Costa Rica car rental (1 Viewer)

[Val35]

Hi, my wife and I are planning a two weeks trip to Costa Rica in January 2025. We would like to rent a car but there are a lot of options and I'm not sure what would be the best. If anyone has experience with some of the car rental companies there and could advise a good one it would be great !
We will arrive in San Jose airport.

I also thought about doing some night driving around the places where we will stay (Arenal, Monteverde, Tarcoles, Dota Valley...) in hope to find owls/nightjars and why not snakes and mammals.
I wondered if it is allowed to do so and if it's safe ?

Thanks

 

[Dan Miller]

We've used Adobe some nine or ten times since 2015, and have been perfectly happy. This year we booked through My Tan Feet blog, who got us a good rate for a 4x4 for six weeks.

For nightlife, you'll probably do better hiring a guide for a night hike. Some reserves offer good night hikes (e.g. Curi-Cancha and Bajo del Tigre in Monteverde). Avoid the touristic ones though - the ones with big billboards and shuttles for their patrons).

 

[Val35]

Thanks, I will check out Adobe !

Yes, we plan to do a night walk in Monteverde either at Curi Cancha or at the Monteverde Wildlife Refuge but maybe a couple of night drives on our own could add a few species

 

[dalat]

Hi Val,
Plenty of options for car rental indeed, the most confusing thing to sort out is to be sure whether compulsory insurances are included in the quote you get or not.

Last summer we rented a car from this one: https://wild-rider.com/ The price scheme was transparent and price reasonable, compared to others.

We had one window smashed in the last days, and the company was very helpful and modest in charging the damage.

I also would rather look for night walks than night drives. That said, on the rural roads you should encounter some stuff by night, and driving isn't a problem on the public roads.

Have fun! Florian

 

[jurek]

I recommend to avoid Budget, I had bad experience with them. The clerks pressure you to buy extra insurances etc.

No problem with driving at night, but I saw all owls on foot. Only a sloth crossing the road on a cable overhead.

 

[Val35]

Hi Val,
Plenty of options for car rental indeed, the most confusing thing to sort out is to be sure whether compulsory insurances are included in the quote you get or not.

Last summer we rented a car from this one: https://wild-rider.com/ The price scheme was transparent and price reasonable, compared to others.

We had one window smashed in the last days, and the company was very helpful and modest in charging the damage.

I also would rather look for night walks than night drives. That said, on the rural roads you should encounter some stuff by night, and driving isn't a problem on the public roads.

Have fun! Florian

Thanks, I will check them out !

 

[Val35]

I recommend to avoid Budget, I had bad experience with them. The clerks pressure you to buy extra insurances etc.

No problem with driving at night, but I saw all owls on foot. Only a sloth crossing the road on a cable overhead.

OK, noted, avoid Budget 😅

When you mean on foot you mean on the grounds of lodges/hotels or just walking around at night ?

 

[jurek]

I birded at night around lodges and reserves with open access. It seemed for me that roads in Costa Rica are rather busy at night. I tried one quiet side road in a wide farmland, but seen no wildlife besides big fireflies.

 

[Montereyman]

On our trips we rent a car from a company that is within walking distance of the airport hotels. That way we can take the airport shuttle to the hotel and then walk to a car rental place to pick up the car we reserved. We do the same on the return with dropping off our baggage at the hotel and then driving to the rental office, returning the car, and walking back to the hotel.

Check current reviews on tripadvisor and other online sources as the management and ownership can change over the years. There is also some differences in the rates charged for insurance and it is the car insurance that is 50% of the car rental cost in Costa Rica. The car insurance is mandated by law and so not an option.

Driving around in Costa Rica is easy except that there are no street signs or house numbers. GPS helps a great deal to navigate through the cities as the locals tend to take the buses (which are excellent) and so are not good for providing directions. Front wheel drive is good enough 95% of the time for the roads you will encounter and you can route yourself to avoid the other 5%.

 

[TicoTyler]

Feel free to hit me up for specific information once you have an itinerary. I should be able to help with some owl and potoo spots in the Arenal area (I live near La Fortuna) and can connect you with good guides elsewhere.

 

[Val35]

I birded at night around lodges and reserves with open access. It seemed for me that roads in Costa Rica are rather busy at night. I tried one quiet side road in a wide farmland, but seen no wildlife besides big fireflies.

Thanks ! Didn't expect that roads would be busy at night but given the number of tourists visiting it makes sense...
I'll try to see what I can find near lodges/reservers

On our trips we rent a car from a company that is within walking distance of the airport hotels. That way we can take the airport shuttle to the hotel and then walk to a car rental place to pick up the car we reserved. We do the same on the return with dropping off our baggage at the hotel and then driving to the rental office, returning the car, and walking back to the hotel.

Check current reviews on tripadvisor and other online sources as the management and ownership can change over the years. There is also some differences in the rates charged for insurance and it is the car insurance that is 50% of the car rental cost in Costa Rica. The car insurance is mandated by law and so not an option.

Driving around in Costa Rica is easy except that there are no street signs or house numbers. GPS helps a great deal to navigate through the cities as the locals tend to take the buses (which are excellent) and so are not good for providing directions. Front wheel drive is good enough 95% of the time for the roads you will encounter and you can route yourself to avoid the other 5%.

