Renting a Car in Costa Rica: Mandatory Insurance and Fines

Why is the Costa Rica rental price higher at the counter?

Costa Rica has two layers of motor insurance, and only one is built into the car.

The first is the Seguro Obligatorio Automotor (SOA), which INS includes with the annual marchamo for every registered vehicle. Its benefits are for people: medical, hospital and rehabilitation care, compensation for serious injury or disability, and support to the family after a death. For damage to someone else's property, INS sells a separate civil liability policy. That gap is what the second layer fills.

The second layer is third-party liability, sold by the rental company and called TPL, SLI or PLI depending on the brand. Rental companies treat it as mandatory. Adobe Rent a Car says INS provides its PLI, with limits of US$20,000 for third-party property and US$100,000 per accident for injury or death of people outside the car, and a US$1,130 deductible, VAT included, for property damage. Its PLI does not cover the rental car itself. Vamos quotes limits of about US$271,000 each for injuries and third-party property, with a 20% deductible on property damage unless you add one of its collision waivers.

Online travel agencies often sell their own collision cover. Vamos Rent-A-Car says it does not accept those policies in place of its liability cover or its in-house collision waiver, because the contract is between you and the agency, not with the rental company.

What each insurance choice means for your card

Vamos publishes a clear price and deposit ladder, which shows how the choice works in practice. Figures are as published in September 2026.

Declining the company's collision waiver requires written proof from your card issuer before pickup, showing your full name and the last four digits of the card. Vamos warns that card plans often stop at seven-passenger SUVs and may limit rental length or extra drivers. Adobe may ask for an official letter confirming the card covers Costa Rica, and the cardholder must drive the car unless both cardholder and driver sign the contract at pickup.

Worked example: seven days in a standard-category car

The cheapest option ties up US$2,000 on your card for the trip, and any damage goes through your card issuer's claim process from home. Full CDW costs about US$126 more for the week but removes the deductible and most of the hold. If your card limit is tight, the deposit may decide it for you.

How long can you drive on a foreign licence in Costa Rica?

Costa Rica's tourism board, the ICT, says on its entry requirements page that visitors from the first group of countries, which includes the US, Canada and most of Europe, can be given up to 180 days, and that the officer at entry decides the length of stay and can give fewer.

Your right to drive now follows that stay. The Legislative Assembly reformed article 91 of the traffic law, Law 9078. Law 10470, approved on 2 April 2024 and published in La Gaceta on 7 May 2024, says that drivers with a foreign licence who are in the country as tourists or in transit may drive the same type of vehicle their licence allows, for the same period Migration grants them for that status. The same rules then apply to them as to holders of a Costa Rican licence.

Vamos does not require an International Driving Permit unless your licence uses a non-Latin alphabet, and sets a minimum driver age of 18, as its requirements page states. Other companies set higher limits: Adobe requires drivers to be at least 23 and to have held their licence for two years, so check before booking.

How much are Route 27 tolls from San José?

Route 27 runs from San José to Caldera and is the main road towards Jacó and the central Pacific. It is operated by Globalvia, which charges separately at each plaza. Car (class 1) rates from July 2026:

Globalvia's site does not list the payment methods at its booths. A 2021 Teletica report said the booths had started taking Visa and Mastercard contactless payments, but not American Express, so carry colones in small notes in case the card reader is not available. The Quick Pass lanes need an electronic tag issued by a Costa Rican bank or financial entity, which a rental car may or may not carry, so ask at pickup and use the staffed lanes otherwise.

San José's plate restriction

On weekdays from 6:00 to 19:00, cars may not drive on the Circunvalación ring road or any street inside it on one day a week, set by the last digit of the plate. In MOPT's July 2026 notice, plates ending in 1 and 2 are restricted on Mondays and 9 and 0 on Fridays, and the northern stretch of the Circunvalación between Calle Blancos and La Uruca is excluded. The restriction is lifted during some school holidays and public holidays, so check MOPT's notices for your dates and ask the rental company which day your plate is affected. MOPT's restriction page gives a phone line, 2523-2020, for exceptions.

How much are traffic fines in Costa Rica in 2026?

Fines under Law 9078 fall into five categories, A to E. Their amounts are adjusted every January in line with consumer prices, and the Consejo Superior del Poder Judicial publishes the new values, as MOPT explains. MOPT's April 2026 report on speeding fines gives the rounded 2026 amounts for each speeding band. Driving above 120 km/h is a category A offence, and the four amounts correspond to categories A to D:

MOPT also lists U-turns or left turns where they are prohibited, a positive alcohol test above certain levels and driving on a suspended licence as category A offences. Category E, the lowest, covers ignoring the San José plate restriction, driving on an expired licence and not carrying the required extinguisher or warning triangles; it was ₡26,062.87 in 2025, and MOPT's 2026 report does not give that year's figure. Fines in categories B to E are 15% cheaper if paid within ten business days; category A has no early-payment discount.

Vamos lists operating the car contrary to Costa Rican law among the situations that void its cover, so a serious offence can cost more than the fine itself. Ask at pickup how the company handles a fine that is registered against the plate after you have returned the car.

Rivers, beaches and unpaved roads

Rental companies sell 4x4s for the unpaved roads that many itineraries include, but four-wheel drive does not extend the insurance. Vamos lists driving in, through or over rivers, estuaries or beaches as voiding cover, and treats using 4x4 mode above 40 km/h as negligence. Adobe excludes damage on beaches, flooded roads and rivers.