Renting a car in Guatemala City nearly ruined my entire vacation. This is why you should save yourself the time and headache of getting a car rental in Guatemala City.
What is the reason for renting a Car in Guatemala City?
If you are considering renting a car in Guatemala City, then my questions to you are where are you going and why do you need a car?
If you are staying in Guatemala City or Antigua, skip the car. Uber will get you anywhere you need to go at a low cost. In Antigua, you can walk just about everywhere in the city in 20 minutes or less, or find a tuk tuk to get you to your destination.
How to get from Guatemala City to Antigua
For trips from Guatemala City to Lake Atitlan, you will not be using the car around the lake. You will hop on a boat to get from one village to another. In the bigger villages, tuk tuks or the shared pickup truck taxis are the easiest way to get around, as parking is limited and streets are narrow.
How to get from Guatemala City to Lake Atitlan
For all other locations, is the car just a means to get from point A to point B? If so, coordinate a taxi or shuttle.
Traffic in Guatemala
Guatemala is a country full of volcanoes, mountains and valleys, which limits the infrastructure in the country due to the geography. The metro area surrounding Guatemala City has a population of around 3 million people, and with limited routes in or out of the city, you can expect to find gridlock traffic.
Since there are also only a few highways that lead to more popular regions, like Lake Atitlan, or Quetzaltenango, and issues on the highways can cause huge back ups in traffic.
When returning from Panajachel to Guatemala City, we found ourselves in standstill traffic for nearly an hour. Once we were on the move again, we could see the cause of the problem. A bus had flipped, blocking the opposite side of the highway. The opposing traffic was then rerouted to our side of the highway, limiting the flow of traffic to one lane in each direction. Traffic was stopped for miles on the opposite side of the highway. Our drive went from 3.5 hours to 5 hours because of an accident on the other side of the road.
When these situations happen, if you are in a shuttle or taxi rather than one of the rental cars in Guatemala, you can sit back, relax, or take a nap and let the driver do all the work.
Road conditions when Renting a car in Guatemala City
A lot of people speak poorly of Apple Maps, but I will truly never forgive Google Maps for how they did us dirty in driving in Guatemala.
There are highways in Guatemala but the further outside of Guatemala City you get, they often become small two lane highways. And if you’re getting deeper into the mountains, you may be taken on weird routes that direct you through a series of small towns.
When driving through small towns, you’ll find the largest, most aggressive series of speed bumps you’ve ever encountered in your life. Our Guatemala car rental was a sedan, so it nearly bottomed out on each of the speed bumps, which might occur just 100 yards from the last.
The worst driving conditions are in the more mountainous regions where you not only have winding switchbacks but also surprise river crossings. One highway 1 about 45 minutes outside of Panajachel, there is a part of the highway that either never had a bridge to begin with, or it was washed out by the river. Either way, you have to drive down a dirt hill full of rock, where literal children help you navigate to not get stuck. Next, you need to ford an actual river with your vehicle, before driving up the dirt hill on the other side. None of this was shared by Google prior to taking this route, but is clearly visible on the satellite view.
Getting rear ended in Guatemala
The mountain roads of Guatemala are small and winding. There are many areas with small single lane bridges over creeks and rivers where you have to yield to other drivers.
After managing to survive crossing a river, I was rear ended only a few minutes later after stopping at a single lane bridge. There was a large semi-truck approaching very fast, so I pulled over to give them the right of way, only to be smashed by a local.
Duolingo, and my high school Spanish, definitely does not prepare you for how to have a conversation about a car accident. Thankfully, there were no real injuries, only a headache from the impact, and damage to the bumper and trunk.
We did not have phone service here, but were fortunate to be able to drive the car and continue to our next location.
Rental cars in Guatemala City: What to expect at the airport
If you do choose to opt for renting a car in Guatemala City, there are many options for car rentals at the airport with local and international companies.
You can find your car rental company after getting baggage and exiting customs. There will be an area with different transportation services like shuttles and rental company stands. Once you check in with the rental company, they will take you to another location of the airport to do all the paperwork and pick up the car.
Like any standard car rental, there are different car types to select ahead of time, and the car rental rates will vary based on what type of vehicle you reserve.
The rental drop off will be in the same location as the car reservation pick up. Most agencies are open as early as 5am for drop off.
Renting a car in Guatemala City: Avoid Alamo Rent a Car Guatemala at all costs
If against my recommendations, you still want to rent a car in Guatemala, do not rent one through Alamo. It is no secret that car rental companies will try to screw you over any chance they get, but Alamo Guatemala really takes this to the next level. They have truly the worst customer service you will ever deal with.
