Renting a car in Costa Rica is one of the best ways to explore the country since you will be able to visit many places where the buses don’t go.
Before you rent a car, it is very important to do the proper research to make sure it goes without a hitch.
It’s easy to rent a car in Costa Rica but there are some things foreigners need to know before they do and one of those things is insurance.
This post has affiliate links which we may earn a small commission from if you choose to purchase, at no extra cost to you. Listed prices are quoted in USD and are estimates. More info: Disclosure
Important facts about Costa Rica car rental insurance
Costa Rica car rental insurance is one of the most common questions and complaints we get from visitors since the process is different than the US and Canada.
The majority of the complaints we hear about are the hidden fees so in this article, I’m going to simplify the information about Costa Rica car rental insurance and how it works.
First here are a few important facts about car rental insurance.
- Before 2010, one company called INS had a monopoly over the insurance and were the only company allowed. After 2010, Costa Rica opened their doors allowing local and international companies to enter the market to increase competition.
- The only mandatory insurance by law in Costa Rica is the one rent a car companies pay every year called “Marchamo.” It is the equivalent to personal property tax and it covers a very small part to third parties.
This mandatory insurance is the one most people ask about as many credit card companies offer auto insurance. However, this doesn’t usually apply to car rental insurance in Costa Rica.
Mandatory Costa Rica car rental insurance
When any rental car company tells you that there is a mandatory insurance, they are not lying but it’s not exactly specific.
As I mentioned earlier, the only mandatory insurance is the one all car owners have to pay, the yearly property tax or “Marchamo.”
This insurance is called “Responsabilidad Civil” and it only covers third party damages up to 20,000,000 Costa Rican Colones (around $37,000 USD).
Mandatory Insurance That Almost Every Car Rental Company Asks You to Buy
When the car rental company tells you that you have to purchase “mandatory insurance,” it’s because most of the car rental companies have their own policies.
This is not the mandatory insurance by Costa Rican law.
This insurance is the one that covers the damages of the car you rent and third party damages.
The truth is that car rental companies can’t rely on the Marchamo insurance due to slow processes and bureaucracy in Costa Rica for legal processes.
That would take months if not years to clear up.
Every single company has their own policies and coverage for insurance and this is how the car rental companies make most of their money, by selling insurances and extras.
Now let’s start by taking a look of some of the most popular car rental companies in Costa Rica and what their polices are.
I made my research over the past couple months and this is the information their representatives told me.
Economy rent a car insurance policies
First I went to their online system to make a reservation for a compact car from May 1 – 10.
Their system gave me a rate of $26.55 USD weekly for a total of $71.99 USD for a Hyundai i10 automatic.
I didn’t see any information about insurance so I went onto the next page.
In the next step I saw the Waivers and Options. I read all the information on the website but I decided to call them and ask a representative to make sure they had the same information.
This is what I found:
- Liability Waiver: This insurance costs $15 USD a day for a sedan/compact and $20 USD for a SUV. It covers only 80% of third party damages. In case of accidents you will have to cover 100% of your car and 20% of the third party damages.
- Limited Loss Waiver: For an extra $8 USD a day you will be covered for 100% of third parties damages but you still have 0% coverage on the car you rented.
- Loss Damage Waiver: It costs $15 USD a day and this insurance will cover the damages of the car you rented, but there is a deductible of $950 USD. If you have an accident and the cost of fixing your car is $1500, you will have to pay $950 and the insurance will cover the rest.
- Secret option: This option is not listed on the website but is offered when Economy delivers the car to you. For an extra $10 a day, this insurance will cover the $950 USD deductible so if you purchase this option and the Loss Damage Waiver together, you will have 0 deductible.
Security Deposit and Credit Card Insurances for Economy rent a car
I asked the Economy representative about credit card insurances because I know many credit cards offer car rental insurance but it isn’t accepted in Costa Rica.
This is the explanation given to me.
Most of the credit card insurances do not cover third party damages. If your credit card does offer third party damage protection in Costa Rica, the client needs to present a letter stating that the card will cover the rented car’s damages and the third party damages.
