Crystal Auto Rental in Belize | # 1 Belize Car Rental Company
About Crystal Auto Rental Belize
Crystal Auto Rental Belize with over 35 years of service is the # 1 car rental company in Belize. With a fleet of all US-issued vehicles for comfort and reliability, with the highest collision safety ratings, non-polluting, and a variety of over 30 different types of rental vehicles to select from, Crystal Auto Rental in Belize has the right vehicle for you. NO THIRD WORLD-ISSUED VEHICLES HERE!
We specialize in providing Belize's best and most affordable car rental services. We’ve been allowing our vehicles for the past 35 years to be driven across the border to the Tikal Ruins in Guatemala which is 62 miles away from the Belize border and takes approximately 1hr 45min driving. Crystal Auto Rental Belize has two office locations. Our main office which is in Belize City and our International Airport office at the Phillip Goldson International Airport, but we also a delivery/pick-up service throughout the country.
Open 7 days a week to ensure ALL your traveling experience in the beautiful paradise country of Belize will be a great one.
How Crystal Car Rental in Belize started - Meet the Owner
Crystal Auto Rental Belize was founded in 1989 by Jay Crofton; a native of Conroe Texas. In the mid ‘70s while working in the family refrigeration and air conditioning business, he had the opportunity to take 2 months off each year to go camping in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. It was then on one of his winter camping trips that he discovered how to import and sell cars in Guatemala and Belize up until 1979 when he got a job to go work in Saudi Arabia in the air conditioning department. He made enough money to come back to Conroe and open up a used car finance business which turned out to be very successful. Then came along the oil bust in Texas in the mid-‘80s. There were no jobs to be had and the majority of people with the car notes skipped town and so did the business. This affected his annual winter trips to Belize.
So, in 1988 he flew down to Belize instead of driving normally. Whilst trying to rent a vehicle from the only rental company at the airport, he had one of the worst experiences ever in vehicle rental. As soon as he left the car rental lot and drove down the road to San Ignacio, that was when he had the vision and Crystal was born. Jay decided that he could improve the local rental experience and within 2 months had a caravan of 10 vehicles
coming to Belize.
While he could have chosen to open up any US franchise (there was none in Belize at the time), he chose to make it his own brand name Crystal Auto Rental instead of paying $50,000 USD plus 20% franchise fees. This is one of the major reasons why we have had the best prices and are able to grow with just word of mouth. The name Crystal derived from the Coleman Crystal Mines in Arkansas where he would dig for crystals on camping trips.
Today, Jay is in his 70s and is still buying cars in the US and shipping them to Belize to update the fleet of Crystal Auto Rental, making sure all vehicles are up to quality. This gives the company an advantage with selection, having the option of choosing between new or used vehicles. Also, 90% of our surplus vehicles are purchased by our regular customers who like our US vehicles and our 3-day option test drive before buying.
Jay and company would like to thank all our customers, especially those who had supported the company regularly throughout the years to make it what it is today. A special thank you to Bruce McNellie who has been our number 1 regular customer with the most rentals for the past 35 years doing charity work in Punta Gorda.