After being rear ended, I promptly notified Alamo of the issue, and they could not have cared less about my health and wellbeing. No questions to see if we were ok, they just told me that we needed to pay them immediately for the damage. I sent over the contact information and insurance of the man that hit our car, and they basically said, “not our problem, you pay for it”. Meaning, they wouldn’t spend the time to collect his insurance money, they wanted it from me.
As the trunk was damaged in the accident we did not use the car for 3 days and had it parked at our hotel. After checking out of the hotel and going to get the car, I find out it will not start. Now I’ve been rear ended before, and had some other mild fender benders. But not once in my 25 year driving history has a car failed to start after bumper damage. There were definitely issues with the car’s electrical system or battery if it can die that quickly.
Our hotel went out of their way to try to jump the car (unsuccessfully). I tried multiple times to call Alamo and they would not answer. Finally I got a text that said “I’m busy send a text”. I relayed the issue as best as possible, but they never once sent clear communication if they were sending someone to come jump the car or tow it. As they refused to answer my calls, I could only text and wait. I asked 3 times over the course of a few hours to get an ETA to which they said up to 8 hours. You’re kidding right?
Our hotel had offered to organize a taxi for us, and after hours of waiting, we finally made our escape which cost $130 in cash and out of pocket to get a taxi back to Guatemala City while the car was towed.
Read more on our hotel: A Genuine Review of the Hotel Villa Santa Catarina
Only after the tow driver showed up did Alamo deign to call me back. I told them they needed to provide me with an itemized list of all charges for my rental insurance, and they said that was not their policy. Meanwhile they had the audacity to try to charge my card 4 separate times $1300-2100 (which were all denied by Chase) but “could not tell me” what the charges were for.
Even though I was continually texting (since no one would answer my calls) they messaged to tell me they would send it to the legal team in the US since I was “unresponsive”. I said “great, I would LOVE to talk to someone in the US”. At this point, they stopped responding to my messages knowing their threats of legal action meant nothing as they couldn’t back it up.
After returning home and spending hours trying to get someone at Alamo USA to assist, not only is it NOT policy to charge items without sending an invoice, my card was already charged for $667. So why were they then charging me $2100? Because they were trying to scam me out of money knowing full well the costs were not that high.
Why you must have insurance when renting a car in Guatemala City
As someone who has rented cars in 4 continents, I have never had an issue with a car rental like I had in Guatemala. During this trip, I declined the company provided rental insurance as I always do, because my credit card includes car rental protection and I had purchased additional travelers insurance with rental car coverage.
I am very grateful for the third party insurance as it covered most of the cost that was incurred due to the accident. Despite being the victim of the rear-ending, Alamo had no desire to have the man at fault pay for the accident. As they also refused to provide any sort of itemization for the charges, or any documentation from their end, my credit card company would not pay me for the out of pocket cost until they received that information.
Enter travelers insurance. My third party travelers insurance was able to use the limited documentation I received from Alamo America, and paid 75% of the cost. While I was still out money, it was at a significantly lower price. The insurance paid for roughly $450 worth of damages (but not all the taxes and fees). My coverage cost me $75 for a week of medical, car rental and travel insurance.
If you are renting a car in a foreign country, it is always worth the cost to get travelers insurance with additional rental car coverage. I regularly use and recommend Visitors Coverage.
Alternatives to renting a car in Guatemala City
There are a number of options for getting around without a Guatemala car rental. For the adventurous, or budget traveler, there are chicken buses that travel all over the country. From Guatemala City you can get a taxi or even an Uber all the way to the coast or Lake Atitlan. Or, reserve a private shuttle to take you between cities. With the exception of the local buses, taxis and shuttles will cost more than renting a car in Guatemala City, but you can leave the driving up to the experts and save yourself from undue stress.
FAQs about renting a car in Guatemala City
Is it recommended to rent a car in Guatemala?
No, I would absolutely not recommend getting a rental car in Guatemala. Use buses, taxis or shuttles instead.
Can I rent a car in Guatemala with a US license?
If you choose to rent a car in Guatemala, yes you can rent one with a valid US license.
Can you rent a car in Guatemala City?
You can rent a car in Guatemala City, however based on personal experience i would not recommend it to anyone. If renting a car in Guatemala City, do not rent with Alamo as they have horrible customer service and staff.
How much does it cost to rent a car in Guatemala?
You can find a car rental Guatemala for around $30-40 per day before insurance and other fees.
Additional posts on Guatemala
- How to get from Guatemala City to Lake Atitlan
- How to get from Guatemala City to Antigua
- For an exciting adventure, try a Lake Atitlan zipline
- Views and Vibes: The Best Antigua Guatemala Bars
- The Best Things to do in Antigua Guatemala
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