Costa Rica (SJO) car rental - anyone have issues with newer credit cards?
 

I've been reading a few travel reports where it seems the newer credit cards without raised numbers are being denied for use when attempting to rent a car.

It sounds like a situation where the rental agencies have not kept up with the times and still require a carbon copy (raised numbers run through a manual machine). This is not with local agencies but the global brands such as Hertz, Avis, etc.

Any recent (within the last six months) experiences you can share with me?

i used Sixt at LIR a few days ago, and they were using a swipe/PIN credit card machine - they didn't use an old carbon copy machine.

my card does have raised numbers, so i don't know if they would have complained if it didn't !

I'm a frequent car renter here in Costa Rica, and all of the car rental companies that I have used (Alamo, Avis, Economy, Sixt, Thrifty) do keep open vouchers with the carbon copy and raised numbers method. That voucher is for "unforeseen charges".
The deposit, rental, and coverage charges are processed through the electronic method (swipe).
I know it is a pain in the ***, but cars in Costa Rica are SO EXPENSIVE, that rental car companies want to cover themselves the best as they can, even for mini cars.