$1,500.00 deposit is usually required regardless of Insurance Coverage. Standard Operating Procedure over many years that I have rented from many companies is,,,, that they swipe your card once for payment and another swipe for the $1,500.00 for damage. At the end of the rental after inspection they return the $1,500.00 swipe (I have a drawer fulle of torn in 1/2 $1,500.00 swipes).
An instance a few years back when we were covered with VISA, still had me paying the damage (in this case a tire) in Jamaica and making claim with VISA when I got home.
Read your rental agreement both CVM and PI, there are deductibals, would that be that $1,500.00 swipe.
This also would explain the need for the pre-damage inspection when you rent a car, note every ding, missing trim piece, get up in the wheel wells and note every bend, inspect the exhaust syatem, inspect the spare tyre, make note on the rental agreement.
I have rented from Vernon's (always good experience) and I am very fortunate to have developed a relationship and rented from the same company in MoBay probaly 20 times since 2002. That said I have heard the stories about less than scrupulous companies that look at vehicle damage as another income stream, buyer beware.
Now to that Mandeville to Och Rios to MoBay question. I have driven B3 up and over a few times, do not believe in your mind that it is a simple move if you have never driven in Ja, there are a couple funny turns at Spalding and as you head down into Cave Valley that can lead you astray and like any Jamaica driving just getting through a town can be time consuming/confusing. Once you hit A1 on the coast you are on pretty good wide shouldered roads. Your only other option Mandy to Ocho looks like running A2 over to Spanish Town and A1 back north.
Please take this in the right vain. And I have scoffed at those that say driving in Ja is to be avoided at all cost. I began driving jeeps in Jamaica many years ago, even then for a couple years other than a couple of side trips and short jaunts into the hills around Negril I pretty well stuck to the A highways. These days some friends call me a soccer mom because I am usually driving a van in order to road trip with multiple friends,,,,, but once again I have many years and many trips of experience under my belt. Your question about emergency phone numbers leads me to believe you would be on a tight time schedule,,,, other than A highway driving I have seen nothing about driving in Jamaica can be on kept on a tight schedule, too many variables from tyre failure to road closure involved. With 5 family members safety in question and until I had done a few shakedown cruises I might say hiring a van and driver for the day could be a good investment in peace of mind
Originally Posted by wrtiii
