Cuba Car Rental Reviews

It is sometimes hard to come by Cuba Car Rental Reviews on the internet. Most forums don´t provide locations for such information therefore, we offer Cuba Car Rental Reviews for all of the rental agencies in Cuba

Cuba Car Rental Reviews | REX Cuba

REX is considered the premiere car rental agency in Cuba. They offer the best vehicles, newer and better maintained. They also offer models unavailable from the other Car Rental Agencies in Cuba. These include:

Volkswagen Passat, Audi A4, Audi A6, Seat Altea XL Models available in Cuba

Most of the Cuba Car Rental Reviews we have received concerning REX are favorable. However, some clients who did not book via the official web page claim they were overcharged for insurance and sometimes charged drop off fees in other cities. Some clients also claim that when booking with third parties their bookings were moved to other locations for collection. Therefore, so long as the booking is made via REX Cuba website there seems to be few complaints

Cuba Car Rental Reviews | Havanautos

Havanautos is one of the oldest car rental brands in Cuba with offices all over Cuba. Initially part of the Corporation CIMEX Havanatur company, it was spun off as a subsidiary and is now operated under the Transtur holding company as is the case with the below companies. Cuba Car Rental Reviews for Havanautos offer several pitfalls. The first is that while owned and operated by CIMEX the booking process was through Havanatur. However, now the bookings are processed through various third parties plus through their direct Havanautos website for sales outside of Cuba (prebookings). We found that when the car was prebooked pretty much all clients received their exact vehicle and without too many changes. Several clients of prebooked cars did have difficulties concerning changes in collection points. 4 of the clients who wrote to us said that, over a specific weekend, their bookings were moved from Jose Marti Airport to hotels in the center of the city. After checking these complaints with the company, it appears that on those specific dates the airport collection of cars was prohibited due to security measures. Therefore, it would appear that these complaints were isolated cases. Other Cuba Car Rental Reviews concerning Havanautos point to overcharging by certain travel agencies or, not advising on insurance costs in Cuba. However, those cars booked through the Havanautos Website appeared overall very happy. Their Spanish website is here

Cuba Car Rental Reviews | Cuba Car

Cuba Car also belongs to Transtur and was amalgamated with this entity at the same time as Havanautos (2009). Essentially, the cars for CubaCAR are cheaper than those offered by Havanautos but, are exactly the same vehicles with absolutely no difference in the service offered. Jokingly in Cuba this is called the “dual key ring” (doble llavero) referring to the fact that cars will have one Havanautos keyring and one CubaCAR key ring and depending on who rents the car one key ring or the other is provide to the client…

Cuba Car is set apart from all the other agencies because their offices are located in more locations around Cuba. This can be very convenient when cars are being dropped off in another city because where REX, VIA or Havanautos may have just 1 or 2 offices, Cubacar could have 10 in any given location, pretty convenient.

When booking from abroad, the CubaCAR website in 6 languages offers efficient service although some of the identification formalities are a little draconian. Like, you have to send a copy of your driving license to them before you arrive in Cuba. For many travelers this was a minor issue and did speed up the process of receiving the car once there. So we assume the minor issue of sending the license in advance has its advantages.

Things to watch out for when renting with CubaCAR are; always check the vehicle with the attendant present and mark even the most minor scratches and defects on the contract where a picture of a car is shown. This is especially important when you are returning the car to another office or agency in a different location. Some stories have been sent to us concerning clients having lost all or part of the security deposit due to blemishes on the vehicles they claim were already present but, they did not ask to be marked on the contract. You´ve been warned! Also, when booking with CubaCAR the best operation is through the officially approved website which is linked directly to the reservation computers and thus, offers almost foolproof confirmations of models/categories. If you decide to book through a third party agency then immediately request a copy of the voucher which will include a code beginning with TA-XXXXXX (six numbers) and details of your car and the company logo.

