Costa Rica Car Rental Help
 

Few questions:

Has anyone ever used a company called Elegante Rental Car Agency while traveling in Costa Rica?

We were quoted $65/day INCLUDING the $25 mandatory insurance for 5 days rental of a 4x4 in June. Does this price sound right for the low season?

We are primarily going to use it to drive around Tamarindo for a couple of days and then onto the La Paz Waterfall area for another 2 days and then drop off at the SJ Airport. Do we even need a vehicle in Tamarindo?

Also, is $145 a reasonable price for transportation from SJ Airport to Arenal Lodge?

short answer for the $145.00 to Arenal Lodge, No!!!!!
Too High

Percy

Your 4X4 quote sounds on target. Ditto on the transfer to Arenal. . .good grief! I think $40 or $50 would be more in line. You don't need a rental in Tamarindo itself, but you might want to drive up to Flamingo Beach (about 20 or 25 minutes)or over to Guatil east of Santa Cruz to buy pottery. You'll see it sold along the road, I know, but Guatil is an entire village devoted to pottery making. . if you like that sort of thing, it's interesting. But as for in the town itself, you could get by without.

Ditto w/Percy! Depending on how many people you have traveling with you, Interbus is around $25 per person (easy to use- see my post Costa Rica #1) or you can email them to receive their price of a private (only you and your guests in the van) transfer. They even have Arenal Lodge as a destination. In addition, due to the volume of people traveling to Arenal lodge you may want to call or email the lodge and if they are like most hotels they will arrange a transfer for you and give you the price upfront. Hope this helps!

We used Elegante last March. Picked up the Jeep in Liberia (they met us at the airport and took us to the car rental). They were fine.