SUV Rentals in Alajuela, Costa Rica

Car battery died and it wasn’t resolved for 4 days. Switched to Alamo and it was night and day. I’ll never use Avis again.

Would have liked a little more clarity upfront on the total billing amount, otherwise it was a great experience

The car was great, clean and had a full tank. The efficiency of pickup and drop off is not very good. A lot of employees running around everywhere but only 1 at the counter.

Although it was relatively inexpensive they did not disclose the mandatory 3rd party insurance requirement you had to pay - I even had the letter from my credit card company saying they covered the collision insurance ( I had that after reading the fine print that letter was needed- full price of the rental should be disclosed at the time of reservation

Have travelled often but never experienced such a scam. We were told they had no cars when we arrived and there were none available anywhere. After an hour of pleading they somehow got us a car as it was a huge favor and it ended up being the same Toyota Landcruiser Prado which I had reserved 2 months earlier but at twice the cost. Have never been taken advantage of like this.

We had requested a 4x4 because we were going to drive through the mountains and in dirt roads in Costa Rica. They gave us a car that needed the wheels to be balanced, and when it rained the car would slide through the mud. It was unsafe, and we couldn’t return the car sooner because we were far away. When we went to return the car the staff explained to us that because it was high season that was the only car they had left. Instead of renting us the car, they should’ve been honest so we could find a car to rent elsewhere.

Excellent car

Hertz let us down terribly. Worst experience ever. We reserved a car two months prior to our trip to Costa Rica, re confirmed at least 3 times, and the day we came to pick it up they said they did not have any cars at all because it was the high season. So unprofessional company. We will never rent from Hertz again, people at the hotel told us Hertz did the same thing to them. It has been so inconvenient to say the least. DON’T RISK YOUR VACATION WITH HERTZ.

Despite having a reservation and reconfirming before leaving, when we arrived at the San Jose airport to pick up the car, the Hertz agent said there were no cars available. He checked on the computer for about a minute and asked us to ask other car rental companies. He was not interested in helping us out. After a day we went to another Hertz location in downtown San José, again, we were given a cold shoulder. The fact that we had a reservation meant nothing to them. They left us stranded without a car, which completely ruined our vacation. We will never rent from Hertz again and we will make sure that our families and friends never rent from Hertz either. If Hertz wants to improve service I recommend they fire their entire staff in San Jose and hire people with customer service experience.

We had prebooked and paid for 5 days. Upon pickup We were made to purchase an extra $350.00 Insurance policy to get the car with a $400.00 security hold aswell even though I had purchased insurance with my trip and paid for the rental. Even if you have insurance with credit card, they then do a $3,000 deposit hold and still charged 250.00 for 5 days. Please be careful with this company here. Would not use them again.

Initial cost admittedly low. What’s the catch? They propose a $429 insurance plan (for 5 days of rental) that I didn’t expect. Felt a bit trapped. Not the deal we had hoped for. I will look elsewhere next time in hopes of better transparency.

We liked the air conditioning but that’s the end of our praise for the vehicle. While driving with my family inside, the brakes failed without warning and left us narrowly avoiding a head on collision by using the hand brake. When we called Nu Car rentals they had the nerve to suggest the brakes possibly failed due to “the way we were driving.” The truth was that the tires were all almost completely bald, but had been painted black to look newer. The spare tire on the back had deep gouges and was also deceptively painted with a fresh coat of black paint. This was one of the scariest experiences I’ve ever had while driving. It took them a full 48 hours to replace the car and when they did they brought the same exact model and make car with even more miles! The car whose brakes had failed appeared to be a much older model than the registration indicated. A google search of the vin number resulted in a much older year as suspected so we are assuming the rental car company is altering and then lying to clients about the age of its vehicles which is indefensible. We wouldn’t recommend anyone use this car service and we will also be pursuing legal liability actions against them to the extent that is possible.

On arrival at San Jose, the representative told me that I was 2 hours late and they had rented my car to someone else. When I asked for my deposit back they refused. They were rude and threatening. I spoke to their manager by phone and he was dismissive. I have not yet received my deposit.

There was no shuttle from the airport. They didn’t answer our phone calls or emails and when we finally got to the rental car place they did not have a car for us. I will never use this company again. They also stop charged us the full amount. What a scam!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! They are a total scam! They cancelled our reservation, kept our money, refused to help or even talk to us. They are rude and not to be trusted.

Wow. Tomas' customer service is unrivalled. What a genuinely kind, caring, and friendly man. He had picked us up from the airport holding up a sign with my name, and proceeded to drive us to the office in town. Along the way, he talked to us about all the fun places to explore, food recommendations, and some local history. When we got to the office, the car and contract were already waiting. Everything that was stated online was what the contract stated in person. The best part? No hidden fees! I opted to get the premium insurance, so for 12 days the car rental cost me $400 USD total. They also held a 300$ deposit which is completely standard practice. Tomas took the time to explain everything in detail, even going as far as providing us his personal number in case of any issues. When we went to inspect the car, he actually used a light to see any existing damage and spent the time explaining to us everything in the car. People like Tomas are seldomly found, where not only are they a good businessman, they are also genuinely a kind human. I would highly recommend easy way rent a car, especially if you want a painless rental experience!

WOW. Talk about bait and switch! AVOID THESE CRIMINALS AT ALL COSTS. The worst car rental experience I’ve ever had in my life. So bad I had them take me back to the airport to rent from a real car rental company. This company is so shady, the government needs to revoke their business license. The company is actually EC Car Rental, operating under Nextcar. Nextcar in America may be a reputable company, I don’t know. First, the Nextcar site said they accept credit card coverage for CDW coverage- I have $70k worth on my Amex Platinum card. I already knew about the required 80% Third Party Liability insurance, which is about $20/day and must be purchased by law in Costa Rica. When I arrived at the dark off-airport location in a rough area, the employee seemed friendly. Until he said I needed a printed letter from Amex, written in Spanish, that said they covered the CDW. I called Amex and they sent me a link to their worldwide car rental policy (in Spanish), but the guy wouldn’t accept it and said I had to purchase 3 insurances to take the car- CDW, TPL, and TPL-0. This took my total cost for 11 days from about $150 to almost $1000 ($75/day for the three additional insurances). Almost a 10x difference! I saw the car I was supposed to be in and it looked like garbage, I’m so glad I didn’t rent it. Honestly I’m surprised the employee Andres drove us back to the airport without robbing us. He was really getting belligerent that I was questioning him and didn’t want to pay the two additional insurances. He must get a commission from scamming tourists like this. I’m sure they would have found every excuse to charge for existing damage to the car even if they accepted the Amex CDW coverage. Ended up going with Payless (a real rental company with a desk at the airport) and my final charge was $450 for the 11 days, including the required TPL insurance at $20/day. They didn’t give me any trouble with the Amex insurance, and asked whether I’d like to get the 80% TPL or the 100% TPL. Had an awesome trip around the country despite having Nextcar/EC Rental completely waste the first 3 hours of the trip. If the rental company doesn’t have an airport desk, AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! They hope you’re tired and rich and just accept the extra unnecessary coverage.

Would have been good to know the full price of the rental. It went from $300 to $2000 after the insurance etc. CRAZY.