Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS

Playa del Carmen...
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Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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Just been following the Ontario 19 year old who rented a car with his mother and got involved in an accident which was not his fault. The police told him, he would be allowed to leave cuba , when everyone recovered from their injuries.. Now he has been forced to hire a Cuban Lawyer and told he could face jail time.

Todate his mother has spent 20,000 canadian since the end of April with no charges from the cuban police.

Please read up on it before giving your two bites

some friends claim its another way to get the tourists back into the hotel compounds and stop the tourists from mixing with cubans because we drive one to three thousand

kils every trip mixing with everyone and now thats gone.

Old Havana
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Canterbury, United...
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11. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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bellagio:

You are almost right, don't forget the insurance... I now know a guy in Holguin who will drive his 12 seat minibus for 100CUC per day which means everyone gets to go to the beach on the same day, everyone can drink (including those who would previosuly had to drive) and it all safe(r), including coming home to San German at 2 o'clock in the morning!

Newton Aycliffe...
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12. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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bedsettee:

I've actually checked my invoice and the rental was only 50 CUC's per day including insurance. 35 + 15 CUC's insurance with Cubacar, 26th October 2009. Cost in Sterling £501.49.

Canterbury, United...
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13. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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bellagio:

Oh wow!!! It's went up more than I thought then, in the last 12(-ish) months. Couldn't remember what we paid last time but in 2008 it was similar to what you had paid in '09. They are wanting something like £650 for the fortnight, which is steep especially when it is the same car from 8 years previously!!! Had the same skoda fabia two years in a row from holguin airport and the fuel guage nor radio was ever fixed....

Canterbury, United...
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14. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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bellagio:

Just checked, a new ford focus from avis from london city airport for the same fortnight is £350 all in...

Camaguey, Cuba
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15. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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"some friends claim its another way to get the tourists back into the hotel compounds and stop the tourists from mixing with cubans"

==================================================

I personnaly think that this affirmation is not only unfounded, but it's the exact opposite of Cuban governement intention right now...

It's true that historically, Fidel tried to seperate de resorts and the majority of the tourists from the rest of the country. But now, it's not the case. The new tourism publicity campaign is called "Authentika Cuba" and is all about visiting the towns, seing shows, and concerts and visiting museums, etc...

I really don't think they would make a publicity campaign telling people to visit the cities and promoting what there is to do outside of the resorts if what they wanted was to separate Cubans and tourists.

Plus, the law is the same for tourists and Cubans. If you drive a car that is involved in body injuries, you can be procecuted. That is just the way their laws are and have been for many, many, many years... Even before a large number of tourisms started traveling to Cuba.

Mississauga, Canada
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16. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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I have for years had a rental car for each of my severval trips a year to Cuba and have never thought of driving in Cuba as dangerous. It can be challenging and perhaps a little nerve racking at times but with a lot of common sense and a lot of experience I find it very rewarding to drive about the countryside and visit small towns and take in the scenery.

There are WAY too many unknown's and hearsay about the accident mentioned for anyone on TA to form an educated opinion of any kind.

Driving in Cuba by some tourists would IMHO be far more dangerous for the unsuspecting Cubans !!!!

LENNY

Calgary, Canada
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17. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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While I feel a lot of sympathy for the kid and his mother, there has been a whole lot of irrational verbiage spewed about concerning this story. I know how I would feel if it was my son, but that does not change the facts. As Gengen points out, if you are driving and involved in an injury accident, you can be prosecuted. So if that is the law, each tourist has the responsibility to be aware of it and to understand the consequences. And another point of law, is that he was underage, and shouldn’t have been driving. The car rental company apparently was wrong also, in that they shouldn’t have listed him as a driver. (Report is that they did.) But, what is that old saying? … Oh, yes, “two wrongs don’t make a right.”

I agree with Lenny that with all the hearsay, we can’t form any educated opinions. That also goes for radio talk show hosts, but when did that ever stop a radio talk show host? I listened, for a while, to Roy Green on the radio yesterday, and he was spouting off at the parliamentary secretary to the Foreign Affairs Minister, saying basically that Canada should intervene. It is not our place to pass opinions on Cuba’s laws. It is up to us to abide by them when we go there. End of.

There was also some moaning about how Cody’s situation, in a hotel in Cuba, costing his mother x dollars per day is “extortion.” If a member of my family was in that spot, I would be glad he wasn’t in jail. I agree, it’s an awful expense, but there seems to be plenty of fund raising action going on, so I suspect the family will not have to pay it all themselves.

And then, there was the remark that the Cubans are not providing the medical care that Cody needs. Actually, the comments that his mother made sounded like she didn’t think that the Cuban hospital was good enough. She said, “he needs to be in a Canadian hospital.” Sounds like the medical care is available, they just aren’t accepting it.

Bottom line: if you go to any foreign country and plan to drive, be aware of the laws, follow them as best you can, understand the implications, and be a whole lot more careful than you would be in familiar surroundings.

JMNSHO

Jack

Kentville, Canada
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18. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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think about it ...

if a visitor to Canada were to be involved in a traffic accident and it turns out that they werent legal to be driving in Canada, do you think they'll be sitting in a Canadian rsort while the matter gets sorted out?

Would we want their home country to interfere with our governement to get them home?

Calgary, Canada
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19. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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Exactly, Manfred. That was the point that Mr. Obhrai (the parliamentary secretary) was trying to make before he got shouted down. I guess parliamentary secretaries aren't as good at dealing with talk show hosts as real politicians.

Jack

Havana, Cuba
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20. Re: Is it Dangerous to rent cars in Cuba ? YES IT IS
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CubaJack, good points in your post #17.

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