I'm renting a car through Thrifty in Costa Rica. First of all...anyone ever have issues with them? SEcondly, do my husband and I need to obtain international drivers licenses to rent there?

I used Thrifty once. They were pretty reasonable and friendly. Their vehicles were in great shape too. You can use an American driver's license to rent and drive.

no recent experience with thrifty bad with some of the majors

in the past my worst with U-save and Avanti AVOID.

mapache.com top local they take my CC

for insurance save a lot with them usually

also servicecarrental.com my US DL works fine.

careful many speed traps go under 28 MPH through

smaller towns or big fines($500) under a new law.

Oh, I've also heard about insurance when renting a car. Does my insurance at home or additional credit card insurance not count..do I HAVE to buy the additional insurance in country? What about bringing a GPS or renting one from Thrifty? Worth it?

Costa Rica has a mandatory insurance you have to get directly through the dealers and they dont allow you to opt out. It is a bummer, because once I found a great rental deal and the insurance ended up to be more then the rental fee.

In addition to the mandatory insurance, many companies will not allow you to use your credit card for insuring against damage to the car. The will tack on an extra $10 to $15 a day, it can really add up.

WOW.great info. Thanks!

Also, your insurance will not cover the cost of the tires. make sure you ask about this so it is clear. There are a lot of potholes here so I guess it is not cost effective to cover that loss. Perhaps this has changed, but I recently had a friend visit who blew out two tires, and he was responsible for the replacement of both of them. Safe travels.

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