costa rica car rental
 

We rented a Hertz Car on our trip to Costa Rica. We have rented Hertz cars for many years all over the world. Costa Rica was different. Beware! We had a confirmed reservation for a four-wheeled drive vehicle. They picked us up at the airport and drove us to another location for the rental. They told us we couldn't have the car unless we purchased insurance from them @ $1000. Rent from another company. Hertz corporate offices wouldn't do anything about it because it is a franchise.

This is the short story.

All car rental agencies in CR require a deposit of $750-$2000 on a credit card, depending on which insurance coverage you choose. It is not a charge on your card, just a hold until you return the car.

This is very timely as my husband has been researching rental cars companies for our upcoming trip to CR. He can't seem to get a straight answer on insurance coverage and you are correct, arlusa, Hertz in CR is not what we are used to in the states.

tully, can you give any further info on the types of insurance coverage available, including cost? Are you saying that if we take the additional coverage (beyond what any CC provides), we won't have to leave a "deposit" on the car? We don't like surprises and feel that once we are at the counter in CR, we will be "stuck". Thanks for any info you could provide.

Wait. I have some questions for you, arlusa...did you end up with the car? How long was your rental? Was the charge actually made to your CC and you are sure it was for the insurance?? $1,000??

You will have to pay $12 to $15 per day for mandatory liability insurance no matter who you go with. Some companies allow you to use your credit card for CDW, which is different. Most of them are also going to put a hold on your CC.

Some companies are better than others at disclosing the true bottom line.

Last time I rented I only had the CDW, which was around $14 per day, then had my CC to waive the rest of the insurance. The deposit was either $1000 or $1500, sorry don't recall exactly. It was never charged on my CC, when I returned the car relatively intact they tore up the CC slip. Not saying there aren't any but not aware of any agencies that don't require some kind of deposit, which I think maybe the OP is mistakenly referring to as insurance.

No, it wasn’t a deposit. We rented the car for three weeks. Because we were stuck off the airport, and had a three to four hour ride ahead of us, I was forced to accept the charges. This is what was mandatory:

Third party liability at $18 per day. CDW to reduce responsibility to $975 at $13 per day. CDW to further reduce responsibility to $500 at $10 day. Plus 14% airport tax. And we still had $500 deductible.

Original reservation price: $817.45. Final charges: $1804.44. Then, to add insult to injury, the dollars are converted to colones by Hertz at a high bank rate, then converted back to dollars by the credit card company, so that the final credit card charge is about $1850. Perhaps the worst part is that you cannot rely upon a reservation to be honored as reserved. Prepare yourself for other options.

www.servicecarrental.com

www.wild-rider.com

www.mapache.com

my top 3 locals with great local service

Hertz U-save are the 2 worst.

Actually had my idientity stolen by U-save 2 years ago

so be careful there all are franchises the major

company does not stand by them tonnes of scams.

www.insuremytrip.com always wise

Thanks for the warning..they forced you to buy both CDW coverages???

Third party liability is a mandatory by law insurance in Costa Rica. You have to pay this no matter what other insurance you have, or what credit card you have or what company you rent from. This is not a ripoff or a scam. It is the law. Had you read any travel forum about renting cars in Costa Rica, you would have known this.

Unfortunately, most rental car companies do not include this in their quote and this is where the misunderstanding comes in.

Qwovadis' three that are listed are all excellent and I agree with him on this.

Bookmarking.

Be sure to talk to your own insurance company before you rent, and bring copies of all the documentation with you; this saves LOTS of hassle.

Tricolor quotes include insurance and are the lowest we could find (get an EMAIL quote not a phone quote). We'll use them again the next time we need a vehicle in CR.

Not so sure about your insurance company, especially for liability.
But do talk to your credit card or trip insurance about conditions for coverage (for eg Visa requires that you not buy any supplemental CDW). Also talk to the car rental office about what is required to use your own CDW. Best idea is to email and have those with you, as well as a print out of declarations showing that your credit card CDW covers you in Costa Rica. The real hang up is likely to be that they will not cover you "off road" and there will be conflicts over what that actually means.

After lengthly research and long discussions, we decided to rent from National Costa Rica. We took not only price into consideration, but it was important to get the full insurance charge upfront and not at the counter once in CR.

So for 9 days the total price for a 4WD (automatic w/ additional driver) came to $1,096.95.

Price break out:

Car itself (minus 5% discount w/ Emerald Club) $550.62
Maximum insurance coverage w/ Zero deductable $333.00
GPS $72.00
Airport fee (13%) $124.23
Environmental fee $3.60
License plate fee $13.50

A $1,000-1,500 deposit will be held on our credit card.

For NINE days?? I'd say you were royally ripped off.

Don't think so, but you are free to your opinion.

That National quote does seem really high. For one thing, you can save the $124 airport tax just by taking a taxi to one of their locations. My CC covers the insurance when I rent, so I just have to get the basic insurance which is anywhere from $10-$20 a day.

Any thought on Adobe Care rental? It was recommended and I havent seen it here any where.

book marking