Short answer: yes, with a few precautions that nobody at the airport counter will explain to you. We are a Dominican rental company based in Higüey with more than 4,500 deliveries, and these are the questions our clients ask before they book, answered without marketing.
Most visitors drive around Punta Cana for a week without a single problem. The main roads are modern: the Autopista del Coral between the airport and La Romana, the Bávaro–Higüey road and the boulevards through Bávaro and Cap Cana are paved, signed and busy with tourists every day.
The things that do catch people off guard are predictable: motorbikes weaving through traffic, drivers overtaking where you would not expect it, unlit stretches at night, speed bumps without paint, and, more than anything, the money surprises at the rental counter: a mandatory “insurance” that was not in the online price, a deposit nobody mentioned, a fuel charge at return. Driving is the easy part. Choosing who you rent from is where most of the risk sits.
You drive on the right, the same as in the United States and Canada. Speed limits are posted in kilometres per hour. The highways are quiet and straight; the local roads inside Bávaro, Verón and Higüey are where you pay attention: motorbikes (“motoconchos”) pass on both sides, cars pull out without much warning, and speed bumps appear in front of schools and shops.
Our practical rules after thousands of deliveries: keep a bigger gap than you would at home, assume the motorbike next to you will turn without signalling, slow down at every bump, and plan long drives (Santo Domingo, Samaná, the north coast) in daylight. Google Maps and Waze both work well here; a local SIM or your roaming plan is enough.
Punta Cana itself, including the resort zones, Cap Cana and the beach boulevards, is easy, flat and well lit. The airport-to-resort drive is 15 to 40 minutes on a modern highway. If you have driven in Florida or Texas, you will be fine.
Traffic police (DIGESETT) and tourist police (CESTUR) run routine checkpoints on the main roads. They are normal, they are not aimed at tourists, and in most cases you are waved through. If you are stopped, you will be asked for your licence and the vehicle's papers.
Your valid driver's licence from home plus your passport are enough for a tourist stay; you do not need an international driving permit. Keep three things in the car at all times: your licence, a copy of your passport (the original can stay in the hotel safe) and the rental contract we hand you at delivery. The vehicle's registration and insurance card travel with the car.
Never pay anything on the roadside. A real fine is issued on paper with the officer's details. If anything about a stop is unclear, call us on WhatsApp while you are still there and we will speak with the officer in Spanish for you.
Every vehicle in our fleet is insured through MultiSeguros. That is the liability insurance that protects third parties. It is not the same as damage protection for the car you are driving, and this is the point where many tourists get a bad surprise elsewhere: “full insurance” at a counter usually still carries a deductible of several hundred or thousand dollars.
We offer CDW (collision damage waiver) in three levels, from US$12 a day, up to zero deductible. You choose the level before you confirm and the total is shown with it included; nothing is added at delivery. If you do not take CDW, your responsibility is the deductible stated in your contract.
If there is an accident: stop, make sure everyone is fine, and call 911 if anyone is injured (911 works across the Dominican Republic). Then write to us on WhatsApp. We tell you exactly what to do, we guide you through the insurance process and, if the car cannot continue, we bring you another unit of the same price. At the end of the rental the car is inspected together with you, and any damage is charged per part from the schedule you received, never a round number invented on the spot.
The classic Punta Cana rental complaint is a US$30-a-day online price that becomes US$90 at the counter. The pieces that get added are always the same: mandatory insurance, tax, “airport fee”, a young-driver fee, a fuel charge, and a deposit hold far larger than expected.
How we handle each one. The price you see includes the daily rate, the CDW level you choose and the 18% ITBIS tax, and delivery is free on rentals of 3 days or more (a flat US$50 + tax round trip on 1–2 day rentals). An advance payment through a secure payment link reserves the car; no full prepayment. The security deposit is a temporary hold on your credit or debit card, not a charge; the amount depends on the vehicle and the CDW level, we tell you before you confirm, and it is released after the car is returned in the agreed condition (your bank can take several business days to show it). If you cancel 48 hours or more before delivery, you get a full refund; refunds go back to the same card, usually within 7 to 15 business days.
Whoever you rent from, ask these four questions in writing before you pay: What is the total with tax and insurance? How much is the deposit hold? What is the deductible if I take your insurance? Is delivery or pickup charged? A company that answers all four clearly is a company you can trust.
For the full picture on holds, cards and release times, read our guide What deposit do car rentals in Punta Cana ask for?
Want your exact number? Our car rental cost calculator shows the real total for your class and dates, with tax, delivery, deposit and deductible.
Gas stations are attended: you stay in the car and an attendant fills it. Cash in pesos is the safest way to pay, although the big stations on the main roads take cards. Our Hyundai Sonatas run on LPG (propane), which costs about half of gasoline per kilometre; they are refilled at LPG stations, which are common around Bávaro, Verón and Higüey, and we hand you a map with them. Never put gasoline in an LPG car.
The Autopista del Coral has toll booths between the airport and La Romana. Tolls are small and paid in pesos, so keep some RD$100 and RD$500 bills in the car.
Roadside assistance is included for the whole rental. If the car breaks down, you write to us, we send help, and if the vehicle cannot continue we replace it with another unit of the same price. You are never left waiting with a phone number that nobody answers: our WhatsApp is staffed 24 hours a day, in English and Spanish.
Resorts, beaches, restaurants and shopping centres in Punta Cana have parking, most of it guarded. The same habits you use at home apply: nothing visible on the seats, lock the car, park where there is light and people. Petty theft from cars is rare in the resort zones and almost always involves a bag left in sight.
Leaving the resort is the whole point of renting. Macao beach, the Hoyo Azul, Higüey's basilica, Bayahíbe and the boats to Saona, Altos de Chavón, the coffee and cacao country inland: all of it is a comfortable day trip on good roads. Do it in daylight, keep the tank above half, and send us your route on WhatsApp if you want a local to look at it first.
We are El Anillo Rent Car, a Dominican company with a physical office at Calle Hicayagua, corner of Celina Pilier, in front of the Chamber of Commerce in Higüey, 35–40 minutes from the airport. We have completed more than 4,500 deliveries across Punta Cana and the rest of the country, we run a fleet of 20+ vehicles, and you can read more than 100 Google reviews that we did not write. Our office is open every day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and our WhatsApp never closes.
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