ATV breakdowns always an issue?

[demcpita]

First of all, thanks to everyone who contributes to this forum. I appreciate your time and effort.

Now on to my question. I've read quite a few reviews about the various ATV tours on the island and they all seem to have a common issue, break downs. Even among the favorable reviews, they all seem to mention someone in the group eventually breaking down. Is this the norm? Any one tour more or less likely to have problems? DW and I are planning our second trip to Aruba this January and are taking a large group of family members with us. Considering the cost of 10-12 people, I'd hate to pay that to spend half the tour waiting on broke down ATVs. Your input is again greatly appreciated

[mmattalo]

I can appreciate your concern. I cannot speak for the ATV tours since we always rent from George's when we have visitors on the island. We have a blast and all the freedom to stay as little or long as we wish along the way across the north coast.

Other than an overheated engine at the top of Mt. Hooiberg once (after a few hours of riding), we have had no incident.

Michael

[jpsphr]

We went with Rancho Daimari two years ago. We had a great time but, don't expect it to be up to the standards you might expect here. One of the ATVs broke down for about 5 minutes, but they got it re-started and it ran the rest of the time.

The helmets were barely adequate and wouldn't protect much in a crash. The ATVs themselves seemed to be in good repair. We got our money's worth and saw all of the sights promised. Everyone got there and back safely. They provided transportation to and from the hotel which was timely and pleasant.

We would use them again, especially since we now know what to expect.

[mmattalo]

Good point jpsphr . . . the helmets are not exactly there to protect your noggin' :-)
We've had good experiences with Georges and find the self-guided tour we provide our guests the way to go . . . hope this helps! Michael