Back f/ beautiful Bonaire (2nd time) & will post report in a short while - but 1st had to post a "buyer beware" & pitch a fit. AB Rental's pickups have truly gone down the maintenance tubes since renting them 2 yrs ago. 8 of us arrived a couple weeks ago, renting 3 pickups. All are, understandably pretty beat up on the outside after most of fleet was apparently new 2 years ago. Two of our trucks sounded like they would barely start - the batteries were obviously weak, probably f/ constant start & stop w/ hardly any charging time. On the second day of driving, my seatbelt refused to retract. 'Took it back for replacement (I just won't drive in a strange place w/o one). Mentioned starting issue - service lady says "that happens when they're cold" - ya right. 'Get different truck - same starting prob. On the 3rd day in Rincon, other couple's truck would not start at all - had to push start w/ our truck down the street. He goes to airport to replace - gets MY FIRST TRUCK!! He of course asks for another, 'cuz he wants an operating seatbelt too. The rest of the week, we had many near misses w/ engine starting. Not so good when you're way south or north diving like we were doing. No doubt the environment there & conditions of driving are hard on the batteries/charging system - but does NOT mean it shouldn't be attended to for paying customers.

Thanks for the heads up...had similar situation with Budget , its as though they dont do any maintainance...wait for it to break and charge the customer . It was the only dark cloud on my trip .

If it was a toyota it may have had a manual choke which has to be pulled out the the half position for easy starts. The newer models dont have chokes however..

i rented from AB over the summer (August) and had a virtually brand new truck...

they have 2 different rental rates. The Mazda BT50 is a few bucks more than the Mazda B 2200.

Perhaps the cheaper one is the older model and less reliable? I was actually surprised at how new our truck was in August.

I will let you all know Monday I have 2 trks rented there. Lets all hope for the best.

We got a package last year from BelMar, which included the higher level from AB. They were embarrassed when we showed up and they only had the lower end. They gave it to use, but asked us to come back the next day for what we were entitled to. Over 5+ years, my experience with them is that you get treated better by AB if you have a package with a resort. (I also find it helpful on Bonaire to live by the southern saying: "you get more flies with honey than with vinegar")

Sue (in the B-40 countdown!)

you're right sue...but who wants a bunch of flies hanging around? just kidding

Do all the car rentals put a $1,500 hold on your credit card because you do not take their insurance? AB did us. We have insurance that covers us and refused it. We'll have our car 1 week tomorrow am and am considering turning it in and getting one somewhere else.

We just got back on Feb 4th with renting 2 trucks for 2 weeks. Both trucks were in perfect condition both being fairly new. We did get a flat tire during our trip due to us running over a cactus. We changed the tire ourselves ( we did have the 24 hr roadside ) but we where in the middle of the bush. After changing the tire we brought the flat one to the office and they just replaced it with a brand new one to get us on our way again. I would definately rent from this company again. They also picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel for free.