Renting a car in the U.S. with a Mexican driver's license.

by Cincy Fri Apr 02, 2021 12:43 pm

Last week my wife and I flew to San Antonio, Texas. As always, we rented a car from National Car Rental at the airport. I presented the following valid documents to the kiosk attendant:

1) U.S. passport
2) U.S. credit card
3) Mexican drivers license
4) Mexican Residente Permanente card

I was not allowed to rent a car because my passport and driver's license were from different countries! This must be a common occurrence for all long-term ex-pats living abroad. How does one overcome this hurdle?

by ferret Fri Apr 02, 2021 12:49 pm

That certainly doesn't happen in Canada and I highly suspect that it was the employee's problem not yours. I would phone to the head office of the car rental agency and/or try another car rental agency to check your options. I have been renting cars in Canada for over twenty years with just a Mexican's driver license and my Canadian passport and a Canadian credit card.

by desafinada Fri Apr 02, 2021 3:12 pm

We rented from Budget in 2019. Because we had booked on their Mexican site, they insisted on a MX driver's license.

by windrider17 Fri Apr 02, 2021 5:15 pm

Try Turo. I use it everywhere. https://turo.com/

by slainte39 Fri Apr 02, 2021 6:13 pm

In Ireland, I have used used Mexican DL, US credit card, and Irish passport, all together, and never a problem at Hertz or Irish Car Rentals.
I think like ferret said, it was an employee problem.

by sm1mex Fri Apr 02, 2021 7:30 pm

We have rented cars in US with Mx drivers license. We always check with rental company to let them know we have a Mx license and get an ok with license required on reservation. No problem. Use US credit card.

by Zedinmexico Sun Apr 04, 2021 11:49 am

Alas budget in LA told us they would rent to us if our Mexican drivers license wasn't in Mexican. No I am not making this up. The manager said the same thing. When we complained to someone sane and non racist they apologized. We told them lots of choices in rent a car and it won't be budget.

by scooterbum Sun Apr 04, 2021 1:59 pm

A few years back I booked a rental in the U.S online. I was using a vpn showing my location in the USA - budget quoted $675 for the week. I disabled the vpn (now showing Mexico location) and received a quote for $375 for the week. Seemed weird so I repeated this (USA. Mex) again with the same result. Booked using the Mexico price - rented the car at the Mexico price with a Jalisco drivers license and a US credit card no problem.

by Cincy Wed Apr 28, 2021 12:42 pm

As the OP, here is an update:
Rented a car in Austin, TX, from AVIS with Jalisco drivers license and U.S. credit - no problems

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Renting a car in the U.S. with a Mexican driver's license.

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