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Driving in Costa Rica is not for everyone. So make sure you know what you’re getting into before getting behind the wheel of a car in Costa Rica. The following are the 7 most frequently asked questions about driving in Costa Rica. These questions come in from my popular podcast about Costa Rica from folks from the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

1. What type of cars are available for rent?

Renting a car in Costa Rica is more expensive than in the U.S. so most people rent the smaller more compact cars that are a little cheaper.

Prices vary and during the high season you will pay more. Around $20 or more per day. Renting during Christmas/New Years will add another $50 or more per week. I looked at five car rental company cars in Costa Rica and the average for renting a small car like a Toyota Yaris will cost around $205 per week. Please note this doesn’t include the required by law insurance which will add at least $10-20 per day. So you’re looking at $250-300 to rent a small car per week.

You will find all the major car rental Costa Rica agencies such as Hertz, Avis, Dollar, Budget, and others.

2. Is driving a good idea?

It depends. Driving in Costa Rica compared to other countries can be a very scary proposition for most. Costa Rica has one of the highest vehicle accident rates in the world. Traffic laws and speed limits are often ignored. Crazy and illegal turns across lanes of traffic are common. Turn signals are rarely used and dangerous passing is common. So you might driving on your lane when all of a sudden here comes a car in your lane going the wrong way because they’re passing on a blind spot. The roads are in poor condition, and large potholes which could cause serious damage to your car is common.

Although the road conditions in the beach areas are worse the actual driving isn’t as scary since there is less traffic and since the roads aren’t the best people tend to drive a little slower.

I like to have my own transportation so renting a car is something I like to do but it all depends on your comfort level. I’ve had friends and family who had never driven outside of the U.S. they found driving to be scary but a fun adventure. So just take it easy and slow and you will be fine. Don’t worry about the other drivers, just do your thing.

3. Do I need car rental insurance?

By law you will need the INS (Instituto Nacional de Seguros) liability insurance regardless of your own car insurance coverage or credit card coverage. The insurance required by law is known as TPL, SLI, SLC or API. The cost ranges from $10-20 USD per day depending on the vehicle. This insurance only covers damages to other people, cars, or property. You will need to buy supplemental coverage to cover damages to the rental car or yourself. However your own car insurance policy or credit card might cover that so call your insurance agent at home before leaving for Costa Rica and ask him or her if your insurance policy covers you for damages in Costa Rica. You might also want to call your credit card issuer and ask them the same question. If your own policy covers you in Costa Rica you’re set and you don’t need the supplemental coverage. If they do not cover you, then I suggest taking out a supplemental policy offered by Costa Rica car rental agencies.

Optional-CDW or LDW – collision damage waiver which covers the cost of the car’s deductible amount which varies depending on the type of car and agency. The cost will range between $10-20 USD per day.

Optional-Zero Liability – This will reduce your liability to zero against theft and vandalism, for example, the cost for this insurance is between $5-20 USD per day depending on the agency and car.

As you can see the supplemental insurance cost can add up fast so it’s important that you check with your insurance agent and your credit card company since you might not even need the optional/supplemental coverage.

If your insurance agent gives you the thumbs up do me a favor and get it in writing! You don’t want any surprises.

4. What are car rental requirements in Costa Rica?

Requirements may vary depending on the car agency you use so check with them. Most require a valid driver’s license (one from your home state or country is fine), a valid passport with your entry stamp, the Costa Rica mandated liability insurance, and you must be at least 21 years of age.

5. Is it safe to drive at night?

The problem driving at night is not crime, it’s just the unsafe driving and poor road conditions which are compounded even worse when you have poor visibility. The roads are not lit up well and it gets pitch dark after 6:00 PM making it unsafe to drive for an inexperienced driver.

6. What are road conditions like?

The road conditions are very poor compared to the super highways of the United States or the Autobahn in Germany. Drivers have to contend with unsafe driving habits of motorists, huge potholes, and even the highway is a two-lane road. The roads get worse during the rainy season since road washouts from the mudslides from the mountains are common.

