Mietwagen in San José

Negativ: Picking up the car could have been way more streamlined. Had to wait more than 3 hours to get a car!!

Costa Rica Budget car rental experience

Positiv: Car was OK, moderately clean and performed well Rental staff was OK and office was clean Return process was quick & efficient

Negativ: Car was OK but had a lot of scratches/dings/dents that they made you feel you would be responsible for if YOU didn't point them out before you left. Horrible rental process, took over 1 hour No physical address given for return which caused stress & wasted time upon return to a strange city with a complete language barrier Lots of personnel standing around while customers waited Forced a minimum $50/day insurance on you even if you declared you were covered

Watch out for the insurance scam.

Positiv: Facility was clean, easy to find - though not at the terminal as describe, shuttle driver was very friendly.

Negativ: Our one week rental agreement was made through Kayak at an extremely reasonable $130 including insurance. Upon check-in the agent asked for our drivers licenses and credit card. She then pulled up the reservation and asked if we wanted insurance, and pointed to a placemat on the counter with descriptions of the different levels of insurance. I indicated that we did want insurance, and that I had indicated so on the reservation system. I asked the agent to verify that the vehicle we reserved, a 2.4L 4-cylinder Kia Sportage mid-sized SUV, was the same that was available, the agent indicated that our reservation was actually for a 1.5L 3-cylinder Daihatsu Bego compact SUV. I asked for either the vehicle that I had reserved, or a comparable vehicle that would meet our needs. I was offered a 2.5L 4-cylinder Toyota RAV4 for an additional $15/day. I agree to the uncharge as the Bego could not meet our needs. The agent printed the rental contract and handed it to my wife as I read the coverages of the different levels of insurance policies on the placemat. My wife signed the contract, then without handing it back to the agent, asked me if the contract looked right. I glanced at it and saw that the contract rate was now over $507 for the week, nearly 4X the cost agreed to on the reservation. I said no, that's not right at all and asked to agent why the cost had gone from $130 to $507. The agent responded it was due to the car upgrade ($15/day as noted above) and the insurance coverages . I stated that we would need to redo the insurance coverages in accordance with the reservation. The agent then stated that she had already swiped our credit card and that we would need to talk with the the corporate office which was closed for the day as it was after 9:00 pm. We left for our hotel in San Jose struggling to understand how our bill had risen so high. The placemat had described what appeared to be a typical insurance arrangement: $5.99/day car only. $19.99/day + Property Damage. $24.99/day + Hospital Insurance. This was completely misleading. It appeared as though $24.99/day would buy a premium level coverage that would include the car, property damage and hospital insurance. That was not the case, what was presented as three levels of increasing coverage were in fact 3 completely independent policies. $5.99 bought car insurance. $19.99 bought property damage insurance. $24.99 bought hospital insurance. The total insurance bill was thus $50.97/day, for insurance that we did not need or specifically agree to. The following day I attempted to rectify the insurance issue with Budget Rent-a-Car to no avail. I was told that because the contract had been signed and the credit card charged that even if we should return the car we would still be billed for the full weekly amount including the ridiculous insurance policies. Never again.

Positiv: Staff was helpful and friendly.

Negativ: The car was very basic and poorly made. Had to wait a long time for shuttle to lot. Should include mandatory insurance in quote.