flycatcher06

Does anyone know of a car rental in Costa Rica where they do not require a large deposit? We have rented through Tri Color the last couple of years but that $1250.00 deposit is a killer! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

LynneL

Depending on you definition of "large"... we just rented from Thrifty and the deposit was the same as the rental plus insurance fee - $303 for eight days. I felt like we got a great deal on our car - only $159 for the rental and then $18 per day for the mandatory insurance. It was a Toyota Corolla.

shillmac

I think flycatcher06 is referring to the damage deposit and all of the companies will have them. It seems as if I've heard of some that run about $1000, but have no ideas which are less.

When you rent, this amount is seldom, if ever, mentioned and most people don't realize that the credit card imprint you leave with the company is for that purpose.

At least that has been my understanding. Honestly we have never paid any attention to it as that slip is always destroyed in our presence when we return the car. I'm sure there are some things about this process that we should know more about and be more aware of. We use TriColor as well.

flycatcher06

TricColor takes a $1250. deposit in addition to the rental fee. So they had almost $1800 tied up on our credit card and now have overcharged us on the agreed upon price. Someone said they used Thrify and they just charged the rate. I have no idea why they need such a large deposit when you have purchased the insurance? It does not make much sense so hopefully i will find one that does not take such a big deposit

GPSCOSTARICA

In Costa Rica we only have ONE insurance company run by our govermment...they OWN the ball!!

The deposit is to cover the DEDUCTIBLE...even that you pay full insurance the INS, will no cover that deductuble...some American/European credit cards...will pay 100%.

Will be hard to find Rent a Car without a deposit or a smaller amount! But who knows...maybe is possible!!

Luis GPS

LynneL

I stand by my orignal post - the deposit at Thrifty was $303. When we returned the car, they tore up the original slip that I signed and then created a new one they sent through for the actual rental. So yes, there is a deposit - but it's no where near the deposit at TriColor.

flycatcher06

Thank you I am going to try them because we just have trouble all the time with Tri color - First the huge deposit, then they are always late and now this year he still ended up overcharging me $30. We went over the bill ad nauseum. Thanks for your help

pirulo

the large rent a car deposit is costa rica;s last remaining "dark ages" policy.

it is a racket but no company wants to be the first one to do away with it, it is too confortable for them

most companies will actually put your card thru for the amount plus a deposit on other charges, locking a huge chunk of your credit card balance in the process.

that might not be a problem if you pay the rental with the same credit card: they will void the original transaction and put thru the final charges based on the authorization number of the first transaction.

the problem comes when you pay
cash or use another card to pay for the rental. The costa rican credit card companies will keep the money locked up for 30 days, unless you work really hard to get them to release the funds earlier.

flycatcher06

That is why I am so annoyed. When I reserved the car I gave them a credit card number but that is not the one i wanted to use. This caused us a great deal of trouble during our trip because he tied up over $1800. for a $363. rental. He would not change credit cards or use 1 card for the deposit and one for the rental. Live and learn it was my stupidity but he had never run it through before we arrived before. Thanks for your understanding. With a family of 4 this year we were definitely lucky we still got to go onour vacation and this put a big stress on it!