Everything you need to know before renting a car & driving in Yucatán
Renting a car and driving around Yucatán is a really a great vacation idea, but there are definitely a few things to think about before you do.
You’ve probably heard all sorts of horror stories about driving in Mexico and sensibly, instead of believing everything you hear, you’ve come to someone who really has the lowdown on what it’s like to drive in Yucatán. And that’s where I come in. I’ve been driving in Yucatán since 2016. I’ve owned two cars there, and rented/borrowed many more.
In this article we’ll take a hard look at the realities of renting a car and driving in Yucatán.
I am quite sure that by the time you’re done reading, you’ll be raring to go and excited to plan your own road trip around Yucatán (there are some great itineraries shared at the end of the article, too).
There are affiliate links in this article. If you click and make a purchase, I could make a small sum at zero cost to you. Discover Cars gave me a credit towards my car rental in Yucatán but were very clear to tell me I did not have to write an article or recommend them. All opinions in this article are my own.
If you’ve already rented your car for your trip, click here to jump straight to the ‘driving in Yucatán’ tips & tricks section. If you haven’t, read on to find out where to rent and what you might need to know because every car rental is tricky in slightly different ways in every country you visit.
Renting a car in Yucatán (and Mexico)
Renting a car brings the freedom to see not only the main sites of Yucatán such as Chichén Itzá but also the less well known Maya ruins and villages. A rental car means being able to check out as many cenotes as you feel like in a day, it means stopping where you like for lunch and, it means being able to stay out as late as you like!
🍊 On my last trip to Mérida, for example, I rented a car via DiscoverCars and drove to Oxkutzcab because I wanted to check out the Fería de Naranjas. Without a car this would have been practically impossible.
MexicoCassie’s rental car experiences
Over the years my family and I have rented many cars in Mexico, even in Yucatán. Before we managed to buy our first car we would rent cars for our adventures, then we bought a car that was such a disaster that we sometimes still opted to rent a car if we were going on longer journeys.
We rented cars when we went to Puebla, to see the Monarch Butterflies (from Mexico City), when we took a Chiapas road trip, in Oaxaca, for our Jalisco / Colima road trip, and more. And as I said, I just rented a car in Mérida again in late 2024.
I don’t much enjoy the process of renting a car if I’m totally honest. It’s stressful and I always worry I’m getting something wrong. I hope that this article can help you feel less stressed when you work through the process of renting a car and then driving in Yucatan.
To rent a car in Yucatán you will need
🪪 Full driving licence
In order to rent a car in Mexico you generally need to be between the ages of 21 – 75 (some companies will rent to over 18s for an additional fee) and hold a full, valid driver’s licence. If your home licence is not written in the Latin script (i.e. Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Japanese etc), you’ll need to get an international licence but otherwise you’re good to go.
💳 Credit card
Ideally you’ll also have a credit card because if you’re renting from a large company, they’ll want to put a hold on a certain amount to cover any possibly damages. Smaller, more informal companies, may not do this.
It is possible to use a debit card but who wants $1500 withdrawn from their current account and then returned much later? The only reason I know a debit card is also a possibility by the way, is because I forgot to take my credit card with me when I went to pick up my car the other day. Yes, even seasoned travellers make stupid mistakes. I’d taken it out of my wallet when we went to the beach and forgot to put it back in there. Luckily the car rental agency was extremely kind and let me return much later with the credit card in my sweaty paws and my tail very much between my legs in shame.
🛂 Passport/ID
Please don’t forget your ID
🗞 Insurance
You won’t be able to rent a car without
Third party liability insurance – this is always required and must be from a Mexican auto insurance company. Generally you get this when you reserve your rental car online.
CDW – collision damage waiver – this is an additional insurance that protects against theft or damage to the rental car. In reality it isn’t a legal requirement but you’ll be super sorry if you don’t get it as most rental companies in Mexico require it and if you get their own in-store version instead of through the broker site it’ll cost a fortune. Some credit cards do offer this as part of their package.
Sneaky: many Mexican car rental companies don’t show these charges when you’re booking online. Instead, you get a nice, cheap price online and then when you go to pick up your rental car you’re whacked in the face with the extra costs. If you’re anything like me, you’re also left wondering if it’s a scam to extract all your money rather than something real and necessary. This is why I like Discover Cars, because they make it easy to see what you’re getting.
So who should you rent from?
Well, there are dozens of rental companies out there who want to rent you a car. My favourite and top recommendation is Discover Cars – you’ll see that I always recommend them in all of my articles. The reason I like them is that they have a great website that allows you to sort through the various companies on the ground and rate them. I also had a good experience with their customer service when I didn’t know how to ensure I was paying my CDW in advance.
