When I started planning my road trip around the Yucatán peninsula, covering parts of Mexico (including Chiapas), Guatemala and Belize, I was determined to do it in a rental car, including border crossing. I like using local transport, but unfortunately it is not very convenient when time is limited and when the plan includes remote areas where public transport is not available. I quickly realised that arranging the road trip in a rental car was not going to be straightforward. None of the typical providers allow you to take your rental car across borders in Central America. But I found a solution and had a great holiday. If you want to do the same, earmark this post, where I explain all about how to plan your road trip in a rental car and take the car across the borders.
Planning a cross-borders trip with rental car
Rental car company
The only company I found, after a lot of research online and on travellers’ forums, was America Car Rental. The reports I read about them were positive and when exchanging a few emails with questions I had, they came across as knowledgeable and professional. So I decided to trust the company and book a rental car with them.
America Car Rental has office spread around Mexico. The majority are located in the Yucatán, but they cover other provinces as well. They don’t have offices in other countries, which means you have to plan your road trip around Mexico, Belize and Guatemala to begin and end in Mexico. You do have the option to select a different pick up and drop off location.
We opted for both a pick up and drop off at Cancún airport. The office is located in an industrial estate about 15 minutes away from the airport. In the airport, we met a representative of America Car Rental who drove us to the office in a minibus, together with a few other travelers. Everything went smooth, but allow plenty of time for the administration and form filling (we were in the office for over an hour) and check all the paperwork to make sure nothing is missing. The guy who dealt with us forgot the affidafit for Guatemala. I nearly panicked, but thankfully he found it quickly.
Cost and permits
Some people are put off by the perceived cost of a rental car. However, when you are sharing the cost with another person, petrol is affordable and the remoteness of many sites means you’d be using a lot of private taxis, the cost of a rental car is not excessive. We wanted a sturdy, high-clearance car that could take us along dirt roads to remote Mayans sites. We also wanted a sizeable boot to hold our luggage and stock some food. The car of our choice was a Nissan X-trail, which cost us $1500 for 25 days. It was relatively new and in good condition when we picked it up and it did the job perfectly.
The cost included an affidafit allowing to “import” the car into Guatemala (180 USD) and 2 days rental prior to our arrival, allowing the company to keep the car aside and arrange the affidafit. You can avoid this cost by asking staff to start the affidafit process upon your arrival and pick it up 2 days later. This works if you stay in Cancún for a while, but we planned to leave Cancún immediately and drive onwards to Valladolid. There is no charge for taking the car to Belize.
Coming from Europe, I found the price of petrol very reasonable. The cost was around $0.9 per liter in Mexico, $0.8 in Guatemala and $1.2 in Belize. We knew that petrol in Belize was a bit more expensive (still reasonable compared to Western Europe), so we filled up just before the border. By the way, petrol stations are sufficiently abundant that you don’t have to worry about running out (on the long, remote day trips filling up in the morning was sufficient). Typically, you’ll also find a handyman there who can assist with small repairs.
Insurance
An important point to bear in mind is that America Car Rental only provides insurance for when you are in Mexico. You have to arrange your own insurance for Guatemala and Belize.
In Guatemala, car or liability insurance is not mandatory by law. Since we were only staying for a few days, crossing through from Palenque in Mexico to the Belizean border, I took the risk and drove without insurance. Everything went fine, but if I was staying for a longer period, I would definitely take insurance. I researched the procedure (which was quite tedious) and the best thing to do seems to email an insurance company in Guatemala (Todo Riesgo is mentioned online), exchange all the necessary paperwork and pay over the phone. The snag is that you can only do this when you have actually picked up your rental car and you can photocopy the car registration form and rental agreement. This means you have to deal with it during your trip.
Insurance however is mandatory in Belize. Getting it is very straightforward. After you cross the border and enter Belize, you will see different insurance company offices offering insurance to incoming travellers. Also, the staff at the border were very helpful and explained us where to go and what to expect. We headed straight for the office of Insurance Corporation of Belize, because this was recommended by border staff. I spent more than half an hour queuing, but once my turn came everything was handled very quickly. Within 15 minutes, the insurance policy was issued ($23 for 10 days) and I was given a sticker to stick on windscreen.
Road conditions
In Mexico and Guatemala, the conditions of the road were generally very good. We mostly drove on nice highways (toll roads in Mexico). However, when you are leaving the towns for visiting Mayan sites and villages, expect a good amount of narrow, unpaved roads and pothole. We were also faced with trees on the road a couple of times. Thankfully they were small enough that we could move them.
