Renting A Car In Costa Rica: Should You Do It?

We rented and all went smoothly. With only 6 days to experience Costa Rica’s Arenal and Quepos I do not think we could have done half of what we did relying on transportation services. BTW great tip on those one – ways! They sneak up on you when you least expect it.
Thank you.

Hello, my question is; if I am to rent a car, what is recommended for travel from San Jose to Fortuna and maybe one day travel to Manuel Antonio. Would I need a 4×4 or would a regular vehicle be sufficient?

we (my whole family (i think)) prefer to rent and like you said, be able to change destinations on the fly, not be dependent on Public Transit, etc. because there were 8 of us, i had to rent a VAN. i think there are lodging rentals less expensive than what THAT costs — and, again, like you said, the not-so-hidden INSURANCE costs add up, almost eqaul to the original vehicle rental.

nice info, maybe someday i can go to costa rica

Hi Nikki, back from approx 2000 miles of driving CR. Enjoy & appreciate your insight. Learned CR has more tollways than I was prepared for and road conditions in upper elevations are improved when you purchase ONLY their premium higher octane fuel to climb the steep roads. We rented 4×4 Daihatsu Terio auto that twice didn’t want to drive up very steep roads. The trip was wonderful & people were great except our car rental experience with Budget. Never again! I mean NEVER will we deal with these Budget Rental people. Their cust service dept & upper management are AWFUL! They overcharged our credit card above the contractual agreement & then denied doing so requiring us to send copies of our statement before correcting their “mistake”. The list goes on & on but we’ve been lied to so many times we now advise all travelers to avoid Budget totally as we have learned this is common practice. We learned the big name American rental companies have MANY MORE complaints against them than the locals. Moving on…we also found the higher elevations too cold & too rainy for our taste. It was surprising that the cost of produce was equal or higher than that of Calf. We thought the cost of living would be less there. Keep in mind the car rental “INSURANCE costs” added up more than the amount of round trip airfare, That should tell you something! Blessings to all & thanks for what you do!

DON’T rent a car at Alamo San Jose – Costa Rica!!!

Don’t let yourself be ripped off like I was! They will charge you huge extra fees when you arrive to pickup your car!

My reservation online total including fees and insurance was $590. After a 12 hour flight when I arrived at the pickup location they charged me $900!!! I got told that if I didn’t pay $900 (an extra 50% of the original price) I wouldn’t be able to pickup the car!

I contacted Alamo international and they gave me the worst customer service ever!

I am planning a trip to Costa Rica and I definitely need a rental car. But reading this comments and surfing online I am confused which rentals should I trust and what should be limit price of the rental ? Can you please suggest any car rental company names that would help a lot!

Going to Drake Bay with the car: who knows about the rivers to cross? is a “normal” 4WD ok for this? TX