What they recommend when using a broker is: first sort the rental companies by rating (always look for the highest ranked companies as obviously this means other people had a good experience). On the left hand side of their site you have helpful filters including ones to ensure you can find cars that don’t require too much in the way of a security deposit, which I’m a big fan of.
🔍 When looking for a rental car in Mexico, the most important thing is to read the fine print to ensure that the car you’re renting offers full coverage.
➕ Don’t forget, of course, that travel insurance is always a good idea, when in Mexico.
Note: we had a pretty horrible experience with MexRentACar – once in Mexico City airport they didn’t have a car for us despite us having completed all our paperwork and having paid in advance. We were not alone with having problems that day. I tweeted the company directly while Col argued with the staff on the desk. I got a response quickly telling me they’d give me an upgrade and a car immediately but I was not to tell the other customers who were also struggling to get their bookings fulfilled! Needless to say I immediately told everyone. MexicoCassie stands with the people, not with corporations.
Picking up & returning your car
OK, so now you have your car in front of you, you’ve successfully dodged the ‘do you want our extra insurance?’ nonsense and you’re face to face with your rental car. Now what?
📸 As in pretty much any country in the world, when you pick up a rental car, be sure to inspect it thoroughly, taking photos and video as you do. Ensure that the member of staff checking the car with you marks down any bumps, scrapes and problems.
🧹 It’s common in Mexico to be charged if you return the car with a messy interior.
Basically, keep your wits about you, know that car renting process is never fun but it’s worth it for the freedom it brings once you drive away.
⛽️ Fuel
You have to return the car with exactly the same amount of fuel you receive it with – I always ask for it full because this means I can’t make a mistake when returning it. I do not want to be charged 500 pesos a litre if I get this wrong, and nor do you.
Note on gas stations: you don’t pump your own gas in Mexico, someone will do it for you. My recommendations are: ensure the numbers are at zero before they start, and always pay cash. I’ve never been ripped off at a gas station in Mexico but it’s one of the places card skimming can happen.
➕ Always give the person who fills your tank a small tip.
🐾 What about renting a car to travel with your dog?
photo taken by my favourite photographers in Mérida, Conch Creative
Hertz Mexico apparently allows pets in their cars – you don’t need to book the pet in but it does need to be from a ‘pet friendly branch’ where you can reserve a ‘pet kit’ and you still have to return the car in a clean state.
→ Check out MexicoCassie guides to travelling around Yucatán with a dog and finding pet friendly hotels
👶🏽 Children
Children are allowed in rental cars 😉 and are required by Mexican law to sit in appropriate car seats/booster seats until they are 12 yrs old or measure 145cm (that’s 4ft7 apparently). This law is less observed than it is in other countries but I’m definitely not advocating that you ignore it.
You can rent a car seat with your car but the reality is that if the company doesn’t have one available it really doesn’t matter what box you’ve checked when making your booking. I’ve never not had a car seat reservation work but I do know of others who have had problems.
If it goes wrong for you, you can either rent a car seat from BabyQuip or rush to Chedraui or Wal-Mart to pick up a seat. Or, if you’re American, you may well have brought your own seat on the plane anyway.
So this is the rental information you need, now let’s move on to the realities of driving in Yucatán
Driving in the state of Yucatán
💚 🤍 ❤️ Before we begin I want to be clear that I love Yucatán deeply. I love driving around Yucatán and exploring as much as I can. But my love for the region does not stop me wanting to be honest with you about driving here. There will be no sugarcoating, no pretending and no hiding the issues I’ve found – none of which are surmountable or should worry you. I just want you to be prepared. I’ve driven extensively around the state for years, what follows are are my observations. I truly hope I don’t put you off because the most important thing to know is that Yucatán is safe and driving around the state is too.
🚗 You’ll see a striking discrepancy between the oldest and newest cars on the road, possibly the most destroyed and the most expensive you’ve ever seen. Be aware that not everyone will have working brake lights and certainly, not everyone will be using their indicators to let you know what they’re doing.
🚗 In my experience, people in Yucatán are generally extremely friendly, calm and law abiding until it comes to 2 things:
Roundabouts – for some reason they seem to be seen as a personal challenge in Yucatán. You’ll find some people speed up to assert their entrance rights rather than slow down to pay attention to who is already on the roundabout. Be careful.
Overtaking on the highway – you’ll see some crazy driving. Keep your wits about you. People don’t use their indicators as much as you might like them to so always leave a decent amount of space between you and whatever vehicle is in front of you, both in case they do something weird and in case someone else arrives and wants in.
