Here is my experience in Cabo - I would note that I have rented a car about a half dozen times out of SJD over the past few years, and have now gotten to the point where the entire experience is predictable: Nowadays, I use Europecar exclusively in Cabo, because they treat me honestly and predictably, with no unpleasant surprises.

I can predict that, whenever I rent a car in Cabo, most of the quotes will be for virtually nothing, but not include all of the coverages that will be required. Invariably, the reservation I make will be for a week, at something in the vicinity of 50 cents to $1.50 per day for the base rental., generally coming in at $5 to $9 total rental charge for a compact car for a week, including airport fees. Obviously, this rate is so low that one would be naive to believe that they would not tack on some mandatory coverages on top of that base rate, in order to make any money at all.

In general, the base rate includes only a base liability coverage. The rental company will generally require an additional coverage on top of that. My experience with Europecar is that they will charge me $27 a day for basic coverage, having a collision deductible on the order of $600 to $1000 dollars, depending upon the type of car being rented. If one wishes to avoid that last $600-1000 of CC hold and potential risk, one can expect to pay an additional $12-15 a day depending upon the value of the car being rented.

Generally speaking, when I rent a car for a week in Cabo, I get the first mandatory coverage, and the total rental for 1 week costs me between $215 and $230 US complete, with me incurring the risk of damage to the car up to the deductible that they have held on my CC. If I wish to cover that risk as well, the rental will usually cost me about $100 to $110 more.

Incidentally, the last time I rented a car there a couple of weeks ago, my car got hit pretty significantly while it was parked overnight. I came back to discover a very substantial dent on the driver's side rear door, and extending slightly into the rear wheel well. IMHO, this would have involved $600-900 of bodywork had it happened in the U.S. A fluent Mexican speaking friend of mine got me a couple of local estimates that ranged from $375 to $500. I was not happy, because I knew I was on the hook for the damage, and I had mentally assumed that I was going to lose something approximating the entirety of my $600 CC hold/deductible. After speaking with Europecar over the phone, and assuring them that the car was not structurally damaged, that the windows and door locks were working properly, and that it was simply a large dent that did not impact the safety and driveability of the car, they agreed that I could hang onto the car and return it as I was scheduled to, 4 days later, and that the amount I owed would be settled at that time. In my mind, I had written off the entire $600 CC hold.

When I returned the car, I made sure to emphasize with Europecar that I was a frequent repeat customer that rented with them multiple times at the Cabo location every year. They ended up charging me $378 for the damage repair to the door - which, given my independently obtained estimates, I deemed to be eminently fair.

And philosophically, given that I had rented a car with them 6 times over the last 3 years, each time NOT getting the full $12-15 a day maximum coverage, I came to the viewpoint that, for all intents and purposes, saving that $100-110 each time - and getting hit one time for $378 in damage - in effect amounted to my having self-insured the car against damage.

In any case, by NOT gouging me for an unfair damage assessment, and charging me a fair amount for an amount I legitimately was on the hook for, Europecar has kept me as a customer, who will be returning more times in the near future for more business.

I only wish I knew who hit me overnight and left without facing their liability for the damage that they caused to my rental car.