A Cuban who was visiting the island shared her experience on TikTok after having an incident with the rental car she had in the city of Cienfuegos: a neighbor hit the vehicle while it was parked in the Punta Gorda neighborhood.
In the video published on Sunday, the user @la_mariachispark recounted that she had rented the car through Transtur, the state-owned Cuban tourism transport company. As she explained, the street where she left the vehicle was inclined, which made it easier for the neighbor to hit it.
"Well, as everything isn't all rosy, I had an accident on my trip to Cuba," he began his story. "I rented a tourist car from Transtur, yes, in Cienfuegos, Cuba, in Punta Gorda, when a neighbor crashed into the car. The car was parked."
Following the incident, the woman adhered to the appropriate protocol: she reported the accident to Transtur and called the National Police. According to her testimony, the officers arrived at the scene relatively quickly. In the end, the matter did not have significant consequences for her as the vehicle's lessor.
"In the end, nothing happened, everything remained as it was, but it was a somewhat tense moment," he summarized. However, the one who faced a more complicated situation was the neighbor responsible for the crash. "The young man, just imagine, having crashed a car with tourists, it was a bit tedious for him," he noted.
Indeed, crashing a tourist vehicle in Cuba has particularly serious implications for the person responsible. These vehicles, identifiable by their special license plates, are owned by the Cuban state and are tied to the tourism sector, which exacerbates the legal and economic consequences for the individual who causes the damage.
Punta Gorda, where the incident occurred, is the most exclusive neighborhood in Cienfuegos. Located at the southern tip of the city on a narrow peninsula overlooking the Cienfuegos bay (formerly known as Jagua bay), it is home to historic mansions, hotels, and restaurants, and hosts one of Transtur's main offices in the province.
Accidents involving rental cars are common in Cuba. In a spectacular crash in Havana in July 2025, a taxi collided with a rental car, and that same month another rental vehicle was left wrecked in Santiago de Cuba. In 2024, a tragedy in Las Tunas resulted in seven fatalities following the collision between a taxi and a rental car.
The difficulties in renting cars in Cuba are not new. In May of this year, Cubans arriving from Miami reported breaches by state agencies, including vehicles that were unavailable despite reservations paid in advance, all exacerbated by the energy crisis the island is facing.
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