Basic road rules
I spotted this brilliant sign on Parque Mejorada in Mérida – I’m assuming it isn’t official
🛞 In Mexico cars drive on the right. Distances and speed requirements are always given in kilometres.
🏎 Obey the speed limit & watch out for sudden changes. Generally you’ll find the following limits:
30 – 40 km/hr in residential/urban areas
80 km/hr on open roads
90 – 110 km/hr on highways
🚫 Never drink and drive – the limit is 0.08% which is apparently 4 or 5 drinks for an average sized adult. Personally I don’t drink anything if I’m going to drive, particularly in Mexico where you never know what’ll happen – between the chickens on the roads in villages, the topes and the holes in the road it just seems like a terrible idea to me. And yes, the cops do breathalyse people, particularly leaving the beach areas on holidays.
🌙 Driving after dark – it’s safe in Yucatán in a way it isn’t in some other parts of Mexico but if you’re at all concerned, just don’t. I like to ensure I’m back in the city by dark just because I don’t enjoy small unlit country roads at night.
Getting around / GPS
📲 I always use Google Maps when driving.
I recommend buying a cheap sim card from Oxxo to ensure you don’t use too much data on your e-sim or your home sim. Another good idea is to download an offline map before you set off because the more remote areas can have patchy coverage.
Before I rented my last car I went to Miniso and bought a phone holder for the car but it actually was so new that I just needed my C-cable to connect to the car’s system. It was perfect. It’s worth travelling with a pack of car/phone equipment that includes a c-cable, lighter adapter, and phone holder so whatever you’re given you’ll be ready to drive off safely.
Driving in town
There are a few things that are useful to know about driving in towns in Yucatán (and elsewhere in Mexico).
⛔️ Towns are generally laid out on a grid system and many of the roads are one way. You’ll see a STOP / ALTO sign when its not your right of way at a junction and no sign when it is your right of way. ALWAYS look carefully even if it is your right of way because I’m making no promises about other people’s ability to navigate roads safely.
🚌 Be aware of buses, cyclists, and pedestrians when driving in villages, towns and cities. The bigger towns might have bus lanes and cycle lanes that you’ll need to cross when you leave a main road (looking at you, Mérida) so always remember to check behind you.
🚨 Topes / Speed bumps – these are everywhere and vary in size, width and height. Be careful and always slow down for them.
🚔 You may notice police cars driving with their lights flashing. Don’t worry, this isn’t for you (unless you’ve done something bad), this is just how they drive, so everyone sees them.
Parking
🅿️ There are dedicated car parks in town centres that cost a small amount and are usually guarded. You’ll need cash to pay to park in these.
📍Elsewhere you’ll find free parking on the street (just send yourself a reminder or a dropped pin so you don’t forget where you parked)
Driving on highways
🛣 Highways are generally in good condition in Mexico but it’s always a good idea to keep an eye out for holes in the road, blown out tyre pieces and other random debris.
🚔 Police checkpoints – you may well find yourself in a queue for a police checkpoint as you enter the state of Yucatán and the city of Mérida. The police officers you see here are working hard to ensure drugs and weapons don’t enter the state. Most likely you’ll most likely be waved right on through. You may find smaller check points around the state too. During Semana Santa, for example, there are police stationed at the beach town exits to ensure people aren’t driving home drunk.
These checkpoints are to ensure that Yucatán remains the safest state in Mexico.
💰 Toll roads – there are toll roads in Mexico (called ‘cuota’). You can choose to take them or not. They’re generally better maintained than the older main roads that are free to use.
Please do not travel on a cuota road without the cash to pay for it. All tolls are paid in cash (Mexican pesos only) and if you don’t have the cash, you can’t travel.
As you approach the toll booths there should generally be a sign telling you how much you’ll be paying. Hand the cash to the person working and they’ll give you a receipt.
In Yucatán the only cuota road is highway 180 as it goes east around Valladolid towards Cancun. You have to pay to use it if you’re driving from Mérida – Chichén Itzá or towards Cancun/Tulum/Playa del Carmen.
Driving through villages and rural areas
Road conditions vary enormously in rural areas. Yucatán’s roads are generally better than in other states in Mexico in my opinion but there are some particular patches that aren’t great, for example, on the way to Holbox and El Cuyo.
🚨 Topes
A tope is a speed bump and they are basically the Mexican national animal so ubiquitous are they. Some are sensibly sized while others will feel as if they were designed to scrape the bottom of your car clean away. Some are made visible by signs and road markings, others, annoyingly, are completely obscured from view.
In the photo above you can see a fairly gentle tope with a partially obstructed sign that says, “ceda al peaton – multa 16 salarios minimos” (“give way to pedestrians – fine of 16 times your salary if you don’t“). Some topes are also pedestrian crossings.
