Car Rental & Leasing Tips

Car or truck rental in Costa Rica is a chance to take a look at the remote beach locations and silent corners of this breathtakingly stunning place. Travel without the restrictions established by community transport timetables and with liberty above team tours. For your unprepared traveler; on the other hand, motor vehicle rental expenses and services generally is a impolite shock and a blow to that family vacation spending plan.

Renting a automobile on your holiday vacation will most likely be the most expensive component of your funds, so comprehension the conditions and handling anticipations is vital. The data below is just not meant being an exhaustive guide, however it should really set you on The trail to an educated selection for your vehicle rental requires in Costa Rica.

Why is motor vehicle rental so expensive?

Readers from outside of Costa Rica will often be shocked by the cost of automobile rental. While lodge rooms, restaurant costs and excursions are decrease than the prices paid at your house, it could surface Unusual that car or truck rental need to be much more high-priced.

There are two basic good reasons for this significant Value:

All vehicles in Costa Rica are imported and a tax is imposed. As a result of this weighty taxation, the associated fee of purchasing a car is increased than It will be in other industrialized nations. There are a few automobile rental operators who lease more mature motor vehicles in an effort to minimize their prices.

The price of required insurance policy (see underneath).
Things that Impact Car or truck Rental Prices

• Required Insurance coverage

Third-social gathering insurance policies, which can be generally known as TPI, PDW (Partial Problems Waiver), SLI (Supplementary Liability Insurance coverage) and various acronyms, is a lawful prerequisite. Automobile rental operators must charge The shopper for this coverage which may or may not be crystal clear in the quotation acquired by The shopper.

The coverage by itself isn’t the challenge. In spite of everything, a number of other countries require car or truck renters to pay a mandatory insurance plan; including: New Zealand, Italy and Mexico, as well as a amount of the U.S. states, like California. The difficulty that triggers contention in Costa Rica is this Expense is not really always displayed Evidently on the car rental operator’s Site or inside a quotation. Shoppers then discover the extra Expense in their rental upon arrival.

The expense of required insurance policies varies from company to corporation and will count on the car classification which is staying rented in addition. The price for a small sedan can be as little as $12 on a daily basis, While a premium 4×4 auto may very well be as much as $25 for insurance policy each day. That is In combination with the rental Price.

Bank cards in North America usually supply vehicle insurance policies as an additional perk into the credit card holder and so North Americans especially, are unused to having to pay for insurance along with rental expenditures. Having said that, no charge card will include this coverage necessity.

Do talk to When the offered quotation involves 3rd-bash coverage and Look at the prices on the car rental operator’s Web site.

• Collision Destruction Waiver

This isn’t insurance, but a waiver. The fundamental amount will have a deductible that varies, but could be up to $one,500. For a greater each day amount, a zero deductible CDW could be acquired To alleviate the renter of any monetary duty in the event of damage to, or theft thereof, the motor vehicle.

Quite a few renters will get hold of their CDW through their charge card. Nevertheless, it can be really worth noting which the duty for creating any coverage declare is on The shopper instead of Using the motor vehicle rental operator. Some renters may well opt for to invest in extra in-dwelling protection to avoid obtaining this obligation.

There will be car rental businesses which difficult promote their very own protection designs through guaranteeing comfort, but in the long run, This can be the renter’s selection. It is truly worth remembering that vehicle rental company staff members, like in other portions of the globe, will often receive Fee for insurance coverage income.

If The shopper’s credit card won’t present CDW, The client will likely be expected to get this in-home protection.

Auto rental operators have to have prepared proof that The client’s credit card delivers CDW. Question the vehicle rental operator for the exact specifics of the things they require As well as in what kind. Some may possibly acknowledge a forwarded electronic mail from your credit card business, but Other people may perhaps request a printed duplicate to generally be presented at the time of rental.