Belize is a different story. The state of the roads in Belize is extremely poor. There are essentially only two decent highways in Belize, the rest is unpaved road (including roads that are marked as “highways” on Google maps). A few roads to remote Mayan sites and caves, such as Barton Creek, are notorious and should not be tackled independently once the wet season kicks in. That said, lots of roadworks are going on. I believe that, a few years from now, the road conditions in Belize will have improved a lot. There is even talk of paving the adventurous dirt road to Caracol.
Generally, I found the state of other cars more problematic than the state of the roads. In all countries, but most noticeably in Belize, many a vehicle on the roads would not pass a MOT in Europe. Often the wheels are visibly out of sync or they don’t have working lights. This is in my opinion the biggest road safety risk in Central America.
Safety & dealing with the police
The general guidance not to drive after dark has much more to do with the state of the vehicles than with the risk of being mugged. Indeed, there are reports of violent muggings in Mexico, but these are mostly linked to specific, notorious problem areas such as Zapatista towns in Chiapas. We ended up driving in the dark several times (unplanned) and my biggest fear was to hit a cyclist roaming the motorway without lights. We saw one road accident in Belize in the dark, involving a cyclist and another time people tried to stop us for assistance with their broken-down car (which we didn’t because we weren’t sure the situation was legit). Other than that, we did not have any dodgy experiences.
I was more worried about checkpoints, roadblocks and being stopped by the police. Apart from one dodgy experience at a roadblock in Chiapas, all went well, but I did hear some dodgy experiences from other travelers in Mexico. These were all related to police fining them for a petty traffic violation they didn’t commit such as speeding or driving on a unidirectional road the wrong way. In the case of two Dutch girls, the police threatened to take their passports “to the police station” if they didn’t immediately pay cash. We did get stopped at police checkpoints in Belize a couple of times. Unlike the Mexican police, officers in Belize are helpful and not trying to get bribes. They checked our insurance papers, gave us directions and waved us on.
Borders crossings with a rental car
My advice for the border crossings is: take your time. Even though the checkpoints were always quiet, without queues, all the formalities just took a long time. Immigration (“migración” is typically fast, but importing the rental car required a lot of paperwork and waiting each time. Notably for the Mexico – Guatemala border, the general advice is to cross early on the day, to avoid getting caught amidst groups of immigrants trying to cross illegally as darkness falls. Also, the border crossings have opening and closing times, which are not straightforward to find online.
Another piece of advice is to try and have some cash handy in the local currency as often card payments are not possible. We bought leftover Guatemala Quetzals off a traveler we met who was doing the road trip in the opposite direction. This saved us a lot of time and nuisance as we didn’t have to get them off the dodgy currency sellers approaching us at the border.
Finally, print all the paperwork you have in multiple copies. You will be asked to provide paper copies of your rental car agreement, passport and other document as part of the import procedure. I was lucky a couple of times that the staff at the border were willing to photocopy some things for me, but if you stumble on a snotty official, they may send you to a copy shop first.
Crossing from Mexico to Guatemala
Mexican side
We used the El Ceibo border to get from Mexico to Guatemala. Supposedly, this was a “main” crossing point so I braced myself for queues of lorries and people. Surprisingly, we only saw a handful of other cars. The Mexican side of the border looked modern and official, yet it was very confusing. My husband stayed with the car, whilst I walked to an office to ask about the procedures. Staff vaguely pointed towards another office down the compound. There I found two officials who spoke no English, but patiently explained the steps in simple Spanish:
- You have to hand over the immigration form you would have completed upon arrival in Mexico;
- There is a tourist tax of 550 Mexican pesos per person. I paid cash and got a receipt. Depending on which country you fly in from, you may have paid this tax upon arrival at the airport, in which case you can simply show the receipt;
- No formalities for the rental car at this point. All the paperwork happens on the Guatemala side. The officers were actually very helpful, asking me if I had the affidafit and explaining where to go.
Guatemalan side
Finally, they stamped our passports (my husband was still with the car, I just vaguely pointed at the car and they stamped his passport) and we drove to the Guatemalan border station. This looked a lot more rudimentary. An official approached us and explained us where to park the car and where to go.
- I first headed for the office marked “migración”. I got our passports stamped quickly and without questions asked;
- Next I went for the car import permit in another office. There were three staff. Nobody spoke English. Yet they were very friendly and chatty, asking me questions about our plans in Guatemala and providing some unsolicited tourist advice!