7. What side of the road do they drive on in Costa Rica?

On the right hand side, like in the U.S. and Canada.

One final tip

Make a copy of the profile page of your passport and your entry stamp and carry that with you along with your car rental papers. You might get stopped by police and you will need to show this to them. Do no carry your passport with you just make copies. The Costa Rican government now allows you to carry copies instead of your actual passport.

When renting a car several things are required. You need a credit card to make the deal, a reservation and confirmation. You can do this on the internet if you have the time. You might find that you get a really good deal and save some money this way. Besides, there is no risk in checking around for the best deal.

With a little bit of training and a little bit of vigilance, you can spot the good deals. The technique described here is easy and absolutely legal and abides by all the rules. Pay careful attention and learn how to save yourself a bundle when renting a car!

1. Planning a trip? Make a reservation ahead of time, and find the hottest deal you can without any penalties for cancellation. Most agencies don’t have these, unless it’s peak season or for a specialty car. If this is a last minute booking, skip this step.

2. Wear a pair of comfortable walking shoes, bring along your laptop and a good book to read while you wait!

3. Once you arrive at the car rental agency, access a discount website from your laptop. Prepare for last-minute delays as most of these sites prevent you from placing car rental reservations within two hours of pick-up time. Choose a reservation from the website, indicating the amount of time you decide upon. Then, select the class of car that is just below your preferred class.

4. Take your car rental Costa Rica reservation price, your discount site estimate, and shop around. Walk from agency to agency and negotiate. Smile, be polite, and be cunning, whatever it takes to get a price lower than what you have. You see, the more people who walk up to a car rental agency in the airport, the better location that agency gets. They have a reason to give you a good price as a walk up. They want your traffic. They want you to come back.

5. Make sure you check out all available deals before deciding on one. Also remember to ask for discounts from one company if another has offered the same. The companies are in competition for your business and many will want to match or top the other deals.

6. The few minutes it will take to do this are worth the time and energy involved, even if you find that your original reservation is the best deal. There is always the chance that you will find a better Costa Rica car rental deal, in which case you can simply call to cancel the original reservation in preparation of accepting the better one.

7. As a final attempt to sweeten your deal, tell the agent that you’ll only accept the deal if they upgrade you to the next class of rental car for the same price. This is actually the easiest thing for the car rental agent to do. It’s usually the agent’s decision. Obviously, however, this won’t work if they are sold out.

You can get a great deal on a rental car if you make time to use this method. It is important to not give up and take the first deal you find. Make sure and not be intimidated by the car rental agency.

Although you can find repeated and repeated news that the scientists have created particular alloys that possess the capabilities of protecting themselves from various wears and tars by rejuvenation there has by no means been even a single car which has been with that ability.

It really is really frequent that some of the automobile stages get repaired constantly and there arises a must substitute it. The auto accessories the affordable automotive pieces is usually availed in two ways, it can either be element in some shops or a second hand car be purchased plus the spare components could be applied for the purpose. Right here within this on the internet store you may be capable to uncover wide range of spare stages that will be of excellent excellent and also the price of these vehicle pieces will be of extremely small variety. Undoubtedly there is not going to be any difficulties for replacement method due towards the amazing nature of this automotive stages and also the precise style with which they may be becoming built.

There will be list of a variety of auto pieces which have been obtainable within this on-line site that should just serve as being a virtual catalogue. You are able to visit this web page to purchase variety of items and the solutions is going to be shipped in rapid period of time.

Many people approach car rental as a lowest-price-possible contest rather than to concentrate on the value of the best deal they eventually would get, in terms of what type of car, what’s included (air conditioning, automatic gear shift, air bags, navigation) as well as what type of service they are going to buy.