• Deposit

The deposit volume required will depend on whether the customer chooses to use the automobile rental operator’s in-household CDW or normally takes this coverage by way of a credit card. Assume to pay for a A great deal larger deposit When the in-house CDW is declined. The deposit could also depend upon motor vehicle model rented. This amount, that will be held around the renter’s bank card right until the top of your rental time period, may be from $750 as much as around $3,five hundred. The deposit need to take not more than five days for being refunded on the bank card around the car’s return. Some car or truck rental businesses will settle for debit playing cards for deposit keep, even so the return time for this volume might take weeks.

Do make sure that the deposit is calculated in the getaway price range as an unpredicted keep of a few thousand pounds over a charge card could or else severely cut into holiday spending.

• Airport Taxes

Customers that rent from the automobile rental operator’s counter within an airport building are obliged to pay for the airport tax.

Those people car or truck rental operators which has a counter at San Jose’s Juan Santamaria Intercontinental Airport (SJO) are: Alamo/National, Spending plan, Greenback, Economic system and Hertz. These businesses will include an extra twelve% tax on the rental Value.

These car rental operators by using a counter at Daniel Oduber Quiros Intercontinental Airport (LIR) are: Avis, Budget and Financial state. These providers will incorporate an extra three% tax to the rental Charge.

To avoid this tax, just take an airport shuttle Together with the auto rental operator to an Business located outside of the airport grounds.

• Surcharges and also other Taxes

There are a selection of other obligatory expenses that car or truck rental operators may well insert to the rental Price, Show on-monitor or present during the quotation, or depart undisclosed right up until The shopper’s arrival. These probably hidden expenses may possibly seem to be small when seen separately, but these are usually each day premiums, so they may insert up speedy!

These may possibly contain:

• License Plate Rate: Fewer than $two each day, but differs from corporation to business.

• Environmental Tax: Under $one day by day.

• Gross sales Tax: All product sales transactions in Costa Rica are subjected to the twelve% federal government-imposed gross sales tax.

• Automobile Washing Price: Convey back again an extremely soiled motor vehicle plus the cleaning rate could possibly be additional on to the final payment. A single motor vehicle rental operator prices $twenty for this extra provider.

• Fuel Costs: In the event the gasoline tank is not filled to precisely the same level as it had been In the beginning of your rental interval, then the car rental business will charge (usually to the nearest eighth of a tank). This demand is dictated by the car rental operator and It isn’t matter into the governmentally established gasoline price that may be observed at any gas station.

Wherever Should I Reserve the Automobile?

A typical confusion for vacationers booking a rental car or truck is definitely the discrepancy between Global Sites for car rental operators as well as the Costa Rican Web-site for a similar brand. Regularly the Intercontinental Internet sites are unaware of, or fall short to reveal, insurances, taxes and surcharges that will be charged with the counter. This may be as a consequence of The point that lots of regarded vehicle rental operator models in Costa Rica aren’t a overseas department of your branded auto rental operator, but alternatively certainly are a franchise operation. This issue can also be worth taking into consideration with regard to expectations relating to customer care and also other finer particulars. The Costa Rican franchise  rent rolls royce dubai Business could have their particular type of working, aside from exactly the same policies and pointers that the customer could have experienced in other parts of the world.

Understandably then, a web based reservation is greatest made from the regional Web site and not the Intercontinental site, wherever probable. Several firms do not need a local Site. In such cases, do Check out the main points with an area workers member by way of the telephone and request composed confirmation from the quotation. Encounter with Stay chat about the international websites implies that While personnel is trained on terms and conditions governing the primary Workplace (generally U.S.A.); they realize small of your policies that must be adhered to in Costa Rica.

Vehicle Rental Comparisons

In May/June of 2013, I in comparison the pricing and solutions of several automobile rental operators in Costa Rica and released the conclusions. To my surprise, the article remains staying plagiarized routinely across the net which implies that it’s nevertheless helpful and so an update was demanded. The prices for this comparison were being obtained in December 2014 and January 2015.