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.

Terrible

ask for a minivan, got a suv.

Horrible when I got there they asked me to pay an additional $561

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.

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.