We were going to need a car. There isn’t much in the way of reliable public transport in the area. Taxis seem to be expensive and may be hard to find when you need them. Renting a car seemed like the best option.

Searching for Rates

I first checked out Hertz.com for rental rates there. I have status with them due to a status match with National. I have my National status as part of my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. With Hertz I can often get really good rates on rentals based on my company’s rental agreement. When using the agreement it asks if the rental is for business or leisure so I can get the same or similar rates for personal leisure rentals that the company gets for business trips. The rates can sometimes be fantastic and other times not that great. This time they were sky high, so I then checked National.

Checking for member rates on National didn’t yield much better rates either. I was then off to Kayak.com to see what other vendors and rates there were. in a search there I noticed that Sixt is one of the vendors. I remembered I have high level Platinum status with them via my Citi Prestige credit card. That status guarantees me a complementary one class upgrade on any rental. The prices they were offering were also in line with the lower price offerings of other vendors.

Booking

On the Sixt website I logged into my account and verified I had the expected status level associated with the account. I then searched for the car type and booked the lowest price car with an automatic transmission which was a Chevy Aveo subcompact. I figured we’d be upgraded to a slightly better car due to my status. The rental car also had a shuttle from the airport terminal so it was considered on-airport.

Insurance

In reading about car rentals in Mexico in some forums online I found that some vendors are very particular about renters having to show proof of insurance before letting you have the car. If you don’t have proof you have to buy their insurance and that can double the price of the rental (or more). We had rented from Sixt before in LA and they are an established worldwide company (mostly based in Europe) so we hoped that with my status it would help avoid some of this potential bait and switch drama.

We would be paying with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card which comes with primary rental car insurance coverage. That means that if something happens to the car, the insurance provided by the card will be processing the claim. Your own insurance on your car at home should be shielded from processing the claim so it’s not on that insurance (and affecting those rates). Many credit cards provide some sort of rental car insurance, but often this is secondary coverage which means your own car insurance is the primary and the credit card’s insurance only begins coverage on what your own policy doesn’t cover (if anything). Primary is MUCH better!

In any case, if I do end up purchasing insurance through the rental company, that voids any insurance from the credit card. The coverage they sell you in many cases may be less coverage than the credit card would provide for free.

To make sure I was prepared to show proof if asked I called my credit card company to see if they could link me to the appropriate documentation. I was quickly forwarded to the benefits department and they emailed me the documentation I needed while I was still on the phone with them. PERFECT!