Renting a Car in Nicaragua (The Ants Were Free)

We are entering our fifth month in Nicaragua. We have always stayed within walking distance of town, so a car has not been necessary.  We rented a car a few times, but just for one or two days when we had to go to Rivas or Managua. We still live near town, but we decided to rent a car for a month.

The kids now have horseback riding once a week and we want to go to the beach once in a while for a change of scenery. The beaches here are empty and beautiful. It is also helpful to have a car to get groceries (those backpacks full of Gatorade get heavy).

Renting a car in Nicaragua is fairly simple. There are well-known car rental companies here (Alamo, Avis, Budget). These companies are reliable, but they are more expensive than renting a car from a private owner. We decided to rent a car from a private owner. We put a post on Facebook stating that we wanted to rent a car. Within a few minutes, Michael had several private messages with car rental options.  A lot of cars are older. The one we previously rented was a 2002. Many are manual.

We ended up renting a manual 2017 Toyota Hilux for $16/day.  It is a popular truck here in Nicaragua. We chose a truck because many of the roads around San Juan Del Sur are dirt roads that can be hard to navigate in a sedan.

Judy knows how to drive manual cars, Michael is taking this opportunity to learn. He is doing great only after driving it for two days.

The person renting the car had his lawyer draw up a simple one-page agreement. Judy negotiated out the clause on lost profit damages, but otherwise, it was straightforward. The owner has insurance on the car and if we get stopped by the police, we just have to show the registration card.

After we rented the car we lifted the seat to bring the seatbelt buckles up and found a family of giant red ants. Getting rid of the ants was a family effort.

We took the car to the boys’ second horseback riding lesson. Lucas and Henry are learning how to groom the horse and take the saddle on and off in addition to riding. The lessons are the highlight of their week.

We are excited to have this car for the month. It gives us a bit for freedom even though we are mostly staying home.