MKEbound

Does anyone have any experence renting a car out of LIR?

I'll be there in about a month and I can get a week long SUV rental from as low as $130 a week from some of the "off" names: U-save, Advantage, EZ Rental, etc. If I stick with names I know like Hertz, National, Avis prices are about double (still a good deal for and SUV at $260 a week)

Any advice from someone who has rented there before?

craz

keep in mind that 3rd party liability is Mandatory in CR which usually isnt in the quoted price of the Local places and sometimes not even in the price of the Majors. But no matter what You will be charged as its CR law

So when comparing rates check to see if Liability is covered already in teh rate or not

wolfie_cr

3rd party liability IS included in as part of the car 'marchamo' or road tax, no car/motorcycle etc can be on the road without it (its a sticker on the windshield)

if you are being told by the car rental that you HAVE to get some sort of insurance THIS IS NOT SO (its different from what they do in Ireland where they actually do have this law of forcing you to get coverage)

in summary, car rental places can NOT have a car without that insurance but when they try to sell you '3rd party liability' they are actually hooking you up with a different type of insurance that is NOT mandated by law

(I know that simply because I am a local)

that being said, with the a) crazy rate of accidents b) 'quality' of the roads c) 'quality' of the drivers d) crazy car theft etc.......I would suggest that you

1) bite the bullet and get full insurance
2) do NOT leave ANYTHING inside the car while parked (stuff like cameras....passports.....etc)

one more thing, the type of 3rd party liability that is included is for injuries ONLY, damages to 3rd party property is not included in the year road tax nor is it mandatory

24.05.2004

Some of the cars from the "off-brands" are cosmetically bad. When the agent walks around to mark down the blemishes, pull out your video cam and follow him/her around.

Pura vida!

buzzlightyear123

I am also renting a car in Liberia in March. I read the posts on this topic and am still confused, so have a couple of questions for clarification:

- What 3rd party liability insurance is covered by a car rental company and which one am I required to buy by law in Costa Rica? Wolfie mentioned that some type of 3rd party liability is already included in the tax paid by the car rental company, hence getting confused as to which one I will need to buy that is required by law.

- If we are driving to Arenal Volcano, is it okay to rent a regular car (like a toyota corolla) in march weather or would you still recommend a 4x4 SUV? The only problem with the 4x4 SUVs is that they are all manual, at least the cheaper ones.

Please let us know as we getting very conflicting opinion on the car rental requirements, even when I talk to the car rental companies on the toll free number.

wolfie_cr

there is NO law that requires you to take ANY insurance

the car rental on the other hand MUST pay for the mandatory 3rd party liability but that is a problem of the car rental company with the company NOT yours

I am probably not making sense to some because there is no equivalent of this in the US but to be totally clear, the type of liability that is mandatory is paid at the beginning of the year by the car rental place .....directly to the Goverment owned insurance company and thats the end of it. Its part of the year road taxes that we all pay down here.

The closest analogy that I can think of is if a car rental place in the US said that you have to pay them for the car plates....obviously they dont have ANY car in the lot without plates (as it would not be legal to drive), similarly the car rental place simply does not have any car in the lot that doesnt already have this mandatory 3rd party insurance. (and yes I know that car rental places charge a 'license recovery fee' but the car rental places here don't do that)

its my humble opinion that any car rental that forces you to take an insurance is bullying you and a "ok I will rent from the competitors" and starting to walk away will do the trick, to be on the safe side get two reservations with different companies.

I haven't been to Arenal in a while , March is totally dry season here and the other thing is that regardless most cars in here are sticks. I don't believe you need a 4x4 to Arenal, Monteverde on the other hand is a totally different animal so if you go there you will want a 4x4.

MKEbound

To the previous poster, I'll be there March 16-22nd, will we over lap?

Also, I didn't find any location that could guarantee an automatic car or SUV. No worries as I learned on a stick, but you might want to get a lesson or two just in case you get a manual car no matter what your reservation says!

I also called my HHonors American Express and United Airlines Mastercard and made sure that they provide insurance coverage in Costa Rica. No worries there; both will cover loss of vehicle due to theft and damage caused by me or another driver as standard.

