Car Rental recommendations / reviews
 

Been doing lots of research. I understand the roads are bumpy and we need a 4x4. Are the smaller 4x4 SUVs enough to handle the roads?

I realize that gas is expensive and I'm renting for 11 days, traveling a bunch, so I want the car to be comfortable, but not a total gas guzzler.

Any recommendations or reviews on these companies? Do I need to book it online before hand?

Vamos4x4
ServiceCarRental
Dollar

Thanks!!

A small SUV (a Kia) worked just fine for us in January, on some of the worst roads in Costa Rica. When are you going? And yes, gas is REALLY expensive. But the good news is that the distances are short (though the driving times are long).

We booked through Avis. It was expensive but reliable.

OP said:
"Been doing lots of research. I understand the roads are bumpy and we need a 4x4. Are the smaller 4x4 SUVs enough to handle the roads? "

Since no one else has said it, I will. Many of the main roads in Costa Rica are really quite good. There are many major tourist areas linked by roads that any sedan could handle comfortably. Others (e.g., Monteverde, Tortuguero) offer special difficulties. Your needs will vary with where you are traveling to.

Rent a lot down there 20X in the last 20 years

Usually do just a cheap 2 wheel drive works fine

in all tourist areas roads are very good but small 4X4 fun.

some good specials my top 3 companies

www.wild-rider.com

www.servicecarrental.com

www.mapache.com biggest local.

many of the franchises down there offer bad service

USave/Avanti stole my identity

changed my adress ran up 150K on my CC

B4 the company caught them so avoid them.

We just rented a Hyundai Tuscon 4x4 from Adobe.
We found the Highway 1 to be in the worst condition. From San Ramon to Arenal is was smooth sailing, barely a pothole in sight! The car had no power and it was tough to get up some of the hills. It was an automatic - maybe manual would have been better.

I've posted about this before, so you can probably find it in an old post somewhere, but you really can't beat booking through Costa Rica Surf for car rentals. Jeff, the travel agency owner here in the US, is an absolute expert and has a direct relationship with Europcar and Adobe.

If you take the full coverage or SLDW, the deposit is $100. We saw some companies who were charging $1500 to $2500 deposit even with the SLDW.

We rented through Europcar and their service was flawless.

www.crsurf.com

Thanks for all the help and advice!

Rent an suv that has a diesel engine and your gas price issue is moot. Standard trans is highly recommended for touring at altitude as 25% power loss occurs at 7000 ft. or more and it is easily compensated for with a standard transmission. And you not riding the brakes all the way down hills. We always purchase full insurance to avoid any extra charges at drop-off.

I filled in the initial booking with the current license I hold and place of residence as USA and my passport is Spanish.

I have used these two documents for over 25 years to acquire a car rental with never a problem. This fact is proven by my renting a car with these documents from another company (Europcar) during my recent time in Spain after I was denied the car you quote me for $12.00 per day, I had not choice on the Pepecars company you direct me by the way they did not show up at the airport after I called them and I had to spend 13.00 Euros to get to their office and paid another 280.00 to rent a car without any issues from Europcar at the airport in Barajas with the same paper work and documents I was rejected from Pepecars.

A major concern that I have is other clients were trying to rent cars at the same time I did and they were told that there were no cars available to rent. Another client waited over two hours for a car to be found for his use. When I inquired about these issues, the young manager I spoke with was very disrespectful. He did not represent Pepcar, nor CarTrawler in a very positive manner.