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Can anyone give the the straight scoop on what type of insurance I HAVE to buy when renting a car in Costa Rica? I make no sense at all out of the information the rental agencies spew out, so someone with some rental experience please give me a heads up. Hope your day in CR is better than mine in Maryland. It has to be! Thanks much!:D
Costa Rican law mandates certin minimum public liability insurance which you must buy when you rent a car here. There are no alternatives or workarounds. Since your “home” insurance company in North America or Europe is not licensed to offer insurance here, your home coverage does not extend to Costa Rica.
In addition to the required public liability insurance, you will be offered at least property damage insurance and collision damage waiver coverage. The latter protects you if the rental car is damaged or stolen, as you would have some liability in such an event. Should the car be damaged while you have it, you may be held liable for the daily rental cost until it is repaired, since the company would be losing that revenue. They, of course, might not feel any great urgency to get it fixed since the income is guaranteed.
If you have a “premium” credit card (gold, platinum, titanium, vanadium, plutonium or whatever), that card may afford you some protection, but you need to check the credit card company for the details. It cannot absolve you from the need to buy the public liability coverage.
(By the way, this question has been addressed many times in this discussion forum. It would be useful to become familiar with the “Search” feature.)
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]
If you have a “premium” credit card (gold, platinum, titanium, vanadium, plutonium or whatever), that card may afford you some protection, but you need to check the credit card company for the details. It cannot absolve you from the need to buy the public liability coverage.
[/quote]Agree with the above. Be sure and call your CC company for details but that can save you a few $$
Stay away from a company called “U Save” when renting a car. They wanted to charge $55. a day for the “Mandatory” insurance. I had read up on this before hand and declined. They offered a second rate of $50. a day. The discussion got, well, heated. The clerk threatened to send us back to the airport. What is required? The lowest rate is about $14 a day and the premium insurance is about $20! We finally took the car for a week with (supposedly) NO insurance, which the clerk said was legal. When we looked at the bill later, she had charged us $13.99 a day for insurance.
What a scam she had going. Oh, this was at the Liberia airport.
[quote=”bogino”][quote=”DavidCMurray”]
If you have a “premium” credit card (gold, platinum, titanium, vanadium, plutonium or whatever), that card may afford you some protection, but you need to check the credit card company for the details. It cannot absolve you from the need to buy the public liability coverage.
[/quote]Agree with the above. Be sure and call your CC company for details but that can save you a few $$[/quote]
Don’t stop there, many credit card companies offer CDW insurance but rental car companies are becoming wise to this and forcing you purchase another type of insurance or fee should you chose to use your CC insurance. I use to use my CC insurance all the time but found that some rental companies will charge you a fee which could be higher than just accepting their CDW so make sure you read the contract before you sign anything. Also, some rental companies require a written document stating you have coverage in Costa Rica, however I’ve never been asked to prove it. In addition, some CC companies require you to sign the rental contract stating you declined the rental car’s insurance.
As far as i know, you can’t decline liability insurance and no CC company covers this anyway, it’s usually only coverage for CDW or collision damage waiver.
I have rented from Solid Rental car 3 times and had no problems with my CC insurance or the quality of their Jimny 4×4. I broke the 2×4 to 4×4 solenoid switch way out in Mal Pais and they sent out a new truck, no charges. Their prices have gone up quite a bit tho.
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