TacaCopaFlyer

Also keep in mind that some of the 4 X 4's you may get in Costa Rica may be smaller than you are used to seeing on the US super highways. Daihatsu Terios and Suzuki Ignis come to mind, but there are some small ones out there that may be very underpowered for 4 supersized gringos and luggage climbing up a mountain grade. A pathfinder of fourunner will cost you more.

Jaimito Cartero

Many rental agents will go over the car with a fine tooth comb (with under car inspections too), so make sure you do the same before you take the car.

Most of CR's roads are better than when I first went 20 years ago, but there are still horrid sections. Be quite careful if you drive at night. I was going to the pacific side a few years back, during the day, and all of a sudden came across a big speed bump. I didn't recall seeing a sign for it, and locked up my breaks, and it hit it going about 30 mph. Not fun at all.

The warnings of leaving valuables in cars, or unattended at the beach are very important. Lots of petty thievery.

buzzlightyear123

Responding to MKEBound.... Yes will be in Liberia during that same week. Dollar is running some specials for Central America. I was able to rent a Full-Size Automatic Car at a rate of $136 total with 10% discount when using Amex Card. I thought that it was a great rate for a full-size car for the whole week from Liberia Airport.

I talked to Amex in pretty detail and they told me to make sure of 3 things in order the get the CDW/LDW coverage activated via Amex:

- Make sure to use the same AMEX card for the whole reservation i.e. from online booking to the actual payment at the site.
- The Amex card must be in the name of the renter or you have to be secondary card holder i.e If the card is in the wife's name, and if the husband is not a secondary card holder, then the husband can't be the driver. The coverage would not be valid for the husband in that case.
- In case of any accident or collison issues, one must file a police report with the local authorities to activate the coverage. Not doing so could cause issues later.

ColoBill1

This is certainly news to me, after having made four trips to Costa Rica since 1992, and having paid the "mandatory" insurance each time I rented there. I do not recall ever having seen this comment/viewpoint (i.e., insurance is NOT mandatory) anywhere in print or on-line before, even here on Flyertalk. Has something changed recently on insurance requirements (my last trip was only three years ago), as could have sworn that I have read just the opposite before.

Such insurance certainly significantly increases the cost of a rental, so maybe me and others just need to do a little more comprehensive study prior to renting.

Here is some possibly helpful on-line info provided by one of the Costa Rican travel agencies:

COSTA RICA CAR RENTAL INSURANCE INFORMATION

Here is a brief overview of the Costa Rica Car Rental Insurance and how it works:

Auto insurance in Costa Rica is a government monopoly of the INS (Instituto Nacional de Seguros). Liability insurance from the INS is mandated by law, but provides only minimal coverage. Rental agencies offer supplemental programs that cover deductibles and contingencies other than a simple traffic accident.

The cost of insurance can approach or exceed the cost of renting. There are three types:

Required by Law—TPL, SLI, SLC or API—Liability Insurance from the INS is required regardless of your policies at home or the claims of your titanium credit card. The cost ranges from $US 7-20 per day depending on the vehicle. This insurace does not cover your rental car at all, only damages to other people, their cars, or property. Unless you purchase supplements, or have documented coverage from your credit card you are still responsible for all damages to the rental vehicle.

Optional—CDW or SLDW—Collision Damage Waivers are a supplement underwritten by the rental company to reduce your liability for your rental car to the deductable amount ($US 1,000-3,000 depending on the company and vehicle) only in the case of an accident. The cost ranges from $US 12-20 per day depending on the company and vehicle. You are still responsible for all losses or damages in the case of negligence, vandalism, road damage, or theft.

This insurance may be replaced by your home auto insurance policy or credit card coverage. Check before you rent, and get it in writing. Some credit card companies have exclusions specifically against Latin American rentals. Some rental companies do not allow you to waive this insurance regardless of other coverage. They are noted in the rate table.

Optional: Zero Liability-Under the names of Full Coverage, Vandalism Supplement, Damage Supplement, and Theft Insurance these extra policies are intended to reduce your liability to zero when combined with SLI and CDW. For example, if the trunk is damaged by thieves while they steal your luggage you will be held resposible for the damage unless you have purchased a third level of insurance. The cost ranges from $US 5-20 per day depending on the fine print and vehicle.

