it? I've asked this question on another website and had replies along the lines of 'I'd rather fly' but that's not the point - we want to stop en route to see whales, missions etc. That's why we want to drive......

Alan_Bowen

I very much doubt it, I have been to San Diego dozens of times and most refuse to allow you to cross the border, and if you haven't seen Tijuana then you really shouldn't. Just how would you expect them to get the car back, a few allow cross border traffic but they want the car back in SD. If you are so desperate to go, then take the trolley to the border, or take the coach and hire on the other side. The cars are rather different, so are the roads and so, most certainly are the locals.

I love SD, I loathe Mexico and wouldn't go there again if you paid me, I needed a holiday to recover but being realistic, I very much doubt the major car rental companies would want any of their cars left in Mexico at all. Just tried Payless, who are really poor, but have offices in Mexico and even they won't do cross border rentals. Best bet I think is to pick up in Tijuana and keep your fingers crossed.

spursman

Drove into Tijuana from San Diego in 2009 with my daughter, we honestly didn't believe our eyes, I know no-one is going to believe me BUT there really were men with shotguns & gunbelts freely walking the streets, we turned round & went straight back to SD where after driving across the Coronado Bridge(it is a beautiful bridge) I drove onto the Naval base looking for a restaurant, they must have thought English tourists are idiots(I am but I cant speak for the rest)
Larry

Beenie

thank you for your replies.

I expect we are naive, but we thought it would be a piece of cake to rent a car in SD and drive over the border into Baja Mexico/California. Seems not!

jonesMUFCforever

From my experience anybody can get into Mexico but they are really fussy on the American side to let you back in.

jackieblack

spursman wrote: »

Drove into Tijuana from San Diego in 2009 with my daughter, we honestly didn't believe our eyes, I know no-one is going to believe me BUT there really were men with shotguns & gunbelts freely walking the streets,

No, I believe you, even the most basic research turns up similar reports.
It was this, and the ongoing outbreak of dysentery in Tijuana, that put us off crossing the border (the busiest in the world according to a documentary I watched a few weeks ago).

agrinnall

The OP has given no indication that they want to do anything other than pass straight through Tijuana to get to Baja California, which I'm sure many thousands of people do every year. I would expect there are some rental companies that will allow this, but the chances of finding one that will allow a drop off must be small. Why can't you just plan your holiday so that you drive back to SD at the end?

John259

If you go ahead with this, then it might be worth researching whether the border crossings back into the USA at Tecate or Mexicali might be better than Tijuana.

Beenie

We thought that a one-way trip would be preferable because, if you drive back rather than fly, you're going back over ground you've already crossed. You've seen all the sights, done the kayaking etc. so it's just a boring 800 mile drive back to San Diego.

One thing that might be possible is to only go half way down the peninsula and then turn round, but it seems a shame when you' ve gone all that way from the UK to only experience half of the landscape.

ferf1223

I have no idea if this helps but it's what a google search brought up.

http://cabaja.com/baja-rentals/one-way-cabo-mexico-rental

Beenie

Ferf, the drop off fee for a one-way trip is an astonishing $1200.

I think we definitely need to re-think our trip.<one of those sad faces>