Thanks for your answer ! Yes I saw that assurances are pretty expensive !
I think we will use maps.me/google maps offline for navigating
The best option for us would be to rent a SUV rather than a 4WD indeed, it doesn't seem needed for the places we will visit and the SUV will give us a little higher clearance than a sedan.

Feel free to hit me up for specific information once you have an itinerary. I should be able to help with some owl and potoo spots in the Arenal area (I live near La Fortuna) and can connect you with good guides elsewhere.

Thank you very much ! I'll send you private message soon !

 

[Andy Adcock]

We hired our car through the accommodation at Volcan Poas-Vara Blanca Tiquicia Lodge. I was up front with him from the start and told him of the warnings from many about car hire in Costa Rica but he insisted that the quoted price was the final price so we decided to go with him and found him to be honest, pleasant and trustworthy.

Contact Rodrigo Alfaro [email protected]

We hired a Suzuki Bego 4x4 including Satnav for $2200 including enhanced insurance cover.

 

[Montereyman]

With my 6 trips all over Costa Rica I never had need for a satnav. A regular unlocked quad band phone is all that is needed to use one of the local SIM cards that cost $10 for enough minutes to more than cover a two week trip. Easiest to buy the cards inside the airport prior to entering the customs check area.

Whatapp is the most commonly used messaging app and helps if the person coming to pick up knows what you look like.

We travel from California and arrive at a Costa Rica airport around 5pm when it is getting dark and our departure flights at the end of the trip are usually at around 9am so we need to stay at an airport hotel on arrival and the night before our departure.

 

[Val35]

We hired our car through the accommodation at Volcan Poas-Vara Blanca Tiquicia Lodge. I was up front with him from the start and told him of the warnings from many about car hire in Costa Rica but he insisted that the quoted price was the final price so we decided to go with him and found him to be honest, pleasant and trustworthy.

Contact Rodrigo Alfaro [email protected]

We hired a Suzuki Bego 4x4 including Satnav for $2200 including enhanced insurance cover.

Thank you ! I will try to contact him

With my 6 trips all over Costa Rica I never had need for a satnav. A regular unlocked quad band phone is all that is needed to use one of the local SIM cards that cost $10 for enough minutes to more than cover a two week trip. Easiest to buy the cards inside the airport prior to entering the customs check area.

Whatapp is the most commonly used messaging app and helps if the person coming to pick up knows what you look like.

We travel from California and arrive at a Costa Rica airport around 5pm when it is getting dark and our departure flights at the end of the trip are usually at around 9am so we need to stay at an airport hotel on arrival and the night before our departure.

Yes, I think about buying a local sim card or using an Esim like Airalo...I thought there were no place to buy sim cards in the airport itself though...Which one is it ? Kolbi ?
We will arrive around 5pm too, we booked an hotel 15 minutes from the airport

 

[Andy Adcock]

Thank you ! I will try to contact him


Yes, I think about buying a local sim card or using an Esim like Airalo...I thought there were no place to buy sim cards in the airport itself though...Which one is it ? Kolbi ?
We will arrive around 5pm too, we booked an hotel 15 minutes from the airport

Re sim cards, we bought one and then we couldn't get it to work. The guy in the shop here we bought it, tried to connect it for us but we failed.

 

[opisska]

We used Target Car Rental in 2021 and they were great - we put their services to a test by having a breakdown in Osa from all places and they delivered a new car next morning, driving it all the way starting at 5 am from San Jose. I usually have conflicts with rental agencies, but this one was fantastic.

We had limited options to drive at night because of the covid curfew (that definitely showed the virus who was in charge), but in particular around Osa the (few existing) roads were quiet and there was wildlife.

 

[TicoTyler]

Thank you ! I will try to contact him


Yes, I think about buying a local sim card or using an Esim like Airalo...I thought there were no place to buy sim cards in the airport itself though...Which one is it ? Kolbi ?
We will arrive around 5pm too, we booked an hotel 15 minutes from the airport

Kolbi I think still has a stand in the airport. If not you can get any prepaid SIM (Claro, Liberty, Kolbi) from just about any grocery store or corner market (pulperia). It will be much cheaper than an eSim. You can probably get by on like $5 a week.

 

[cafe birder]

We used Wayz to navigate our car around Costa Rica. It was excellent. The car was booked in advance using Geoddesy from England or a company name similar to that

 

[TicoTyler]

We used Wayz to navigate our car around Costa Rica. It was excellent. The car was booked in advance using Geoddesy from England or a company name similar to that

Waze generally does well but for a while (still?) it keeps trying to get people stuck in the mountains coming from the Pacific Central area (Carara/Tarcoles) up to La Fortuna. Ask me how I know.

 

[jurek]

A general point: renting a car in Costa Rica, and many other birding destinations, it is very worth to be sure about details of car hire insurance such as excess cover and damage to finer parts of the vehicle, like undercarriage, windows etc and collision damage waiver (CDW). During car hire online it is often difficult to impossible to find what exactly the insurance covers. Companies and / or their staff at the counter in Costa Rica try selling / pressuring to buy extra insurances. This can cost substantial sums when you hire a car for, say, a 14 day holiday.

The point is: in many countries, extras of insurance are already covered by credit card or private liability insurance. Otherwise, diverse companies online offer extra insurances for a fraction of the cost of car hire companies. Check this beforehand. This can save substantial money on car rental and / or worry what happens if you, for example, damage underside of our rental car.