These insurances may be replaced by your home auto insurance policy or credit card coverage. Check before you leave home, and get it in writing. Some credit card companies have exclusions specifically against Latin American rentals.

wolfie_cr

I cut all the other stuff from that quote.

Nothing has changed in the law, the mandatory insurance exists but they are totally and absolutely ripping you off if they charge 7 dollars per day! This is what THEY are trying to do, come up with some funny worded mumbo-jumbo (titanium card rofl) and making you pay for THEIR mandatory cost

I just went and got the registration from my car to give you a comparation, I have a 2002 nissan xterra with a 'taxable value' of roughly 12000 dollars. The amount paid for 2009 for this mandatory insurance was........drums rolling..........30 bucks!

I guess I will have to rent a car here in CR (last time I did this was in 2003 when I totalled my car ROFL) and see what kind of bogus stuff they pull or perhaps they will see my drivers license and not pull that one on me.

(and I TOTALLY suspect that all this is a) bogus b) gauging the customer because in DTW for example they tried to pull the same crap on me....they said "your cc insurance doesnt cover liabilities to third parties" I said "no thank you" but I still researched it, it turns out that in MI the company HAS to provide by law ON THEIR OWN for a minimum third party liability coverage)

I was looking at this one

http://www.sixtcostarica.com/php/insurance.php (just a random example)

I love it how they say "SLI can be declined but then the renter is completely responsible for all third party and property damages caused by an auto accident. As stated above, SLI insurance is mandatory when LDW protection is declined." in other words "We are going to charge you SOMETHING regardless" LOL

googling and googling and googling it does appear that I am 'wrong' and by saying 'wrong' I mean..that I strongly suspect that there is a conspiracy here (and I am not into conspiracy theories but in this case.....) as it says 'everywhere' that it is mandatory......yet I 'know' the true cost of this liability insurance.

to keep confusing everyone this is the mandatory insurance that a normal car has to have (perhaps for car rentals is different)

http://portal.ins-cr.com/General/Marchamo/SOA.htm (Spanish only) , this is the ONLY insurance that a normal car has to have and in summary it says "covers death or injury of people in/out "

I would love to hear from the legal departments of the car rental places what is the specific article/law where it says that TPI is mandatory

and another link where they say "If you decline TPI then sorry but we will charge you CDW"

http://www.dollarcostarica.com/insurance.htm

finally a company that doesn't mention 'mandatory liability insurance'

http://www.europcar.co.cr/fleetcover.htm

craz

wolfie_cr

Its not only in CR this scam is pulled. Basically it allows the rental companies to low ball a rate since they know they will make it up on what they will Force you to take in Ins.

Airlines do it also with say a $335 fare then add the fuel surcharge of $400 for a total of $735. Just way to get to the top of the list of which carrier is charging the lowest fare. But the cheapest fare can actually cost you more $$ when and if the total price is compared.

Now the last time down your way, the difference between 1 company that would let me rent w/o paying that so called Mandatory Ins and Alamo was $2 a day. So for $8 I figured it was worth to go with Alamo which has numerous locations rather then that 1 SJO location place if I ran into problems (which we did with a cracked windshield due to a rock hitting it from the truck in front of us). Switched cars in LIR. Now if there is a company with many sites and matched the low base from Alamo w/o having to take Alamos Man Ins that would be a different story.

wolfie_cr

I agree with you craz

the thing that pisses me off is that (in this specific case) I am 99% sure I am right and they are wrong

if for example I travel to.........Romania..and they pull this on me, I wouldnt hesitate THAT much

but in this case I would love to see these guys tell me what law and specific article comes up with this 'mandatory coverage' that I know its suposed to be the 'cheapo' ones that all cars must have

even if they agree with me and say 'ok you got us' I think they 'could' get the cost of that from the customer (like those gazillion 'recovery fees' that I see when I rent a car in the US....but at such rates they are making a killing on this!!!!

GrizShel

Anymore recent experiences on this? I was going to rent from Hertz, but then started reading some real horror stories online where Hertz Liberia added on all kinds of extra charges and refused to honor anywhere near close to the rate reserved online. I've never had any issues like this with any Hertz location before but admittedly never have rented in Costa Rica.

Just wonder who won't pull serious bait and switch tactics. If there are extra charges for liability insurance or whatever, these should be specified at the time the reservation is made. But I can't find anyone who does make this clear when booking online.