$33 Cheap Car Rental in Alajuela

Horrible service - not just me, many others. Each customer's transaction took 30 minutes or more - there was a long line and only 2 desk clerks. Waited more than an hour -- and then there were no cars available for at least another hour. Again, not just me -- many other customers. When I returned my car a week later, a whole new crop of customers was going through the same agony.

According to Car del Mar, the rental car should be picked up directly at the airport. That's not true. We were taken to the budget store with a shuffle, although this was not far, it was not the booked. Arrived there we had to wait 1/2 hour until an employee took care of us. After that it did not have a manual Toyota Rush anymore, as paid and supposedly reserved, but we got a Daihatsu, so a class lower. Afterwards a long discussion about additional insurance, although I have clearly stated that I have insured everything about Car del Mar incl. You said then, you can not clarify that because Car del Mar is not available (time difference). Since my English was not so good and my insecurity now very large insurance I then in addition to the occupant insurance nor the Minimun to insurance booked. All in all, my credit card was now additionally charged with CHF 352.80 in the budget. So I think the communication between Car del Mar and Budget is inadequate. Budget would have to be informed about the already booked insurance in advance somehow in writing. Incidentally, we were not the only ones who had to face this dilemma that day and did not get the car that was reserved for them and had a lot of discussion about insurances. The whole thing has certainly dragged over 2 hours, because some had to wait for cars, as they came back and still had to be cleaned. The car return was OK.

I rented a car off Carrentals.com for 10 days in Costa Rica thru Budget. My reservation breakdown was $13.60/day ($136) + estimated taxes and fees of $31.24 + the Collision Coverage sold by Carrentals.com (offered by Allianz) for an additional $99. I expected to arrive in Costa Rica and spend approx $267 on this rental car. Well that sure didn't happen. The minute I arrived the guy at Budget informed me that my insurance was inadequate and that I needed to purchase more. I was immediately skeptical, so I stepped aside and called Allianz to confirm. Allianz informed me that the Collision Coverage was indeed not full coverage and only covered me if someone hit the car (not me hitting anyone else). What a scam. I had to buy Budget's additional coverage for an extra $200 and on top of that they put a credit card hold deposit for over $1,000! Never again.