Renting a car in Costa Rica and have no idea which company to go with? In this post, we’ll share with you our personal recommendation for our car rental in Costa Rica experience: Adobe Rent a Car.
And for those of you who want a jump start on booking your car, we have teamed up with this Costa Rica car rental company to give discounts and extra benefits to our readers. Just click on our Costa Rica car rental discount link here to check quotes, availability and make reservations with our promo. Also check our renting a car in Costa Rica post for more tips!
Adobe Rent a Car Costa Rica: Best Car Rental in Costa Rica
Why did we choose Adobe for our very first car rental experience in Costa Rica? Adobe Rent a Car Costa Rica is 100% Costa Rican, have been in business for over 30 years and have offices all throughout the country. They offer the latest car models, excellent customer service and all inclusive pricing which will make planning your vacation to Costa Rica less of a headache.
Read more below!
The Importance of All-Inclusive Pricing in Costa Rica
What is all inclusive pricing and why is it important in Costa Rica? Well you may have heard that renting a car in Costa Rica is a scam and read many horror stories from previous tourists. Unfortunately, there are companies in Costa Rica that implement what we see as dishonest practices regarding insurance.
For example, if you check third party booking sites (not the direct car rental website), you may see a crazy cheap price like $5-10 USD a day. When you go to book that car, your total will be only like $50 for a week. Score! You got such a good deal right? You book it and think that everything is done and confirmed with nothing else to do for your car rental.
However, when you arrive in Costa Rica and pick up the car, the agency tells you that you have an additional X amount of hundred dollars to pay and that your deposit will be something crazy like $3000 USD. And that you have to pay an extra airport fee. Or that you have to purchase all these other insurances or if you didn’t purchase any insurance, then your deposit will be $5000 USD. This happens because the third party booking site you booked with only showed the “base” price and never included any taxes, fees or insurance. Because they never mentioned or showed it, you had no idea there were other charges to pay.
So you’re left with an incredibly awful experience and you feel like you were scammed.
Adobe Rent a Car doesn’t do ANY of that. They offer all-inclusive pricing so the total amount on your reservation is exactly what you pay when you pick up the car. No extra fees, taxes or charges. You know exactly which insurances you will pay for and which are optional. You also know how much your deposit will be.
What to Know About Costa Rican Car Rental Insurance
Adobe Rent a Car’s insurances are easy to understand as they are very straightforward. Plus, there are only 3 options offered when booking online. Read more about Adobe Rent a Car’s insurances here.
Some other agencies make it super confusing. They may have up to or more than 5 insurance options, use confusing language and just aren’t clear. Also some of them may offer options such as If you purchase insurance 1 but not 2, 3 and 4, your deposit is $5000 USD. If you purchase insurances 1, 2 and 3, your deposit is $500. If you purchase insurance 1, 2 and 4, your deposit is $2000.
SO confusing right?
Adobe Rent a Car doesn’t do that at all.
One of the benefits of renting a car through Mytanfeet is that we offer a $500 or $750 USD deposit instead of the original $1000 USD deposit.
Pros About Adobe Rent a Car
They are 100% Costa Rican
As a traveler, I much prefer my money to go to the locals than the foreign companies. And this is especially in a country that depends on tourism so much like Costa Rica.
The entire Adobe Rent a Car company is Costa Rican, from the owners to all employees.
Being a 100% Costa Rican company also gives a bit more peace of mind because they know Costa Rican laws inside and out.
Everyone in the company knows the roads, knows what it’s like to drive in Costa Rica and knows what tourists are looking for when it comes to a good car rental experience.
Easy to Understand Insurance
Adobe Car Rental makes it easy to understand exactly what you are paying for and what insurance covers what. They also clearly explain which insurance is optional and which insurance is not.
Excellent Service
When it comes to customer service, Adobe has excellent customer service. From their reservations department to their counter agents, everyone is polite, knowledgeable and friendly.
Well Maintained Fleet
Another reason why Adobe Rent a Car is the best car rental in Costa Rica is their well maintained fleet. They have a fleet of cars that are no more than 2 years old, keeping them in very good condition.
