dylandear

Planning on moving to CR at some point but visiting for a couple of months starting this Nov.
In the meantime, me and a friend (2 guys early 30's) were thinking about driving from colorado. probably cross border at Larado (as suggested in another post). But what after that in terms of the other border crossings and what we can expect? Is the car likely to get jacked?

Trying to talk my mom into letting us use her fairly new 4wd SUV... she's substantially apprehensive ...
Steve

suze

<Is the car likely to get jacked?>

No. Not likely.

But having a fancy new car might not exactly be the best (most discreet) choice of vehicle. How good of a car mechanic are you should something go wrong? How good is your Spanish?

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I agree about not calling attention to yourself with a brand new vehicle.

Japanese cars are very popular in Central America. Almost everybody who has a car has one. Mechanics know them well and can get parts easily. American makes are not well known and not as easily dealt with if something goes wrong.

And, yes, how good is your Spanish?

november_moon

Here's an interesting read about the Pan-American Highway - includes a good portion of your proposed route:

http://go-panamerican.com/index.php

catspajamas

Driving your mother's vehicle? The title will have to be in your name.

mizlondon

It might be a long and especially stressful drive if getting jacked is already on your mind. I think just crossing mexico will be an interesting adventure. You will be STARED at the whole way down. Regardless of the car you choose ,new or not, you will have an American license plate! I am in Costa rica right now. We bought a 16 year old beat up SUV and we still get stared at. You would also have to check each countries rules for 'importing a car'. Not sure for the other countries but I know you need a whole bunch of paperwork to drive your car into or out of Costa Rica. We recently went to Nicaragua for the day (scary border) and left the car on the Costa Rica side and took a cab. Gas is also very expensive in central america so the road trip may very well cost more than a flight. Car break ins are common here. They can somehow tell which ones are the rental cars and they target them more. We leave nothing in the car and have even left the doors unlocked so they don't break the glass. Check out the cheap flight in the link below.


http://www.secretflying.com/2016/san...329-roundtrip/

dylandear

All excellent advice! Thank you. It's a big American SUV. No I don't speak Spanish much and I am not a mechanic and didn't know about the title. I think we'll fly and buy a old 4-wheel there! Far less stressful! Thank you all!

suze

Flying is a much better idea!

As far as buying an "old" car in Costa Rica, hopefully others who have experience with that can give some advice on that idea.

mizlondon

Cars/SUV are very expensive here but they do keep their value. You can go on craig's list CR or on encuentra24 CR.
Another option is the bus system if you want to tour the country. It is Really good. New buses, AC, cheap fares.
In July I bought a 2000 Mitsubishi Montero for $9000US
Repairs are cheap. We'll sell it soon and get exactly what we paid for it or maybe a couple $$ more.
BTW,Costa Rica has gotten VERY expensive in terms of groceries and lodging. Most food items are 2-3X the price. Small jar of peanut butter is 7$,sliced bread is 4$..(and that's just breakfast!) Plus, you can't find all the "stuff" you want/need. We've realized that we can't live here much longer.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

Groceries are expensive if you insist on items that have to be imported from back home. Yes. A small jar of Jif or Skippy or Peter Pan peanut butter will run you $7, but the locally made stuff is cheap. Going local is the key to eating for a reasonable price. The brands won't be familiar to you, but you learn to like them. You can do a lot with vegetables and fruits, and those are all locally grown. The fruit selection is amazing.