CUBACAR only provides their vouchers in non modifiable PDF format therefore, if you receive any other format be very careful and ask for the number of the CUBACAR office they have confirmed you with to check that your booking is real… If the voucher you receive does not match exactly the one shown then you will almost certainly be dealing with a third party and, this could spell trouble upon arrival. Basically, CUBACAR offices only recognize these specific types of voucher so, either your agency will have to send them the original (received from CubaCAR) or they will have to take the original to the office while you are there. This can be a major headache and many have complained to us about this issue of lost time.

Cuba Car Rental Reviews | VIA Rent A Car

VIA is the only car rental agency not managed by Transtur. It is owned directly by a company associated with Cuba´s military division which is no bad thing as the rigors of these companies are often higher than others. Cuba Car Rental Reviews of VIA are numerous as they tend to rent a significant amount of vehicles. Some complaints have been received where clients had been provided with a voucher to collect at a hotel reception but, upon arrival, the collection desk for VIA was adjacent to the reception (so not 24 hours) and the desk was unmanned. After some research and talking to VIA about these complaints almost all cases included travelers who had arrived late for their car collection. It appears that the desks are manned when cars need to be delivered and, then abandoned later (especially outside normal office hours). So, if you intend to collect a car from VIA upon arrival, try and book the pickup at the airport rather than at your hotel. The main reason for this recommendation being that, if your plane is late the airport office of VIA rent a car is always manned 24/7 whereas, you may arrive (late) at your hotel and find the desk empty. Obviously, if you are already in Cuba when you plan to collect you car then this would not be an issue because you can arrive on time and therefore be sure there´s someone at the desk. Other Cuba Car Rental Reviews of VIA point to clients having booked 4×4 vehicles which, upon arrival, were not available. It should be said that VIA advised us that they have few if any 4×4 vehicles but, third party agencies continue to sell these using old marketing materials/websites. VIA recommends using their affiliate website CarRentCuba.com for bookings (VIA does not have a corporate website BTW) which will or should provide the exact vehicles available at any moment in time however, this website also offers vehicles from all the other agencies in Cuba so spotting the VIA vehicles would mean choosing Peugeot 206 or 307 cars or the KIA Rio models which are all from VIA only.

Past Car Rental Agencies in Cuba no longer operating

If you have been confirmed to collect your car from these agencies then expect trouble as they no longer exist! We only have Cuba Car Rental Reviews pre 2008 for these entities and they are no longer relevant, obviously…

PalcoCar – Formally run by the convention center (palacio de concenvenciones) this agency went south in 2008. It no longer exists and all the vehicles were transferred to other divisions.

Gaviota – Gaviota does not offer rental cars anymore and, while they operated under this brand for several years they now only use the VIA moniker for car rentals in Cuba

Havanatur – Havanatur used to offer car rentals but, invariably, the cars were provided by their Havanautos division. Many of the travel ads from the 90´s and early 2000´s show the Havanatur logo next to an image of a rental car (usually the ill-fated Daiwoo Ticos of the day…). Havanatur no longer has any involvement with Havanautos nor do they rent cars independently, instead, passing these bookings over to one of the aforementioned companies.

Final word of advice concerning Cuba Car Rental Reviews – As all the car rental agencies in Cuba (besides VIA who do not have a website) are all owned and operated by the same company “Transtur” you will find striking similarities in their websites and booking process. However, if we were to place them in order of consumer satisfaction then it would be the following:

#1 – REX

#2 – CubaCar

#3 – Via Car rental

#4 – Havanautos

Overall, our Cuba Car Rental Reviews were mainly positive if bookings were made directly with the aforementioned companies and prior to arrival. Some of the Cuba Car Rental Reviews entered into issues of theft from cars, wheels and radio thefts, accidents and other issues which, frankly, are not the fault of the individual companies in question so they have not been included here to rate the agencies. We offer extensive advice on this website to reduce or eliminate these risks to a maximum so, keeping reading! Thanks

Cuba Car Rental Reviews 101