A couple of months before my wife and I were married, she and a friend along with their respective mothers took a trip to Mexico. My son has also been a few years back, but as of yet I have not had the chance to visit. Sooner or later I will remedy that. While they were there they rented a car of course. When I do end up going I will either drive mine, or rent one here to drive there. If you’ve been around here for awhile you know that I am deathly afraid of flying and after that last fiasco on a commuter jet I decided that there was just no reason for me to leave the perfectly good ground.
One thing I was not aware of when my wife went that I wish I had is that Mexico does not recognize auto insurance from the United States. This means that if you get into an accident and don’t have Mexican Car Insurance you might end up in jail, or held personally liable for any damages, whether it was your fault or not. Just as in the U.S. if you get in an accident without insurance, they can hold you responsible. You might even end up with jail time over something as simple as a fender-bender. In addition, they will hold you in jail until they have received FULL payment.
Another thing to consider when going is health insurance. Quite a few U.S. Insurance companies will not cover you when you leave the United States. This means that you need to get some kind of coverage that will take care of you and your family while there.
There is a pretty good article here about why your insurance may not be enough on a trip to Mexico and why you might want to find out exactly what is covered. The Mexican Insurance Store has a lot of valuable information about Auto and Health coverage while in Mexico. They’ve been in the insurance business for 29 years and offer the best emergency medical assistance services in the industry through Assist America. That’s the same service that the AMA gives THEIR employees and families when they travel outside of the United States.
You can actually purchase your insurance online and print out your insurance certificate right at home OR you can call them and give them your information and they will fax or email the information right back to you.
They also offer some extras as well such as programs with fixed deductibles and a $25k Bail Bond Service, which might not be a bad idea in Mexico. I have heard horror stories about people getting locked up out of country and it’s not pretty.