The thing is, the car rental market has become a very competitive one and rates differences for comparable quality and service are relatively small, sometimes as small as $10 to $20. These minute price differences are going to vanish in the wind when you consider the long lines and lost time at the cheapest renter counter, drop charges for remote destinations, late return fines, and gasoline inflated rates as well as other service charges you didn’t think about when you shopped for the “best deal”.

Don’t get us wrong, we don’t like to pay higher prices more than you do. We do recommend shopping around and checking the various rates available, especially when it’s so easy to do it via the Internet at comparison sites.

All we say here you need to consider other things beside the price and when you compare please make sure you compare apples to apples and not apples to pears.

Things to consider when ordering a Car Rental Costa Rica

Who is using the car, are you by yourself on a business trip or you are traveling with the whole family? How much luggage are you going to have, does the car you are thinking about is big enough to have you all plus all your hand luggage and big suitcases? If not, consider to change to a mini van or a car with extra large trunk.

Do you need an Infant seat or a child booster? Make sure it is mentioned clearly with your order, usually there is a shortage of these seats and they are provided for extra charge.

Do you actually need the car in the town or city at the first few days? If not, consider to take a taxi, a bus, a train or the hotel shuttle into the city and when it’s time for you to go out of town and travel around, then, rent the car from the city location and by that save up to 15% on Air-Port charges as well as on city parking fees.

Are you going to a very warm and humid destination? If yes, it’s recommended to order a car with air conditioning, usually the price difference is negligible, and the problem is that it’s not available in all destinations like in some tropical countries.

Most major Costa Rica Car Rental companies allow for unlimited mileage, but it’s a good idea to check their policy before confirming. Many smaller local independent companies charge mileage after 100-200 free miles per day.

As mentioned before price is not the only factor to consider when choosing a car rental company? If you choose a very small, no-name company, don’t expect them to provide you with service across all country, what would you do if the car is needed to be replaced or serviced for some reason?

Frequent or preferred renter programs and affiliations

Frequent renter programs, like airlines and hotels, major car rental companies track their customers’ rental histories and offer preferential service to loyal customers. Most of the major companies offer frequent renter programs that are similar to airline frequent-flyer programs and hotel frequent-guest programs.

Preferred renter clubs, most major car rental companies also offer preferred renter programs or clubs. When you belong to one of these clubs, you get preferential treatment, including automatic upgrades when those cars are available. You can join these programs at any time, even if you are a first-time renter with that company.

In addition, always check for corporate rates if applicable to your situation. That’s how you will be able to save a lot of time and money when you rent a car.

As the name suggests, oxygen sensors are used to monitor the level of oxygen in the engine of the car. An oxygen sensor is fitted on the exhaust pipes of almost every car that was made after 1980. It is mounted between the catalytic converter and exhaust manifold. This sensor monitors the presence of oxygen in the emissions from the car and sends signals to the car’s management computer about it.

This sensor is one of the least known, yet most important parts of the car. Most O2 sensors use a zirconium ceramic bulb as the sensing element. The bulb is coated with platinum on both sides. The internal part of this bulb is vented through the body of the sensor and the external part bears the hot gases coming out of the exhaust pipe.

After sensing the amount of oxygen in the emissions, the sensor generates a voltage which is used by the car’s computer to detect the imbalance in the fuel/oil ratio in the engine. As we all know, gasoline engines run on a mixture of oxygen and fuel. In order to work efficiently, the ration between oxygen and fuel should be 14:7. Any imbalance in this ratio can not only damage the car, but also create a lot of air pollution.

Thus, we can say that having a good and perfectly working O2 sensor in our car can help us fight pollution and global warming. Let’s see the ways in which oxygen sensors help curb pollution:

Besides environment, air fuel ratio sensor also helps you save money. More mileage and efficient usage of fuel naturally results in more savings. You save hundreds of dollars on your monthly bills because of the oxygen sensors in your car. Don’t believe us? Then, ask any expert mechanic to give you an estimate on how much will your car’s mileage will be if you remove the oxygen sensor. The answer will shock.

