Three questions:
1) Anybody have experience with National/Enterprise using corporate rates? My employer's corporate rate is FAR cheaper than the retail rates and my reservation on National's website says that Third Party Liability and Collision Damage Waiver and Theft Protection are included in the rate. Will I have any problems with attempted upcharges when I pick up the car at SJO or is the rate I see on the website what I'll actually pay?
I note that going through the Costa Rica site (natcar.com) as opposed to the US/global site (nationalcar.com) provides more granular options regarding insurance (it offers optional roadside assistance, $0 deductible and "maximum coverage" options in addition to the mandatory SLC or LDW/SLC options), but doesn't seem to let me use my corporate rate. I'm guessing they'll try to sell me on those. Is roadside assistance worthwhile if we're going to do a fair bit of driving in relatively remote areas?
2) We're spending our first night at an AirBnb in the middle of San Jose and then driving to Uvita and on to Osa. The AirBnb supposedly has secure parking. Am I better off renting at SJO on arrival (which will be pretty late--our flight doesn't land until 9:30pm) and parking overnight at the AirBnb, or taking a taxi/uber to the AirBnb and renting a car in the city in the morning? It looks like there's a National office pretty close to the Airbnb. Any big inventory advantage at the airport vs the city location? I want to make sure we have a decent SUV that will fit our family and work well on the Osa roads.
3) How well do Google Maps and Waze work in Costa Rica? We'll have international data on our phones and I'm familiar with downloading offline Google Maps for more remote areas. I also have an old Garmin GPS unit that I could load CR maps onto. Is it worth bringing the Garmin as a backup? Given that it seems many Costa Rica places don't have street addresses like in the US, how do I enter location info into the Garmin? Aside from that first day in San Jose, most of our driving is going to be on roads where there aren't many opportunities to turn, but it's awfully nice to be able to see on a screen where a turn is coming up (and to know how much farther it is).