byr

Just returned from a fabulous trip to Poas Volcano Park and Manuel Antonio. The only negative experience was with our rental car companany. It took the staff there more than an hour to complete the paper work. But the main problem was when we returned the cars. They said we had new scrapes on the cars that were not marked on the check out sheet. Only after we vigorously complained did they pull out their records which showed that they were marked on previous checkout sheets. We were relieved. Then they said that someone had tried to break into the SUV and the back lock is broken!! We never even used the back lock since we ended up storing all our luggage in the van and never used the trunk of the SUV. We will be charged for the cost of a new lock. W

byr

Sorry. I got cut off. But whatd feeling that I wanted to say is that if you are renting from tricolor, make sure you throughly check EVERYTHING on the car including door locks, automatic windows, everything that you don't need to check when renting a car in the U.S. They may be the cheapest but we left with a real bad feeling that they were exploiting the fact that our insurance companies would pay for all the "small damages" we were really not responsible for. They know that we are not paying for the damages because we were using our Visa Gold cards. But it is a Scam and we made it clear that they were running a scam operation and that we were writing to the insurance companies to clue them in on what they are doing.

cesca

Loads of people swear by Tricolor, but we have used Dollar Costa Rica out of Liberia twice and have had a wonderful experience. Ask for Roger.

Earthtraveler

Can you please tell me the price you paid for the SUV rental? Please be specific about extra driver, automatic,make/model,extra -no deductible insurance, how many days, etc. Thanks.
Anyone else want to share your rental fee specifics, please do.

byr

The SUV was a Suzuki Gran Vitara costing $350, manual, for a week. We paid an extra $21 ($3 a day for 2 extra drivers). We had a Visa Gold card which provided insurance so we did not have to pay anything extra for insurance.
We went with Tricolor because everyone on this site raved about them and because their rates came in the lowest of all the places we looked at. But in the end we got what we paid for.

fitzpowell

We used Alamo out of Liberia airport and had a good experience, nothing unusual. However, after reading of problems like this I made a point of photographing the vehicle as we did the check out inspection with the agent. I thought it may help if they realized that we would have evidence of the condition on checkout.

However, I never thought to check the locks and other items that would not be visable in a photo.

We probably paid around 470$ for a RAV4 for a week, but it was worth it to not have a problem.

Melissa5

We had a great experience with Tricolor...their Alajuela office, that is, in town. They treated us very well. Sorry your experience left you with a bad feeling.

petite1

We also had a great experience with Tricolor. We drove from San Jose to Playa Grande & wound up with a flat right before our hotel. My husband changed the flat & called Tricolor & before noon the next day someone came to our hotel with a new tire. We were very pleased with them..sorry about your incident.

Earthtraveler

Thanks byr.

missypie

Sorry that happebed to you. We used Tricolor with no problems. the only thing that was a pain was getting the car with only 1/4 tank of gas and having to fill up the tank immediately.

sukiduper

We have a RAV reserved for three weeks in June from Toyota Rent. I might change though after reading this because our total is around $600 for everything. We might skip the car rental and just take the buses and a small plane for our longest route.

altarose

hi,
We just returned from a 18 day trip which we rented a Nissan Altima for 17 of them.
We found the guys very friendly, they picked us at the hotel and returned us with no charge or problem.
The price was great and we had no problem returning the car. Our only problem was our fault, rent a 4WD the roads are terrible. We had read it many times but until you experience them it is hard to believe how bad they really are.Everyday brought a new adventure.

carolll

byr:
I am curious about your statement about not having to pay additional insurance since you charged your SUV rental with a VISA gold card. Everytime we rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle in CR & use our VISA gold, we are required to pay for more coverage. It is evidently a national law. Did you go off season?
Carol

carolll

byr:
Oops - I just reread your original message where you state you have recently returned from Costa Rica, so an off season explanation for no additional charges for insurance won't work.
Hmmm.....did the issue of more insurance come up in your transactions with Tricolor? Are we being shilled when we get our rental vehicles?
Carol

Earthtraveler

caroll,
I believe what byr means is the CDW insurance was covered by Visa. LDW insurance is mandatory and is paid with the rental aggreement charges. There is also additional insurance one can opt to buy which will give you a no deductible policy in case of damage to the auto. We paid an extra $60 so in case we had an accident we would have no liability for the auto whatsoever. Our CDW was also covered by Visa and we also had a travel insurance policy which included CDW coverage though we had purchased the policy for major medical/and evacuation to the US if needed.

Earthtraveler

I could add the LDW will be a per day charge stated on your policy as well as the CDW. If CDW is covered by your Visa agreement or travel insurance you just opt out of the CDW the company will try to sell you. No problem. Toyota has us initial our intention to opt out of their CDW insurance on our agreement contract.

LA_FadeAway

I remember reading several similar complaints about Tricolor on this forum and others when planning my trip to CR two years ago. I chose not to use them due to the bad reviews. It sounds like things are still spotty with them.

shillmac

LAFadeaway,
Haven't "seen" you on Fodor's in awhile. . .how have you been and welcome back!

Like you, I remember when there was one or two negative reports on Tricolor. We used them anyway, and have used them at least 6 times since always with no problems. They've been very helpful to us more than once--free upgrades, etc. We'll use them until we have a reason not to.

byr--so sorry about your experience. That does take the shine off the vacation a little bit. Glad you had a good experience otherwise!

LA_FadeAway

Hey Shillmac! Sorry I haven't been around the Latin America board lately. I'm going to Southeast Asia next month for a few weeks, so I've been obsessively hanging around in the Asia section instead. I thought it was about time I drop back in and see what's going on around here!

shillmac

Well you've been missed. I was always amazed at your memory and detail! Where in SE Asia are you headed? And have a great time!