Two things are guaranteed
1. You will regularly miss the topes as you travel around Mexico and will wind up shouting ‘shit’ a lot.
2. You will spend the rest of your life confusing people by shouting ‘tope’ whenever you see a speed bump.
🕳 Potholes
There will be holes in the road. This is a guarantee. Yucatán is not as bad as, say, Quintana Roo or Chiapas for holes in the road but they are most definitely there. Keep your eyes open and swerve safely. Be aware that others on the road will also be swerving to avoid potholes
Last year, a friend and I were driving back from El Cuyo to Mérida and the combination of holes in the road and dappled sunlight on the road was exhausting – we really struggled to know what was hole and what was shadow.
🐓 People & animals
Add you drive through small villages you will find people everywhere. Drive slowly, watch out for kids, bikes, bike taxis and animals on the road. You do not want to hit anyone or anything. Obviously.
🔥 Fires
You may well see small fires along the roads as you travel through rural areas. These are generally controlled and deliberately set (I did not know this the first time I saw one and I definitely panicked). Sometimes the smoke covers the road. I’ve once or twice even seen flames licking the road. And once we had to sit in a long queue as the fire fighters dealt with a fire that got out of hand. Mainly, don’t panic and drive safely.
🐊 Wild animals
You may even see wild animals on the road. I don’t mean just cows or goats here (although this does happen) but rather monkeys, wild birds, snakes, spiders, even crocodiles, jaguars or ocelots. I’ve seen all of these except a jaguar. Monkeys are more likely in Quintana Roo than in Yucatan, where you’ll even see canopy bridges over the roads for the wildlife.
🚑 What to do if you breakdown or have an accident
Hopefully you won’t breakdown or get into an accident while driving in Yucatan but if you do:
If your car breaks down you may be lucky enough to have the Ángeles Verdes (free roadside assistance) stop to help you. If they don’t drive by, you can call 078 and they’ll come help you. They can do basic repairs and also tow you to a garage. This is a free service but if you need car parts, or gas, you’ll have to pay for it. I definitely recommend tipping these incredibly helpful people. Apparently they also speak English.
We were driving back from an adventure in the Calakmul biosphere when our car broke down just outside a village. We had a small amount of reception on our cell phones so we immediately called our car insurance agency to arrange a grua (tow-truck) and to find out what on earth we were meant to do.
Partly due to the poor reception and partly due to insurance agencies being generally unhelpful, we were stuck on the side of the road for hours. We were on the edge of a village but the village was celebrating its saint’s day so everyone was merry and no one was working. One mechanic came to look at the car but couldn’t help us.
The first time the Green Angels drove by and asked if we needed help we declined help because we naively thought we had it in hand. The second time he drove by he pointed out we probably didn’t have it all in hand and helped us figure out a plan. He took the kids and me to Escarcega bus station so we could get home to Mérida and Col waited for the grua to come.
If you have an accident, whether its your fault or not, you’re required to wait for the police to arrive.
📞 You should always call your car insurance at this point too. Everyone remains at the scene until fault is ascertained. Advice given is generally to take pictures of the scene, don’t admit liability until you have someone with you (if it is your fault) and never ever drink drive.
🙅🏾♂️ Corruption
In Yucatán you’re very unlikely to come across a corrupt police officer. I have definitely been stopped on the road for bribes (mordida) in Estado de México but it’s extremely rare in Yucatán.
👮🏾 If a police officer does stop you to give you a ticket, know that you can insist on going to the police station to pay it. If they say no and try to make you pay it on the spot, it’s probably a dodgy situation. Don’t hand over your licence if you can help it and definitely don’t pay a ‘fine’ you don’t deserve.
We have been stopped in Estado de Mexico more than once by dodgy cops. It’s always pretty scary when it happens but once was funny as we were driving extremely carefully, and we knew we were driving safely and under the speed limit. A cop pulled us over and told us we were being fined for speeding and overtaking dangerously – we hadn’t been overtaking or speeding. We simultaneously pretended to not speak much Spanish and argue our case (in English) that we hadn’t been speeding. After an exchange that was apparently more frustrating for him than us, he let us go with a ‘warning’. We like to imagine that he only realised we had understood every word he said as we drove away.
So that’s it, I hope you feel equipped to drive around Yucatán and enjoy all this magnificent state has to offer visitors.
⭐️ Check our ready made Yucatan Itineraries ⭐️
🚗 Off-the-beaten-track in Yucatan
➕ Read the MexicoCassie guide to renting cars and driving in Yucatán
⭐️ Is Mérida worth visiting? – check the answer to this question now!
⭐️ Read up on the Maya Train Route to see if it’s something you could enjoy
