Cheap Car Rentals in Mexico City Benito Juarez Airport

We had to pay more than double what was anticipated for the car rental. First, we rented it in my wife's name, but they stated she had to show her passport, which was not previously disclosed. As she had already been in Mexico and I was just arriving, she didn't have it with her, so the only way we could rent the car was if I was added as an additional driver, at an additional cost per day. Second, we have insurance coverage for rental cars on the credit card, but they stated we needed liability insurance. They showed us a document stating that this was a requirement with a price per day shown, but then stated that since we had a higher level car we had to pay more, but had no additional documentation to back that up. They finally made a small concession and gave us a tank of gas (worth about US$30 vs. over US$500 in additional fees). They said that we should not rent cars from Kayak or other 3rd parties, because the additional fees are not disclosed by them, but this is the first time I have had this problem, having previously rented cars with various 3rd parties in the U.S., Spain, Italy, England and Ireland. We rented an intermediate car with automatic transmission, but apparently that doesn't mean the same thing in Mexico. When we arrived, they brought out a standard transmission VW Vento, a sub-compact. We had to wait over a half hour for them to bring out a 2019 Nissan Versa, another sub-compact, which was as basic and gutless as they come. We then spent about 20 minutes inspecting the car as it was full of dings, scratches and tears in the seats, that if not documented properly, they would have tried to charge us for. This was my first experience renting a car in Mexico, so I don't know if the whole Mexican car rental industry operates this way, or if Alamo is worse, but the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.