It is a fact that cars cause pollution. But there are some parts which help decrease this pollution to certain extent. It is your moral and social duty to maintain those parts in perfect condition.

Selling a car is a real headache for most people. Tyre kickers, advertising costs, day trippers, test-pilots, dealers and dreamers are all issues for anyone selling a car.

Let’s assume you are buying another car – new or slightly used.? If it’s a private sale then the seller is not likely to want to take your old car in part-exchange.? If you are buying from a dealer a part-ex may appeal, but it can leave you out of pocket.

A private sale is usually a testing and time consuming experience.? Firstly you have to advertise the car – maybe in Autotrader, on Ebay, in another online directory, or maybe advertise it in your local paper.? Secondly you have to photograph the car, and make sure it’s attractive in the pictures.? Usually that means when it’s not raining (or snowing!) – and when it’s light. Finding an hour to take pics of the car in Britain isn’t always as easy as it sounds……

You have to wash it first.? Take your car to the nearest car wash and give it a through cleaning, both interior and exterior. Remove every thing from the boot, back seats, and floor.

Don’t spend money fixing the car if it has any mechanical and electrical faults, unless it’s very minor like replacing the fuse or a bulb. If it has any more major faults you need to be honest to the buyer if they come to view.

You have to pay to advertise.? Advertising doesn’t come with money-back guarantees, but you’ve paid the money, uploaded the pictures and you’re sat waiting by the phone.?? Sadly the most frequent callers for advertised cars are other advertisers trying to get you to advertise with them instead.? When you do get an interested caller you have to make sure it’s clean (again), and arrange a time for them to view the car. ? Maybe they will turn up, maybe they won’t.

The next problem – do you really want strangers coming to your home? ? It’s OK for bright, young confident men to show their car to prospective buyers, but what if you are a single lady, or perhaps not confident with strangers?

And what are you going to do if the potential purchaser wants a test drive?? What about the insurance?? What if they want the car inspected and you have to take more time off work?? If the sale does go through, how are they going to pay for the car?? Is the cash real money or have they printed it at home?? Will the Banker’s Draft turn out to be a forgery?

So what about a part-ex with the dealership? Unless you really know the market you’ll be like Geoff Boycott on Day 5 of a test match – always on the back foot.? It’s the dealer’s job to beat you down on price.

Most car dealerships specialise.? They are called dealer franchises.? Let’s say you have got a Focus and want a Mondeo.? The Ford dealer might give you a decent part-ex offer because they know what your Focus is worth.? They might even resell it on their forecourt.? If you’ve got a Ford though and want an Audi or a Fiat you won’t get the best price for your Ford because the dealer will have to resell it within the trade.? Why is that a problem?? It’s a problem because the Audi dealer doesn’t really know what your Focus is worth, so they will build in a margin for error.? That means they will offer you less than it’s worth just in case they make a mistake.

Even if your dealer is a main franchised dealer and you are buying the same make again, you get either a good part-ex price or a discount off the price of your new car – not both.

And what if you aren’t changing your car?? What if you are emigrating, going travelling for a year or getting a company car?? Then you are back to a private sale….and we know the problems that involves!

There is now another option.??That Car Buyer offer a quick, no fuss alternative.

Our aim is to make the selling process simple and free, all you need to do is go to?That Car Buyer and enter the registration number and current mileage of your car along with some basic information and you get an instant no obligation offer for your vehicle.

This solves the problems of selling your car without trying to sell it yourself, and puts you in pole position with the dealer if you are buying a new car.? You can take the money and negotiate a discount off your new car, or if you don’t need another car just leave the money in the bank.

When you accept the website offer, we will arrange to pick up your car when it’s convenient, free of charge. We pay the money direct into your account before we take it away. Selling online with?That Car Buyer is really easy!

