There are a lot of options, I have used Avis, Hertz, Budget, Thrifty, Payless, and Europecar. My favorite is Thrifty, followed by Payless, Avis, Hertz, and Europecar. Europecar was fine... just too far from airport for my liking, and Hertz is usually prohibitively expensive.. I am using payless on this trip. I do not recommend eoncomy car or Budget rent-a-car, Economy rent-a-car did not honor my reservation at Christmas, they promised something everyday for almost my whole trip and never came through... I was 30 minutes late picking up my car. I booked a make-up reservation with Budget, which came through and I had a confirmation number. They would not even open up the gate, unless I had a pre-paid reservation.
The main thing to be aware of is that you cannot avoid insurance, which can run $15 to $30 a day, I was almost robbed last year while in my car and at the time paid for full coverage, which I have done each subsequent time as well, but costs $25 - $30 a day. the rental is usually around $15-25 a day, so it adds up. I would recommend getting the full insurance on the car rental (you have to pay almost 65% of the full rate anyway by law, so you might as well be fully covered.
If your credit card provides CDW for international rentals (check, because not all do), then you can save about $ 5- 10 on the insurance... but you are still required to get insurance.
You DO NOT need 4-wheel drive, unless you plan on going way south or way north (i.e. more 4 hours in either direction). Almost all of the car companies offer an "Economy" car that is too small to be practical, you will most likely want to go with a "Compact" (Toyota Yaris) size. or larger.
One thing I recently figured out is that when you reserve your car in the US online, you are quoted a price in dollar. When you are quoted a price for insurance you are quoted the price in dollars. The taxes are quoted in dollars, but when you return your car and check out, the price is converted to costa rica currency (colones) at a ridiculous rate. I rented a car for 2.5 weeks from Payless rent a car this summer and the difference between what I was quoted and what ultimately hit my credit card was $92. I looked back at my old records and Thrifty charged me in dollars, which is what my reservation was quoted in, no difference.... so you need to factor in about a 15-20% overcharge with Payless... because, you pay more with Payless.
Also, when leaving the rental car company be very alert. One tactic that they warn you about at the car retnal agency is that people have been known to follow you in a car from the car rental agency. While you are stopped at a light they secretly puncture one of your tires. They then follow you until you realize your tire is flat. When you pull over, they offer to help and then rob you. I had one of my tires punctured like this in 2009, but fortunately, my ADD and the kindess of strangers prevented them from following through on the robbery. I stopped at a fruit stand to buy fruit before my tire went flat. After I got out of the car, someone stopped to tell me they had seen the people in another car puncture my tire. I was very close to the rental car agency, so I went to service station, refilled the air in the tire and switched out car at rental office. I had heard about this scam, but this was the first time that anything close to this has happened to me in the 12 years I have been going to Costa Rica.
I have heard that if this happens to you, that you should be calm and coooperate, they are not going to hurt you and will only take your valuables... probably not the car.
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