Update on Santo Domingo rental cars
I came over to Santo Domingo last week. Researching the threads hadn't found much current information on DR1. I checked about 6 different rental companies rates on the internet, and settled on Budget in Santo Domingo, as opposed to the airport location (I came into Santo Domingo at about 1 am).
Silly me, the next morning, went to National's office above JF Kennedy on Winston Churchill. Pulled out my confirmation number after they couldn't find my reservation - ooops. The Budget reservation was without a credit card to guarantee it, so before I called another taxi to go there, I told National I would take their car if they would match Budget.
tappity tappity tap, OK! - then the negotiating started. The supervisor stepped in and said that the LDW/CDW was obligatory. I said "not for me - the credit card gave me this coverage".
In that case she said they had another insurance that I had to take that was required by National when the higher priced CDW (something like $22 a day) wasn't taken - for $5 a day. If I had an accident, I would only have to call the credit card company for an authorization number, and National would then handle everything else to settle the damage claim, and I would have no other involvement or problems, etc. Fine - peace of mind.
Then, they tried to add the extra $20 for this insurance on top of the agreed-upon $170 rate. I told her to then just lower the daily rental rate to make up the extra $5 a day, or I would just go to Budget where they would give me a car at this rate, and she agreed to do it so that the rate stayed at the $170 total.
They originally were going to give me a compact at this rate, but due to "unavailability", they upgraded me to a Tiilda for the 4 days for US$170. This included the $5 a day car insurance, the personal liability insurance for $10 a day to protect me, and all of the taxes.
After 4 days, I went back and asked if I could extend it for another few days at the same rates, and no problem. They told me it would then be $269 for a 7 day rental, and the entire transaction was easy. They gave me a copy of the new agreement too.
I had originally not chosen National because their rates on the internet were significantly higher than Budget (something like $70 more for the same sized car for a 4 day rental.) Great car, great A/C, and no problems, and the bill was exactly what they had quoted me three days before for the extention - and in and out in less than 5 minutes, a wonder for anything in the DR.
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