my experience renting from Europcar in Costa Rica

kohlerias wrote:

"Also the roads often have huge axle-damaging speed bumps that are not well marked or huge holes in the roads. Another issue is that when they do mark one ways or no turns in a clear manner (which isn't always the case) they do it differently than we do and you may not see the signs. So it's really much riskier driving in Costa Rica than in the USA. Get as much insurance as you can"  as you wrote on an earlier post, detailing a previous experience with another car rental company, so you knew beforehand, what to expect, as you have stated  you have lived and driven here, many times.

Yes I knew that roads are bad and insurance is required if you want to avoid possible charges for the damages to the car you rent.
Not sure what your point is.
My point was simply that insurance costs seem to vary from company to company and that some companies make it easier to choose which insurance you need. i.e. if you have a credit card that covers theft and collision you are told not to get the rental co's theft and collision. However at Europcar they told me I did need to get their collision or I would not be fully covered so it was confusing.
Also some companies seem to have a better service in terms of getting you in and out of their office when you rent and when you return the car, so I thought my review would be helpful.

Sometimes I wonder what it is people think forums are for, if not to share info?

Terry, I appreciate your trying to help. I just don't agree with you that one is not allowed to write one's opinion re whether a service is good or not and why it's not - in my opinion. Isn't that's what forums are for? Everything I said was factual and I am not intending to hurt anyone, I am intending to help people choose the best rental car company and to help Europcar by explaining how they could improve their service.

I found this on a Costa Rica attorney's site: "Libel is to publish in print or otherwise broadcast an untruth with the intention to harm a person. "

If you have any links or info showing how what I wrote is "libel" please share, that would be very helpful.

Edward1958 wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-A1L_ickUo

Hello Samramon,

If you wonder why Canadian's show a fear of expressing themselves openly, it's because Canada now has a police state government who has stripped its citizen's of their basic right to free speech an expression.  In Canada even patriotic citizens who express their views about how excessive immigration is destroying the country are now classified as racists by government, I'm not joking, and that is one of the main reasons I left that country.  So, if you come across a Canadian who is afraid to speak their minds about anything "even if it's the truth" you'll now know why.

I think it's more or less the same in the US now but it's more "political correctness" in the US than actual censorship or branding by the government.

I do appreciate that Costa Rica has libel laws and that it could be bad for me to write a negative review of a company doing business in CR. However I just cannot believe that they would go so far as to sue me or otherwise punish me for writing an honest review of a business.

I would not write bad stuff about an individual who wasn't a public figure, that's a whole other ball of wax.

Hopefully CR hasn't become as politically correct or sue-happy as the USA. But even in the USA it is rare to hear of anyone being sued for writing a review of a business. Just read yelp or some other business review sites to see what I mean. Yelp makes tons of money (I assume) by providing a place for people to review businesses, and the majority of pages have extremely harsh reviews.

TerrynViv wrote:

We pay INS $386.79 every six months for their top of the line insurance on a 2009 Hyundai Tucson

That seems quite high to me - is that 0 deductible? 1 driver or two?
I would have expected it to be closer to half that much. I guess everything in  Costa Rica is going up.

gudgrief wrote:

My experience with Europcar in Spain, Okinawa and Mexico was just the opposite.  In both countries, I rented through the hotels  where I was staying and got a nice discount.  In Spain, I took the car down down narrow alleys and in one instance, the metal grill on the window of a building scrapped the passenger side mirror off the car.  When I left the car in the Airport, the office was closed.  I was billed only for the basic rental fee.  In Okinawa, driving on the "wrong" side of the road had me disoriented and I hit a guard rail on the left side of the car, leaving a crease in the sheet metal from from bumper to rear bumper.  When I returned the car, not a word was said about the damage.  Overseas, I'm much more comfortable renting with full coverage.

I live in Mexico now and will be renting a car for 10 days to 2 weeks shortly.  I'll call Europcar, Hertz, Avis (Budget isn't available) and get quotes with full coverage.

I don't think the problem is with "Europcar" per se. It may be more of a management problem with this particular office in Costa Rica, and maybe - hopefully - they have fixed it by now. I will never know unless someone I trust tells me, because I'll never rent from then again. Ever.

TerrynViv wrote:

Not sure what the deductible is but it is for two drivers.  They have two policies available and we relied on three people already here for years as to which one to choose and all three said the more comprehensive policy was worth it.  I honestly did not research it to death but relied on my three friends.  That was also before our Spanish became passable.

Thanks for the info. I am right now starting to research it. Maybe I'll start a thread on it.
My friend did tell me that buying theft insurance was not very good. He didn't go into detail. But that's what I wanted it mostly for right now - theft - because I wanted to buy a car and park it there in a hopefully-safe-location for a few months (because I heard about a good deal on a used car).

I will start a new post ...