This is something very important to consider when price comparison shopping. You may see a cheap car rental but keep in mind that that company may use really old cars, like 5 years or more. A 1 year old rental car vs 5 year old rental car is drastically different in Costa Rica. The 5 year old car may have something like 500,000 kilometers on it and the condition of that car will not be the same as a 1 year old rental car.
Transparency
No hidden fees, no surprise taxes, no last minute charges. Nothing. You don’t need to worry about any of that when you rent a car with Adobe!
As mentioned earlier, they use an all-inclusive pricing structure so clients pay exactly the amount written on their confirmation.
My Experience: Our Adobe Rent a Car Review
I first rented a car with Adobe Rent a Car in 2014 before our partnership with them. I wanted to rent with a local company and heard many great things about Adobe. My experience went flawlessly. They delivered my car to our condo in Jaco and had to picked up there as well. I rented a sedan (Hyundai Accent) for me and 2 friends and we drove from Jaco to Manuel Antonio National Park and Playas del Coco.
The car worked great, was comfortable and clean. Everything was clearly explained to me by the agent and I had no confusion about what I was paying for. After my car rental experience with Adobe Rent a Car Costa Rica, we knew that we wanted to partner with them for our blog.
We are very happy that we are able to give our Mytanfeet readers a car rental discount and extra freebies to help them save money on their vacation!
If you have any questions about our discount or about Adobe Rent a Car Costa Rica, please feel free to contact us.
Read more Costa Rica travel tips below!
Tips for using Airbnb in Costa Rica
Debra says
Thank you so much for your Adobe recommendation and for facilitating the rental process for us. We had a seamless experience with Adobe: they dropped off the car to our hotel on time, and even picked it up from our location at the end of our trip. Your blog definitely helped to explain the rental insurance, so we knew exactly what to expect. There were no hidden fees, and the car was exactly the type we needed for our family adventures! Your blog was super helpful to me in planning my trip and giving me ideas for places that weren’t previously on my radar. Thank you!
Sammi says
Hello Debra, thank you so much for your feedback and review, we’re very glad to hear that you had a good experience with Adobe, we work hard on the blog to pick good local partners to ensure all our readers have a good experience in Costa Rica. Thank you for reading Mytanfeet and renting a car through us, we hope you visit Costa Rica again one day in the future
Georgina says
So happy I rented a car from Adobe Liberia through mytanfeet. Easily the best car rental experience I have had anywhere in the world. They patiently answered all my questions over the phone leading up to my trip and made sure I was comfortable with the contract before I drove away. Airport pick up and drop off was smooth and the car itself drove well and was in good condition. Thanks mytanfeet for the recommendation and we enjoyed the discount and extra perks we accessed through your site.
Sammi says
Hi Georgina, thank you so much for your feedback and review – we appreciate it and are very glad to hear you had a good experience with Adobe!
Michelle says
Hi
We are a couple planning a trip for Feb/March 2023 Liberia To Rio Celeste – La Fortuna – Monteverde- Manuel Antonio – Tamarindo. Your info is awesome and just curious if the compact Geely GX3 would be enough clearance during the dry season
Sammi says
Hi Michelle, we sent you an email yesterday with more information
brianna lewis says
Just had to say thanks so much for helping us with the rental arrangements and discount with Adobe. It was absolutely the easiest car rental process we’ve ever gone through! Someone brought the car to our hotel in Manuel Antonio & we returned it in a week to the Adobe office in Quepos. Everyone was friendly and paperwork was done in no time at all. Thanks for your wonderful blog, too! We had an amazing 10 days in Costa Rica, and many of your suggestions were extremely helpful. Can’t wait to return!
