driving a rental car in Baja safe?

[mistressmotorsports]

I am going to La Paz in late August. For two plane tickets, I can save about $600 IF ai Fly into Cabo instead of La Paz. Renting a car is only about $150 for the week. However, call me a sheltered and self centered American, but I am wondering how safe the drive is between Cabo and La Paz. Is it ok to do any time of day, maybe avoid night driving? I noticed that even some of the local Mexican touristy websites suggest driving through Baja during daylight and stopping for the night, so I was wondering if I should be concerned, or if I'm really just a wimp and it's no different than driving through Arizona? Thanks for any tips.

Mike

 

[hdtran]

I am going to La Paz in late August. For two plane tickets, I can save about $600 IF ai Fly into Cabo instead of La Paz. Renting a car is only about $150 for the week. However, call me a sheltered and self centered American, but I am wondering how safe the drive is between Cabo and La Paz. Is it ok to do any time of day, maybe avoid night driving? I noticed that even some of the local Mexican touristy websites suggest driving through Baja during daylight and stopping for the night, so I was wondering if I should be concerned, or if I'm really just a wimp and it's no different than driving through Arizona? Thanks for any tips.

Mike

The highways between Los Cabos & La Paz are paved, etc. In more remote areas, wildlife & cattle will cross the streets without doing the "stop, look, & listen." More dangerous than the nocturnal cattle, in my mind, are the nocturnal or crepuscular "DUI" (aka DWI, not the drysuit!) drivers.

You WILL be required to buy the basic liability insurance on top of the car rental price ($5 to $10/day). If you try to argue that, the rental guys will tell you that it's a (relatively new) law. You may choose to purchase the car rental CDW/LDW/etc., which then allows you to not buy basic liability, as CDW/LDW/etc. offers greater coverage than basic liability. Be sure to add that "basic liability" cost to your basic $150/week rate, plus cost of gasoline.

Drivers in the cities tend to be a bit more aggressive than what I'm used to in the US Southwest, but not terribly so. Pedestrians in the cities are utterly unpredictable.

That said, we've rented cars & driven in the Los Cabos area, and have no discomfort with that.

 

[scubabum2]

I've driven once from CSL to Todos Santos and a couple of times from CSL to Cabo Pulmo (I was on the main highway to La Paz for quite a bit of the trip). Twice at night going to Cabo Pulmo. As hdtran said, there are cattle around or on the road at night, so be careful if you drive after dark. Daytime should be OK.

 

[WaterWayne]

Cattle are out in the daytime, too, especially on that very winding road through the river bottoms between CSL and Cabo Pulmo.

Regarding insurance, I've saved money by purchasing car insurance through DAN when I buy my trip insurance in a bundle, after reserving through Hotwire or the like. I suppose that would also waive the locally-mandated insurance?

Last but not least, if you're behind a bus on the open highway and the driver clicks on the left turn signal, he's telling you that it's safe to pass, not that he'll be turning left into the scrub. The driver sits high enough that he can see quite a ways.

 

[mistressmotorsports]

Thanks for the info. Decided to fly into Cabo to save the bucks. But instead of a rental, the nice folks at Club Cantamar will arrange a shuttle both ways for $60. Easier than dealilng with a rental car, let someone else do the driving.

Mike