For safety purposes, it is not recommended that visitors rent a car (this may be something the taxi drivers have encouraged). However, this applies anywhere that you are not familiar with. Some of the roads are well maintained here, and others may be sand or have potholes big enough to swallow a VW. If you are driving during daylight hours, keep an eye out for the buses, trucks, people and shuttles on the main roads, the side roads are a little rougher, but traffic is far less distracting. Police officers may sometimes pull you over, even for a minor violation, and ask for a bribe to let you off the hook, this may apply more to younger visitors, than say, those over thirty. If you are pulled over, be respectful to the police officer and don’t do anything that would worsen the situation. Unless you are planning to explore outside of the “Hotel Zone” or downtown, a car is not necessary and may be more of a burden than an asset. Alternative transportation is plentiful and inexpensive 24/7.

If you plan on parking in the nightlife area of Cancun or in downtown Cancun, it can be frustrating to find a parking spot.

A common rule of thumb for night driving is not to drive in the first place. Driving at night can be very dangerous especially in areas that are well away from the city. These areas may not be lit very well or may be completely unlit. Some of the common scenarios can be cars without their headlights on, robbery, potholes, and even jaywalkers among others.

A few tips and recommendations for driving in Cancun if that is necessary:

• Get insurance, and then get some more insurance. Driving in Mexico is pretty crazy. It’s not as bad as most Central American and Caribbean locations, but it is crazy all the same. Accidents happen, especially to tourists. Your personal insurance will probably (almost certainly) not cover you in Mexico, even if you were under the impression that they would. Be sure you check the deductible as well, because often the deductible is 10% of the value of the car, and rarely would repairs in Mexico cost anywhere near that.

• Check and double check for dings and scratches. Even AVIS, Budget, Hertz, Europcar and the other big rental car companies will charge you for stuff that you didn’t do. When you start your review of the car before you take it off the lot, mark every single ding, dent, and especially window crack. If you don’t mark them, you will probably be charged for them.

• It is common practice in Mexico for transit police to remove the front license plates from cars when they have a parking violation (and there are some weird rules that aren’t posted). If this plate is taken you will have to go to the police department, pay your fine and then retrieve your plate, it’s a real pain. Often, renters don’t even notice that the plate has been removed and return their car to the rental company without the tag. The company will charge you a bunch of money to get it back. Some rental car companies are removing the front license plate and putting credentials on a piece of paper in the front window. You might ask if a car like that is available. Additionally some mount the license plates with one way screws (AVIS and Budget do this I think), but I don’t know how effective that is.

• Highway 307 out of Cancun is really a pretty good road. Try not to drive when it is raining, the road floods unexpectedly and is generally very slick. In towns, especially Cancun, there are pot holes everywhere. These are probably the most dangerous part of driving in Mexico and do the kind of damage that car rental companies will get you for.

• Watch out for topes. These are speed bumps, or speed mountains might be a better word. They tend to crop up in the middle of the highways before you enter towns and occasionally have signs that warn you, but more often than not signs are not displayed or are obscured in some way. These are extremely good ways to maintain the speed limit and you will find that after hitting one going sixty, your eyes remain constantly on the road and you watch your speed.

• Unconventional bypasses — It is very common in Mexico for the highway to split into two different lanes in the same direction when passing through a town (Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos are two examples). The inner lane is for left turns and those people passing through town. The right lane is called the ejidal (community) road and is for access to any of the roads on the right side. If you get on the bypass, you CANNOT turn right and if you get on the ejidal, you CANNOT turn left. You also cannot change lanes through town, you have to make the decision where the road splits.

• If you get in an accident with a taxi or bus, call or wait for the police. Never argue with a taxista or bus driver, they are union and really stick together. Usually they will just accept a little cash for the damage and you can go on your way, this can be decided on your own (most taxi drivers speak at least a little English) or with a policeman present.

• Often two lane roads will have huge shoulders on the right and left. These are for you to move to if a car comes up behind you. If a car comes up behind you on one these roads, simple pull over a little and they will pass. You can signal that it is safe for someone to pass by turning on your left turn signal (I know it sounds weird, but that’s the local custom). Additionally, if there are cars coming in the other direction, it is advisable to pull over a little onto the shoulder so that they can freely pass as well, they will assume that you are going to do so and start their pass even before you do.

• Windshields — Perhaps the most common type of problem that renters face is broken windows. Trucks have virtually no laws that govern how they can carry materials and in the Peninsula there are lots and lots of limestone mines. You can watch these limestone pebbles bounce out of the back of dump trucks up and down 307, bounces 5 or 6 feet high even on the third or fourth bounces. Windshields getting broken is extremely common.

• Gas stations — Occasionally gas station attendants will avoid resetting the gas pump after the last person and try to charge you for the last bill and yours. I have never actually experienced this, but do notice that attendants in the Mayan Riviera and Cancun are now showing you (and making sure that you look) that the pumps have zeroed out before they start pumping.