- I filled some straightforward forms and provided copies of my passport, driver’s licence and the rental car agreement. However, my passport copy of course didn’t show the Mexican exit stamp I’d just got. This was an issue. Thankfully the staff agreed to copy it for me;
- The car importation cost 200 Guatemalan quetzals and comes as a sticker in your passport. We had been able to buy quetzals off another tourist in our hotel in Palenque. Try to do something similar as the alternative is buying them at dodgy currency exchange kiosks at the border;
- The final step was a fumigation of the car (100 GTQ), before we could drive onward to Lake Petén Itzá. Welcome to Guatemala!
Crossing from Guatemala to Belize
Guatemalan side
The Guatemala – Belize border at Melchor de Mencos was a lot busier. Goods are significantly cheaper in Guatemala and Belizeans cross the border to do their shopping. This probably explains why you are not allowed to take food into Belize (this includes bottled drinks and unopened items). We knew about this restriction, so we ate the last bits for lunch prior to the border.
There were more steps to take at this border crossing, since we also had to cancel the car import permit upon leaving Guatemala. The steps on the Guatemala side are as follows:
- Just before the border you pass a toll bridge (20 GTQ). Keep some quetzals aside for this – it’s the last time you will need them, as Belize accepts US dollars everywhere, next to their own Belize dollars. You will be approached by money changers saying you cannot pay with US dollars in Belize. That’s a lie;
- Upon entering the border area, we were pointed to a small parking lot. Local boys are hanging out there, approaching foreigners to “help” with paperwork in exchange for a tip. The official who’d pointed us to the parking lot was very helpful, asking us if we wanted a lad to come with us and waving them away when we said no (this didn’t stop one from following me inside the office and nagging me for a while);
- I queued at two counters in the same office: migración for the exit stamps and import / export to give up the car permit. I received a cancellation stamp for the permit in my passport;
Belize side
Border formalities on the Belize side were very pleasant. It was a relief to be able to speak English again, after getting around with rudimentary Spanish for a few weeks. My husband once again stayed with the car and had a pleasant chat with the officials. Meanwhile I went for the formalities:
- Passport stamps and car permits are issued at different counters in the same office. There was a short queue at both. I paid $15 for the car permit (from a wad of US dollars I was carrying) and received a sticker to put on the windscreen. Unlike other borders we’d past, my husband had to go in in person to get his passport stamped;
- We had to take all the luggage out of the car for a check and put it on an airport-style conveyor belt. The check was quick and superficial. The customs officer just asked us if we were carrying any food and we said no. He had a quick look in our (empty) coolbox and a sports bag, but we didn’t have to open our main suitcases;
- Again fumigation of the car was mandatory (5 USD);
- Before driving onward, we had to arrange car insurance (23 USD) as mentioned earlier.
Crossing from Belize to Mexico
Belize side
By the time we left Belize and drove back into Mexico, we felt fully acquainted with border procedures. Little did we know that the border crossing at Santa Elena would be the most confusing one. The exit procedure in Belize were simple:
- I paid and exit fee taxes adding up to 40 USD per person. I paid in a combination of my remaining Belize dollars and Mexican pesos. The lady at the counter was very patient whilst I counted my remaining cash;
- I could give up the car permit at the same counter and we drove onward.
Mexican side
That’s where the confusion started. Before reaching the Mexican side of the border, you pass through the Corozal Free Zone. This is a zone with reduced taxes and operating costs aiming to attract foreign investors. It’s mostly filled with enterprises (not shops) and it’s huge. There were no signs to reassure us we were going in the right direction, so we continued somewhat hesitantly. There is only one road though, so you can’t really get it wrong.
At last we reached the Mexican border. From all the crossings we’d done, this was the one that looked most like a “real” border, but it was definitely also the most complex. We passed the customs stations and we subjected to a quick, high-level car and luggage search. Staff just looked in our car and boot and asked us to lift up some bags.
But we somehow missed the migración office on the Mexican side and did not get a passport stamp! So I basically made a U-turn on the motorway, back to the border. I asked about 3 officials before I found the correct office to pick up our landing cards and then the next office to get our passports stamped. We had to drive back past the customs station, of course raising suspicion when we rocked up a second time. We were subjected to a more thorough search this time. At least there we no formalities for the car when entering Mexico as we took it back to its “base” country.
We ended with a quick fumigation and entered the motorway again.