According to the representative, 99% of the time, the client doesn’t have that third party damages protection.
If the client does bring the correct letter, Economy takes $5000 USD for the security deposit which is frozen for your entire car rental period.
In case of accidents, Economy will charge everything to the client’s credit card and the client will have to do all the paper work with their bank.
If you don’t purchase the Liability waiver because you have the letter from your bank, you will still have to purchase the Limited loss waiver and leave a $5000 USD security deposit.
If you purchase the L.W + L.LW + LDW, the deposit will be $950 USD and if you purchase the secret option in addition, they keep $500 USD.
Readers’ Main Complaint About Economy rent a car
When I was making the reservation online, my final total came out to be $71.99 USD without purchasing the insurance so now I understand their catch and why people get angry with Economy.
This is how it typically works with Economy: The client makes the reservation online and they think, “Oh my car rental for one week is only $72 USD, it’s so cheap” because they think they don’t have to purchase insurance.
However, once the client shows up at the airport, the Economy representative will tell them yes, their reservation is $71.99 USD but there are additional insurances they must purchase even though it didn’t seem like that online.
If the client refuses to buy an insurance because of their credit card coverage, Economy will ask for the letter and pretty much nobody does that as most people don’t have a way to call when they have already left their home country and it would take time away from their vacation.
If you do have the letter, you will stay have to pay insurance and lay down a $5000 USD security deposit.
So I checked online all the options (without the $10 USD a day secret option) and my new total jump from $145.25 USD to $458.45 USD.
Then if the client wants to be 100% covered with 0 deductible with the extra $10 USD at the airport, the final total will be $548.45 USD. What a huge difference from $71.99 USD right?
Thoughts About Economy rent a car
I can see why visitors complain about hidden fees since it seems like on the online reservation system you don’t have to purchase insurance.
So if you want to use Economy, the best way to not get any surprises is by selecting all the insurances they have and making sure you have enough on your credit card to leave a $950 USD security deposit.
I also feel that all the extras are a bit expensive. An additional driver is $10 USD a day and GPS is $15 USD a day.
Adobe rent a car Insurance Policies
As many of you know, Adobe is the company that we recommend but I analyzed and scrutinized them with the same rigor.
Actually I did perhaps a little bit harder because I want our readers to get the best.
I went to their online reservations website using the widget on our discount page and I selected the same car for the same period of time.
Then I called their call center to talk to a representative to re-confirm the following:
Adobe has easy to understand insurances
- Liability Protection: This is their mandatory insurance and it costs $13-25 USD a day depending on the car. With this insurance you will have coverage up to $20,000 USD in 3rd party damages with a 20% deductible as well as coverage of 3rd parties not in the car up to $100,000 USD with 0 deductible.
- Car Protection: This insurance covers damages of the rented car in an accident, collision or roll over. In case of total or partial theft of the rented car, the Car Protection also covers any financial losses due to the theft. You can decline this insurance with your credit card insurance. To decline, you must present a letter from your credit card company stating they will cover the damages. You have to check your credit card’s coverage however, to make sure they will cover your rental, number of passengers, type of car and car rental period. My Chase Sapphire credit card covers this insurance so I can use it to save some money but at the same time, I understand what I will be responsible for in case of an incident.
- Extended Protection: The cost of this insurance is around $17-25 USD a day and it goes on top of the Liability Protection. This one is completely optional. With this insurance, it will cover the 20% deductible of the Liability Protection so you will have a 0 deductible. It also covers windows, vandalism, road assistance 24/7, tow truck and damaged tires (FLAT TIRES NOT INCLUDED). It also covers 100% of damages including 3rd party up to $4 million USD.
- TPW: The cost of this insurance is $9.99 USD a day and it is offered ONLY in person by the Adobe agent when the client collects the car. This is for clients who decline Car Protection insurance and purchase only Liability. The TPW insurance is 100% optional. It increases your third party (Liability) coverage to $4 million USD from $20,000 USD. The Liability deductible goes down to $0 USD from 20%.