The internet is the most exhaustive source for information we currently have access to. People and companies from all over the world are constantly adding new information to this wide network each day. Regardless, of the scope for which the internet is used by the large number of people going online each day, the resources come in a great variety, thus ensuring internet users have the best chances of finding exactly what they are looking for. This is the case for auto insurance companies. People can now find quality and cheap auto insurance online with just a few click of the mouse.

Because there are numerous cheap auto insurance companies offering a large and diverse offer of auto insurance online quotes, people should know very well what their needs are and what they will be expecting from their auto insurance online company. Believe it or not, even when it is common knowledge that getting auto insurance is mandatory by law, there are still a large number of car owners who decide not to get auto insurance policies for their vehicles. Finding cheap auto insurance online is becoming increasingly easier as more and more insurance companies decide to present many of their services including auto insurance online. The risks which may be encountered by vehicle owners that don?t get auto insurance for their vehicles make it a poor choice for people not getting insurance for their vehicles, and thus potentially ending up having to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars out of their pockets.

Because the effects that the global economic crisis has had on companies from the US, and all other countries in the world for that matter, cheap auto insurance policies are now widely available as many auto insurance online companies have been forced to reduce their expectations, after losing large numbers of customers that were not able to pay their monthly rates anymore. Usually, auto insurance online companies offer the best offers for cheap auto insurance, and with the great variety of such companies presenting their services on the internet, chances are that anyone will find cheap auto insurance, regardless of the size of their vehicles? engines or more importantly the price tags. Standard policies have started to have a much greater success with general public because of the financial difficulties they encounter due to the effects of the global economic crisis.

Full auto insurance online is still the best possible choice for people using their automobiles often, and even though rates are higher than for standard auto insurance online policies, it is still possible to find cheap auto insurance that would cover the vehicle for any type of accidents, legal liability and more. It is very important that you know exactly what of auto insurance online you need for your vehicle. Most auto insurance online companies present customers with free auto insurance quotes and with professional experts that are capable and trained to offer them all the assistance needed in order to make the best choice.

For more resources please review http://autoinsb.com

When planning a vacation car rental is the most convenient option of getting around, especially so if you are able to research and secure a good deal in advance. However, always make sure that there are no hidden costs and bear these points in mind when booking your car. As long as you know exactly how much your car is going to cost you can make sure you get the very best from your holiday.

Airport Fees – Many Car Rental Costa Rica will allow you to pick up the car straight from the airport. However, it is also common to charge a fee for the convenience and you should be careful to make sure that your car rental quote includes this cost.

Additional Drivers – If there will be more than one driver, including your partner, then you may pay a small daily fee, though some companies will provide this for free.

Young or Mature Drivers – If you would like a young driver or a mature one to drive on holiday you should note that many companies will charge extra for the privilege. It is common to charge for those under 24 or above 70 due to insurance costs. Not all companies will charge you more, however, so do some research beforehand and factor this in.

Fuel – There are various policies when it comes to the fuel you will need, and this is not included in the rental price. Some Costa Rica Car Rental companies will require you to pick the car up full and return it full, others will request that it contains the same amount as when you picked it up, or other will let you return in empty.

Equipment – You may require extra equipment, such as child seats or GPS, which could cost you a small extra fixed fee for each rental. You could also choose to save money by bringing your own equipment if possible.

One Way Rental – This is a convenient option but often more expensive depending on the return location.

Out of Hours – If you pick up or drop of is out of hours you may also be charged an additional fee.

Collision Damage Waiver – This is an important aspect of your car rental and means that you are not responsible to pay for any damage to the car. However, make sure you know if there is an excess charge to pay in the event of any damage. This may be an optional part of the cost of your car rental, but can save you hundreds in the long run if there is any damage.

When you go on holiday it is important that you are relaxed and that you have enough money to enjoy yourself. Just follow these simple instructions to make sure you know exactly what you will have to pay for so that you can factor this into your holiday budget. Always read the fine print, and make sure that you plan ahead to get the best deals available.