A young Cuban woman living in Miami reported that upon her arrival in Cuba, when she went to pick up her rental car at the airport, she was charged 140 dollars just for gasoline, plus an additional 60 dollars as a tip for the person handing her the vehicle: a total expenditure of 200 dollars before she had even left the terminal.
The young woman, identified on social media as Claudeliña, shared on Facebook the video with her account, recorded before leaving the facility.
"When I came to pick up the car, they told me I had to pay 140 dollars for gas. 140 dollars for gas! We don't even put 140 dollars of gas in our truck, in our trailer," she said, visibly indignant.
According to his testimony, tips have also skyrocketed. "Before, you could get by with $20 or $25 for the person who retrieves your car. Now you have to give $60. In other words, upon arriving at the airport, you have to shell out $200," he lamented.
The young woman, who traveled with Delta Airlines, mentions that during the baggage claim, the power went out three times, something she had already anticipated. What she didn’t expect were the car charges.
"I'm doing it now (the video) because later, when you see your family, you forget everything. I'm really stressed, and I haven't left the airport," she emphasized.
The comments on the video reflect that the experience is not an isolated case. One internet user wrote: "You got off easy; they charged me 250 for a full tank." Another revealed that in Santa Clara, they asked for a 100-dollar tip "right to my face, directly." A third user summarized the situation with a powerful phrase: "It's the level of extortion that's going on. It's the law of survival."
A resident of the United States from Camagüey recounted an even more frustrating experience that happened years ago: "My husband rented the car more than three months in advance. When we arrived in Cuba, there was no car available, and we had to spend over three hours arguing with the rental thieves to end up with a car that couldn't fit our luggage, whose air conditioning didn't work, and that got a flat tire just leaving Havana." Upon reaching their destination and requesting a tire change, they accused her husband of giving the good tire to someone else and putting on an old one instead. "That was in 2018, and we have never returned since," she concluded.
The background for these charges is the fuel crisis affecting Cuba: since May 15, 2026, the regime has liberalized the price of gasoline in foreign currency, setting the B100 at $2.60 per liter in official dollarized channels. In the informal market, the price has reached between six and eight dollars per liter.
Car rental operators pass that cost directly to the customer, resulting in charges that travelers describe as extortion. In July 2026, a rental of 450 dollars for a single day was documented for the route between Havana Airport and Cienfuegos. In August, Cuban Rachel Zanabria posted a viral video denouncing that they gave her the rented car without gasoline despite having paid for a full tank.
The pattern repeats itself: the traveler pays from abroad for a service that, upon arriving at the airport, turns into a chain of unexpected charges, poorly maintained vehicles, and forced tips, with no effective regulation to protect the user.
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