I need some advice about renting a SUV in Costa Rica.?

Question

We are planning a trip to Costa Rica in early June 2009. My question is, how do I know where to rent from and a even bigger question is what type of insurance coverage to get? I want to be covered and not worried that if something would happen that we would owe tons of money. However, I dont want to be ripped off on the insurance. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

There are lost of car rental agencies listed in our TicosLand web directory.  You can go there and find the agencies and their respective websites.

If you have an American Express credit card, they will usually cover your insurance so that you don't have to pay extra for insurance.  It can make about a $30 difference per day.  When my dad visits from the US, he uses the Toyota Car Rental Agency on Paseo Colon.  They have great cars, great service, a fully bilingual staff and the prices will drop to about $30 per day if you use your own insurance.

Make sure you tell any agency you rent from to call the Credit Card Company to make sure that they will give you full coverage.

Answer 2

I use Mapache Rent a Car.........Pick up San Jose and drop at Liberia......28 days......I got all the insurance.......small SUV......$1668.60........My insurance wants nothing to do with a SUV rental in Costa Rica........insurance is expensive......but I don't want any issues.........there are tons of rental cars joints in CR.........I trust Mapache........

Answer 3

I traveled through naturevacations.com , their webpage doesnt really show all the services they offer so you might want to call them (toll free of course, they work out of Costa Rica) i remember they offered me a rental but I prefered to fly (they belong to Nature Air)

Answer 4

I rented a SUV in Costa Rica in October, 2006.

There are lots of rental companies - some you will have heard of, some not.  Honestly I don't remember who we rented from...they had a red sign.

The first step is to ask your insurance company (like, for *your* car) if they will cover you if you are in an accident in a rental in Costa Rica.  They probably won't, but it's worth a shot.

I think we did buy some extra insurance, but not everything that was offered.

One last thing - in Costa Rica if you are in an accident you are not allowed to leave the scene until both the cops AND the insurance agent arrives.  This can take a while, and is the source of a lot of their traffic jams.

Enjoy your trip - we drove from San Jose to Liberia, and then back via Monteverde.  Beautiful!

Everyone will tell you not to drive at night.  On the Pan-American highway, it wasn't a problem for me, but it was a bit scary on gravel roads.

Answer 5

I had a nice experience with Payless. They had a booth in the San Jose airport and shuttled me to their lot about a mile away. I had the Mitsubishi Montero Diesel. A large vehicle but the mileage was decent. I would suggest the full insurance. This will double the cost of the rental, but if you have a wreck or break-in, it will be worth it. Don't worry about the cost, get the insurance and have a wonderful trip.

Answer 6

dude, what type of suv? pax? if the insurance here is the mostly the same as anywhere else. budget, thrifty or any other company have the same prices...

that's up to you or the way that you want to... drive it(i mean, off road type) and if you are ok on driving off road