Car Hire in Costa Rica

From what I have been reading on various forums, there are no rentals available and it will stay that way until the dry season ends...so purchasing a vehicle there maybe your only, but expensive option.
Realize that most of the lawyer offices close over the Christmas period, and unfortunately they are required to be involved in the transaction.

My stepdaughter arrived in Costa Rica for a month on the 3rd of November and secured a van to rent for thirty days. She's very pleased with what she rented as there's 8 of them. She did all her homework online prior to securing this rental and was picked up at the airport in the middle of the night and brought to the rental office to complete the check in process and given the keys within an hour. 

Last November I rented an SUV through Alamo after checking with two other companies. Alamo was much cheaper... I suggest you do your do diligence and start calling different companies and check and compare.

thanks for the replies; so far, I'm finding 4x4 vehicles for around 130 USD a day!!

I think I'll be able to come up with an imaginative solution when I arrive but for now I'm going to proceed on the basis of splitting the trip in to phases where I don't need a car, eg relaxing by a beach next to a town
and where I do, eg a series of trips in to the jungles or places with bad roads - and budgeting accordingly

That amount has been my experience as a frequent vacation visitor.

Longer term stays require some creative solutions. Shuttle drivers for one. We travel with surfboards so taxis are often too small.

I've also heard for storage facilities near airport where, if you do buy a vehicle, you can keep them safely stored. I like this idea but a decent used Land Cruiser is $35k.

we have been getting by without cars so far and it’s fine - done a lot more walking!

I’ve noticed that cars now seem to be available and affordable around Limon region so we will probably get a car for the last 3 weeks of the trip in Feb so we can go from beach to beach with our accumulated beach stuff!