Security Deposit
For most of their cars they require a security deposit of $1000 USD. Mytanfeet readers get a $750 USD deposit by default and $500 USD if all 3 insurances are purchase (one of our perks).
Adobe vs Economy
After checking the cost of the same car for the same time period with FULL coverage (0 deductible), the price with Economy was $548.45 USD and with Adobe $438 USD (- $110.45 with Adobe).
On top of that, with Adobe all Mytanfeet readers get two free second drivers, free booster/baby seats, a free SIM card, and most importantly, there are no hidden fees or “secret options.”
So if you try to make a reservation online with Economy, it will look very cheap like in our example it seemed like my reservation was only $71.99 USD.
However, at the end the final rate with full coverage was $548.45 USD. With Adobe it is what it is you see online and that’s it.
My Thoughts About Adobe rent a car Insurance
I like that their insurances were well laid out and easy to understand. To read further about their insurance, check this post detailing each Adobe Rent a Car insurance here.
Alamo rent a car Insurance Policies
Another well-known company is Alamo rent a car. I went to their online reservation system and looked for the same car for the same dates.
They didn’t have a Hyundai i10 in their fleet so I chose a Toyota Yaris hatchback which is similar to the one I used for Economy and Adobe.
Again, I called Alamo and went over all the different insurance options their online system offered me with their representative.
This is how Alamo’s insurance works:
- Primary Liability Insurance: This costs $11.95 USD a day and it is mandatory. It covers 80% of total damages to third party’s property (you pay 20%).
- Collision Damage Waiver – Theft Protection: This costs $12.95 USD and it covers the rental car damage. This insurance along with the Primary Liability Insurance are mandatory and it has a $2000 USD deductible. So in case of an accident, you will have to pay the first $2000 USD for the rental car and insurance will take care of the rest.
- Deductible Protection: For an extra $20.95 USD per day, you get 0 deductible in case of any accident. If you get this insurance, you will not pay the 20% for third parties damages and the $2000 USD deductible for the rental car.
On top on that, even if you have all the 3 insurances above they will charge $5 USD a day for road assistance and $5.95 for tire and windshield protection.
Avis rent a car Insurance policies
I tried to get in contact with one of their agents but I couldn’t. I called 3 times in order to get someone to talk to about insurance!
When I finally got a representative, their answer was “You can read online everything about insurances.” Then they hung up.
This is the worst service I received so far from all the companies I called. I am not saying the whole company is like this but they lost me as a client.
I unfortunately was not able to get their insurance information.
Conclusion and recommendations
I will be keeping adding more companies to this post as I continue my research but by now, you should now have a good idea of how Costa Rica car rental insurance works.
If you’re renting a car, you know what to look for when it comes to extra fees and insurance.
We hope this post helped clarify questions you had about renting a car in Costa Rica. And don’t forget to take advantage of our discount!
Get our car rental discount and extra benefits. Click here to get your Costa Rica car rental discount.
For more tips on driving and renting a car in Costa Rica, check out these posts.
Includes information about who can rent a car, advice on what kind of car you need for particular routes, what to look out for in rental car companies and how to stay safe.
Information about road signs, road conditions in both city and rural areas, how Ticos drive, what to do in case of emergency and tips for staying safe on the road
What to know about getting gas in Costa Rica: prices, payment, etc.
Rav says
Hi,
I just reserved a car through your widget with adobe, and it does seem to be better value than other rental companies i researched for costa rica.
I am very confused about all these insurance options etc, even after reading your guide to insurance which looked at the different companies insurance structures.
With Adobe, the mandatory coverage was preselected, and so i just went with that default. Does that suffice in vast majority of cases? Also, the second option was not selected, however there was a statement that one needed some kind of paper proof to decline. Will that one be added then at pickup time in most cases?
Thanks, your blogs are very helpful for me, a first time traveller to costa rica!
yeison says
Hello Rav,
Thank you for reading our blog and for commenting, I will try to answer you your questions as clear as I can and if you still have questions at the end please let me know.
