Costa Rican car rental

My wife and I went to Costa Rica in February and rented a car from Alamo at the San Jose airport.  Very good experience, but be prepared to pay the additional insurance even if your credit card otherwise covers it.

I did a little investigation beforehand so wasn't caught offguard, but there is a mandatory requirement to buy a minimum level of insurance which you can't waive or substitute with credit card coverage.

Also, we ended up buying the bumper to bumper coverage for an extra $50 or so and glad I did.  We had two huge scratches in our car for the 1 week we travelled.

Rented a 4x4 something from Adobe Rental in Costa Rica. Picked up in San Jose and returned to Liberia airport.

Opted for the insurance, because I'd rather fork over some money than attempt to deal with potential other issues. It also came with a cell phone and a few minutes, which was nice to have.

Also, GET THE GPS. Worth every penny. Roads aren't labeled. My favorite shot of my GPS... the road is called "road":

Agree, definitely go for the GPS.  I printed some fairly detailed maps to get us from the San Jose airport to Arenal Volcano the first night.  They were useless and we would have been lost in about 1/2 an hour.  Absolutely opt for the GPS.  

Damn, I know you say you want to rent, but you can get around WAY cheaper even going shared vans (or even a private shuttle depending).  The tourist infrastructure is well set up and pretty much anywhere you want to go has a hared van or a ferry or a bus....  On the other hand the roads are universally crr@p 

Just my ,02, i know you probably want to drive around yourself, 

While it's true you can get around, not to the places I am staying.  They're aren't as many public transportation options.  I also want the freedom to visit what I want when I want.  I am going very off the path on this trip.  I'm expecting the roads to be udder crap, I'm okay with it.  I haven't driven in Latin America, but I have been a passenger!  It should be fun.

You guys are right though I think it's best to just pony up some extra cash for the piece of mind.  The premium CDW is just about $300 extra. 

Definitely getting a GPS.  Has anyone brought theirs?  I have one, obviously I would have to download the Costa Rican maps.

Sounds like an awesome trip dude. I hope you do a write up with some pictures afterwards. I love the idea of renting a jeep and going off the beaten path. Yea definitely make sure you download the proper maps. I went into canada with my gps and it went crazy on me. I just assumed it would have canada, but nope.

Ha but judging by that picture I can see directions begin something like

Turn Up on road in about 10Km or so....

I've done a fair share of driving in Canada.  It would be much worse getting lost there!  At least in Costa Rica Its much smaller to Borders/Ocean!.