Sammi says
Hi Brianna, thank you for your feedback and we’re glad the car rental with Adobe worked out well 🙂 We hope you had a great time
Nancy F. says
We recently rented a car in San Jose from Adobe and were generally pleased. However our car did not have a backup camera, something we never thought to check on when renting. I didn’t realize how much I rely on this until we didn’t have it. It was very solely missed in areas like Manuel Antonio when backing up from perpendicular parking into traffic on hilly roads. Our car also did not have Bluetooth – we checked with other fellow travelers and their rental cars didn’t have either. Is this a ruse to try to rent you a Garmin?! Consequently Waze did not work in the same way it does in the U.S. at all. We had to plot our routes on Waze when we had access to Wifi, then disconnect from Wifi. When you begin your trip Waze remembers the last route, but only the last route plotted.
Sammi says
Hi Nancy I’m glad you had a good experience with Adobe. Rental car versions in Costa Rica (Latin America) are different than the normal versions, some cars have Bluetooth, some don’t, it depends and not all cars here have backup cameras.
Praveen Raj says
Hi,
We had a wonderful experience with renting Adobe rental car through your website. The whole experience from pickup from san jose airport to checking in at their office and return at Liberia office was seamless. Great customer service from Adobe and we would certainly rent again when we plan our next visit to Costa Rica. We rented the SUV which was very useful for our trip to Monteverde and also while exploring some of the beaches in Guanacaste.
Thanks again for the very detailed information on all the blogs! 🙂
Sammi says
Thank you for your feedback Praveen, we are happy you had a good experience with Adobe and a good time in Costa Rica!
Emily E says
Hello! We are heading to Costa Rica soon and definitely want to rent, but we aren’t sure if we should rent a car or an SUV. Right now, our itinerary involves flying into SJO and then hitting up Arenal/La Fortuna, Monteverde, Rincon de Viaje, and possibly Las Catalinas (not necessarily in that order :)). Thank you for your advice!
Sammi says
A high clearance car is recommended, especially if you want to explore around and also make sure to ask your hotels what kind of car is required (more for Monteverde and Rincon as those are more mountaineous areas)
Jennifer Dewing says
Hello! I am planning a trip with 8 other family members (9 women total) in January 2023 for 11 days. Will your promo code still be viable a year from now? How much in advance should I book the cars? (I’m assuming that renting 2 vehicles is best. Is renting a larger vehicle even possible or worthwhile?). We plan on flying into San Jose & staying in the Jaco area.
Any information you can give me would be great!
Thanks!
Jennifer
Sammi says
Hi Jennifer, yes we will still have the partnership in 2023 (given that neither company goes out of business). You can check for the H1 which holds up to 9 passengers plus luggage but if you require a 4wd/4×4, then two vehicles would be required.
Annette says
Hi! I discovered your blog after hearing you guest speak on a travel podcast i listen to but unfortunately I had already booked my car for the 1st week of November somewhere else!
Although I booked through my AA app where I purchased my flight and it’s at a discounted rate, I read a few things in your blog that I actually see on my contracts such as cheap small suv and then insurance from Allianz for $75 the whole week. I don’t see any rules on deposit due at pick up and my receipt says week amount + tax + insurance and I paid a flat fee. Should I be concerned about hidden fees upon arrival? So I need additional insurance? I figured hassle free would be going with reputable well known sites to purchase?
Sammi says
Hi Annette, yes unfortunately for these type of booking sites, you will most likely need to expect them to add on insurance when you arrive and then tell you about the deposit when you get there. Unfortunately many third party booking sites operate this way in Costa Rica for car rentals, it is a “reputable” site because this is a common practice here that is not illegal (not disclosing all fees/taxes/charges/insurance/etc.) so if you can, I would try to contact AA to see who exactly you are renting from (which agency) and then go to the website like Budget Costa Rica or Alamo Costa Rica (not the international site, the Costa Rica site) and try to contact them to see what your exact final total is with the mandatory Costa Rican insurance and what your deposit would be.) Usually what they’ll offer you when you’re at the counter is a couple of insurances and if you don’t purchase other insurances, they’ll require something like a $3000 deposit or something like that. Hope this helps
jessica abadia says
Question, planning a trip in November. Trying to rent a car through your website, do they have 5 or 6 people vehicles available? I would like to go with my parents as well. Thank you.
Sammi says
Hello Jessica, I just sent you an email to get your rental dates so I can check availability.