The mandatory insurance is the (PLI) Liability Protection, the reason why Adobe set this insurance as mandatory is because it covers third parties involve in accidents, the PLI comes with a 20% deductible. Now most of the USA credit cards like American Express and some visa cars they provide coverage for the rented car (LDW) in Adobe rent a car they call it Car Protection so in case your credit card offers this service you do not need to get it because in case of an accident your credit card company will take care of the damages.
Most of the people declined the LDW (Car Protection) because their credit cards offers that service, but in case your credit car don’t you might need to get teh Car Protection insurance, the system will let you make the reservation without the Car Protection insurance.
Does that suffice in vast majority of cases? Over 1000 readers rented a car on 2016 rented a car with Adobe and just 9 people had little incidents nothing big, but you never know.
Adobe has a Toll Free number from the US and Canada please feel free to call 1-855-8611250 you can for Louis he is the one in charge of all Mytanfeet readers.
Loretta Lawrence says
I want to thank you for your insight regarding mandatory car insurance in Costa Rica. My friend was told “Do Not Rent A Car in Costa Rica…. It’s a scam”. I researched and found your blog which gave me the questions to ask.
I returned Sunday from a 10 day trip to costa rica and rented an Alamo Car from San Jose airport. From your info, I called them direct and asked what are the mandatory insurances. They told me the $11.95 a day is mandatory. With American Express I can waive the second Mandatory insurance. This saved me $12.95 a day. I did call American Express prior to leaving and they emailed me a letter to give to Alamo. When checking in at Alamo in San Jose they said they had worked it out with AMEX and the letter is not needed anymore.
My total fees for 10 days days for a Toyota Yaris – 4 door – ac – manual was $184 including the second driver.
We drove from the airport to Jaco around 4:00 in the afternoon on a Friday. Traffic was really bad in San Jose. The only really big issue with driving at night was they don’t keep up with painting any lines on the road and the roads are pitch black. If you have ever drove on a snow covered road, you would know how alarming it is not being able to see where road ends on either side. So you typically try to drive on the highest spot toward what you think is the middle of the road. This happened on one hill and I had lost all perspective of where I was on the road. I ended up over the middle a little too much. It was a little scary to see headlights in your face before you realized you has strayed over a little too much. All is well but it could have been very nasty. Also, please note, there are very little to no guard rails, huge gutters on the side of the road, some areas had minimal to no room to pull off a car to the side.
The roads are not well sign posted. WAZE was very helpful. Be sure you have a data plan for your phone. I have T mobile cell service that has international coverage for free.
Another piece of advice, the green traffic lights blink about 3 times before turning to Yellow. It seems that yellow is not displayed more than a nano second before it turns red. I was almost rear ended trying to stop at a light.
Many if not most of the side streets are not paved once you are out of a city.
Our other option was to get a shuttle taxi to Jaco. Since our flights were coming in too late for the $40 shuttle, it would have cost $50 for each person. That totaled $200 for two plus tip. It was basically a wash since gas was about $42. We did travel from Jaco south to Manuel Antontio Park and did other short site seeing trips. The car was convenient to pop out to the nearest large grocery stores.
In the town of Jaco, walking or biking was the best mode. You can find bike rentals (need to ask around) for $5.00 a day. Most other places on the main drag charge between $10 a day to more than $20 a day for a one speed bike.
Would I rent a car again? Yes, it would be more of a 4 wheel drive vehicle with a little more clearance.
Do your research.
Thanks for the insight.
yeison says
Hello Sophia,
Thank you for reading our blog and leaving us a message 🙂 Regarding your questions I personally have never heard bad comments from Vamos or Mapache (I have never heard of Trebol) our reader always have problems with Economy, National, Enterprice or Alamo. You can given them a try if you would like to and it will be awesome if you can pass us some feedback so can include it to this article.
