What to check when you pick up a rental car
· 4 min read
Ten minutes at pick-up saves every argument at drop-off. This is the checklist we use ourselves: bodywork, tyres, documents, lights and the photos worth keeping before you drive away.
A rental handover takes as long as you want it to take. Give it ten minutes and keep four photos, and you spare yourself any misunderstanding at drop-off — here or anywhere else in the world. This is the inspection we recommend, in the order we do it.
1. Walk all the way round and film it
Before you get in, walk around the vehicle with your phone recording: slowly, in good light. A one-minute video beats ten loose photos because it shows the whole car and carries a timestamp. Look where marks actually appear:
- Front and rear bumpers, especially the corners.
- Doors and wings at waist height, where car parks leave their mark.
- The wheel rims, which collect more scuffs than anything else.
- The windscreen: look for stone chips against the light.
- The roof and the mirrors, which almost nobody checks.
If you spot something, say so there and then and ask for it to be noted on the handover form. Damage written down is damage that stops being your problem.
2. Tyres, spare and tools
Check the tread on all four tyres and that none looks visibly soft. Then open the boot and check what hardly anyone checks: that the spare wheel, the jack and the wheel wrench are all there. In a country where potholes open up after rain, that thirty-second check is the best-value one on this list.
3. Vehicle documents
The glovebox should carry the registration, the current road-tax sticker and the insurance policy. And on you, your licence: Law 63-17 requires every driver to carry it on public roads and to show the documents if a DIGESETT officer asks (articles 5.23 and 232).
If your licence is from another country, driving in the DR with a foreign licence explains what the law requires and what else is worth bringing.
4. Start it up and test what you will use
- Air conditioning: make sure it actually cools, not just blows.
- Lights: dipped, main beam, brake lights and indicators, with someone watching from outside.
- Wipers and washer fluid: in the rainy season you will need them on day one.
- Horn, mirrors and reversing camera if it has one.
- The fuel level on the dashboard at handover: note it or photograph it.
- Pair your phone to Bluetooth before you set off, not while driving.
5. Ask these four questions before you leave
- How fuel should be returned: as received, full, or some other arrangement.
- What the insurance covers and what happens in case of damage.
- Which number to call if something happens on the road, and at what hours.
- How and where the vehicle is returned on the last day.
We confirm our own terms — fuel, deposit, cover and return — on WhatsApp or through the booking form before handover; the general ones are on Policies.
If something happens on the road
The emergency number in the Dominican Republic is 911: police, fire and ambulance, answered in Spanish and English. After an accident, people come first; then photograph the scene before anything is moved, and call us. Do not sign or pay anything on the spot before speaking to the company.
Everything else about driving here — speed limits, checkpoints, seat belts and children — is in Is it safe to drive in the Dominican Republic?.
When you hand the car back
Repeat the walk-around video, with the dashboard in shot so the fuel level and mileage are visible. Take your things out of the glovebox, the boot and the USB port, and ask for confirmation that the return is closed. That way the rental ends with no conversations left open.
Our vehicles — like the 2021 CR-V EX-L 4x4, the 2017 CR-V Touring AWD or the Accord Sport — are handed over serviced and clean; the list above is so you can confirm it with your own eyes. See the whole fleet in the catalogue.
Booking with us? We hand the car over with time to do this check without rushing. Send us your dates.
Updated on September 23, 2026.
