Beware the latest taxi scam !

[Andy&Jen]

I discovered to my cost about the latest scam involving tourists and non Mexican locals , taxi drivers and yes the boys in blue.....
I had pulled into the Oxxo on 28th and as we were about to leave a taxi pulled in behind me blocking me in (there were plaenty of spaces available next to us) he eventually moved off and i was just pulling out when he screeched to a halt in front of me and another taxi came in behind boxing me in, the driver then proceeded to scream at me about supposadley hitting his car and showed me an inch diameter dent in the car, he said i had reversed into him causing this huge amount of damage (let me just say at this point i drive a big 2 and a half ton truck, if i had hit him i would have destroyed his little car ... but i digress) within seconds around 15 taxi's pulled up around us and the intimidation began, then the police arrived followed by the Taxi mafia boss who strutted around with his puffed out chest throwing insults at me...i stayed calm i must add... turns out the wanted 250 usd from me for the damage i had caused ... i was having non of it and refused luckily a spanish speaking friend showed up and warned me if i didnt pay something (and agreed it was wrong and he had been thru the same thing recently) i would end up in jail, so i took out a 100 dollar bill and basically told the guy take it or leave it, of course he took it and after a few more scowls in my direction and comments about not showing respect ???? they took off, but not before i heard the cop tell the taxi driver not to forget to pay him his cut.... well another lesson learned as they say, it turns out this kind of blatent robbery is becoming more and more common and i have no advice on how to avoid it, needless to say my opinion of the police has dropped another few notches (my opinion of the taxistas has always been very low anyway) and i will just have to try and be careful of where i park in the future .
Oh i forgot to add that the cop took my licence and despite paying off the mafia for the supposed damage , i still have to now visit the station and pay another fine for being involved in a road traffic accident and to get my licence back..
__________________

[John]

How's this... say you'll pay for the damages, go into the Oxxo and buy a disposable camera, then explain that you need to submit a photo to your insurance company. Chances are, they wouldn't want their taxi number in any photos of the accident. However, if they do allow you to take a photo, you have documented proof of the damage and the scammer's taxi number. I have no clue who you could report that to, however.

[Libby]

Andy, I'm so sorry to hear about your horrible experience!

This is just one of many reasons to have good car insurance here. We use Sanborn' s, but thankfully have never needed it. They actually provide you with legal aid and will post bond if you are taken into custody. You just call a toll free number when you've had your accident (real or purported), and they assign a local attorney to your case.

By the way, when you rent a car here, you are required to get the liability insurance. I'm not sure if they will provide legal aid though. Something to ask the car rental companies about.

[Andy&Jen]

The probvlem is as i found it was they were not interested in trading insurances or even discussing the incident, both the Taxi mafia and the police wanted hard cash and as we saw it they were going to get it one way or another, everyone knew i didnt hit the taxi or cause any damage and no insurance policy would have paid out on the basis of thier word against mine, and at the end of the day i wasnt looking forward to spending time in jai. or worse taking a beating

[PlayaWithMe]

So sorry to hear that happened......I got out of a $100 ticket for $12 in change.....Not using the blinker to change lanes.......The police officer kept saying I could pay him there no problemo.......

I rent something to drive when I am down there almost everytime and I will for sure keep my eye out next time.......Thanks.

[TAPPY]

Aw Andy - so sorry this happened to you !
It is really sad to hear storys like this.

[claudiadeplaya]

I am so sorry to hear about this Andy
I just pm d you to see about getting your license back

[SUNBABY]

What a bummer of a rip-off! Sorry Andy, that sucks. In the future keep a video recorder in your car. If it happens again, or you see somebody getting scammed..start filming. They won't like that.

They wouldn't get a dime out of me. I get hysterical enough to scare the hell out of the Pemex banditos, and the cabbies and police don't intimedate me either. I would rant and rave and tell them I am a writer for a major travel news program and will air their dirty tricks to all the world to see. Let them take me to jail. I don't get mad, I get even!.

I would bet the insurance companies in Mexico would like to hear about this and get some video of it.

[Tony&Cheri]

Andy, were these transit cops or city police? If they were transit we have a good working relationship with some of the ranking officials there and would be glad to see what can be done. If they were city cops we also have a few ideas. We will be home Tuesday so give us a call (or stop by).

[Andy&Jen]

Hi T&C they were transit i believe (not federales) and i will def stop by to say hi and share a couple of cold ones with you both

[Ginger]

wow, that really sucks, Andy. I'm very sorry that happened to you, it must have been very unnerving!

It seems I've heard a few stories lately (this one, the one of people climbing into open windows at night) that I don't want John to hear about. He tends to get very paranoid when he hears these types of stories. He's more of a worrier in that sense than I am, and sometimes that can be a good thing. If I told him about this, he would totally cancel our trip to Palenque and Agua Azul in July. We are renting a car. I am not worried, I mean we drove our van from Matamoros to Playa, and then back again with only one or two minor hitches that we were able to talk our way out of.

I realize we can all say it is an isolated incident, not all taxi drivers are like this, yadda yadda yadda, but none of that takes away from the fact that what you went through was a horrible injustice. I hope you do go to a higher authority with it, I think it would do good to have it seen to at a higher level in the gov't or public office, whether or not you see it doing any good, and I can totally empathize with the feeling that it will not.




Your incident reminded me of a little fender bender I had when we were living in Playa. I was in an Internet cafe on Calle 8 beside Plaza Pelicanos, and when I came out, a van was parked behind my van, but he had hit my van and was actually parked right AGAINST my van! I was like WTF?? I couldn't even move my van to drive away. A local gentleman was standing there, and in spanish he told me that he saw the guy who owned the van had driven right into my car, and that he owned the real estate business next door. So I went to the Transit police man on the corner and explained to him what happened, told him about my witness. He was reluctant, and then I started to get a little...."anxious" and kind of started to raise my voice (I'm a redhead, remember ) So the policeman goes and gets this van owner, brings him out and he starts reaming him out about it. Finally the van owner is apologizing profusely in English to me, and offers me what kind of money I think I need to fix my car. Well, my van was no Mercedes Benz, so I just told him to move his car so I could get out, and just to be more careful next time for pete's sake. The police asked if that was fine and I was happy with "the decision"....

Sorry to go , back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[mcolandrea]

We had a similar incident, not with taxi but with police. We own in Playa and visit every two months or so. We were in a rental car and the police stopped us saying we passed the red light when we knew for certainty we had just driven through a green light. Well reasoning it wasnt helping. He wanted our license and wouldnt take no for an answer. I finally said, how much, in spanish and he proceeded to show me a small card that had all sorts of penalties listed for certain offenses. For red light it said $100 usd. I thought it was absurd but since it was our first incident in Playa and really werent aware of these type of scams going on, we gave it to him and he gladly walked away. Needless to say we were and still are furious about how they take advantage of innocent people and how we were scammed into giving so much money away!