We have been using Adobe for almost 3 years now and as you can see in the comments people Costa Rica car rental discount
Let us know if you have any questions 🙂
Sophia says
Hello,
Someone recommended Vamos. I also recently booked some accommodations and they recommended either Mapache or Trebol. Do you have any experiences with these companies? Thanks for all the research you do! It is very helpful!
Alka says
Thanks for all the great information. I am wondering if you would recommend a 4×4 with the following itinerary, or are we okay with just an intermediate car? In March we will be landing @ SJO, going to Manuel Antonio, to Arenal, to Nosara, to Tamarindo and then flying out of Liberia. We have been struggling with how we should get from point A to point B but from everything I am reading, it sounds like renting a car for the entire vacation would be the best idea. Thank-you.
yeison says
Hi Alka,
Right now in the dry season you can go to any of your destinations with a mid size SUV 4×2 if you would like to, you guys will be Ok. In Costa Rica renting a car is a good option because you will save time and even money during the whole trip. I will be have to help you finding out the best route from your point a to b but I am not sure if you mean from the Airport to Manuel Antonio, feel free to email us at https://mytanfeet.com/contact-us/
Joan says
Very helpful post, really appreciate it! We are a group of 4 people looking at rental cars for an upcoming 9-day-trip in mid-February. We will be driving from SJO to LaFortuna, then Monteverde, Manual Antonio, Escazu, then back to SJO. We are considering renting an automatic SUV for the entire trip. 1) Can you please advise what kind of car would be suitable for us, and if a 4×2 is good/safe enough for our trip, or a 4×4 is necessary? 2) Due to an early flight, we will have to drop off the rental car at SJO around 4:30am the last day of our trip. Is your office open at that time? 3) if not, will you be able to pick up the rental car at our hotel location in Escazu San Jose the day before?
Thank you very much for your help!
yeison says
Hello Joan!
Thank you for reading our blog, here are the answers for your questions.
1)The most comfortable ones are the Hyundai Tucson or the Santa FE and, if you can get one of those I think it will be the best option. A 4×2 or 4×4 SUV will be fine for your destinations there are two gravel sections a 20 km section in the way to Monteverde that and the entrance of the Arenal volcano, in this sections if you slow you will be fine with a 4×2 I used to go there with our sedan and we were fine.
2)The office opens at 5 AM, when our readers have an early flight (6:30AM or 7 AM) they usually drive to the terminal first and check in their bags then one person goes to deliver at the airport office which is located a 3-5 minutes from the terminal and then the shuttle bring the client back to the terminal.
3) Adobe rent a car can also pick you the car the day before at your hotel in Escazu, just let us know which option you would like to take and we will arrange everything for you, there no extra cost for picking up the car at your hotel in Escazu.
Let us know if you have any questions and thank you again for reading Mytanfeet
Sammi says
I have found that many of the 3rd party travel websites lke Orbitz will show you a cheap price for the car rental but then they stack up a ton of extra fees and taxes and of course, insurance on top so that at the end, your car rental isn’t as cheap as it seems so I would do comparison shop. There is a mandatory car rental insurance in Costa Rica. We work with a local Costa Rican company called Adobe Rent a Car because they don’t have any hidden fees or last minute taxes so what you see on your quote is what you pay. You can check it out here: Costa Rica car rental discount
Marianne says
Hi,
Thanks for the article! How legit is renting a car through Orbitz? There are cheap prices and car coverage is $11 a day. Do you know if I would have to pay for insurance through the company in Costa Rica as well once I got there?
Thanks!
Megan says
I reserved through the website/the my tan feet promotional deal and received confirmation number 520353 when I registered through Adobe online 4 days ago, but no email confirmation yet. Can you please confirm?
Thanks!
yeison says
Hello Megan, your reservation it’s 100% confirmed we just resend you the confirmation please let us know if you have any questions and thank you for reading Mytanfeet.com
Ann says
I will be staying in a hotel in San Juan. Will they deliver a car to my hotel? I only require one for part of my trip and dont want to get it from the airport.
yeison says
Hello Ann, did you meant San Jose? if you did yes Adobe can deliver cars at not extra cost at most of the hotels in San Jose.