www.CostaRicaTicas.com

just curious, how much is the annual premium for auto insurance for CR residents?

here is an article about fee adjustments, but does not say how much the total premiums are.

what are some of the coverages/premium ranges?






Supen Authorized Increase In Compulsory Vehicle Insurance

The Superintendencia de Pensiones (Supen) - insurance regulator - announced on Monday the approval of an increase in the compulsory insurance for vehicles that is part of the 2010 Marchamo.

The average increase will range between ¢2.196 for passenger vehicles and ¢344 for two wheeled vehicles, while the average cost for public buses will be ¢54.981 less and ¢7.101 less for taxis.

With Monday's Supen decision, the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) can now publish the 2010 Marchamo cost that is payable by December 31.

Javier Cascante, the Superintendente de Pensiones, said that a new formula for calculating the insurance portion of the 2010 Marchamo was being applied, which can in some cases increase, while in others decrease the cost of the insurance portion of the annual vehicular circulation permit.

The new formula takes into account, for the first time, the claims history of the vehicle.

The Supen also approved the coverage of each person to ¢6 million colones from ¢3 million

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(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

The cost of the insurance depends on the value of the car. You can go to any INS office with either your Placa number, Marchamo number, or VIN# of the car and the can help you.

One thing to keep in mind, is that you also MUST have a Costa Rican driver's license for this insurance to be valid. They do not tell you this and will happily accept your payments but when it comes time for a claim, if you do not have a Costa Rican License your insurance is not valid. This happened to a co worker of mine a few years ago and is the exact reason when I bought a used car from him he would not sign the papers over to me until I had the license and INS paperwork. He did not want to see me have the same problems that he had previously.

Additionally, if you are ever in an accident with a Tico they will likely demand money on the spot and the MOPT official may end up working to help make you believe this is required by law.

Another coworker missed a stop sign in Liberia and T-Boned a Tico driver. The accident was clearly his fault and he also had insurance. His wife was even a fluent Spanish speaker and even she ended up not being able to help because of the lies.

The tico brought a friend out to the scene, owner of a body shop in Liberia, and made a quote right there. The MOPT officer told him the other driver could geta denuncia against my friend and prevent him from leaving the country. They happened to have a scheduled vacation to return to the US about 2 weeks later. This statement made them nervous and they ended up paying the guy in cash on the scene over 1,000,000 Colones.

6 months later I was in a work owned vehicle and was rear ended by a amoured vehicle from BCR. It has now been a little over a year and that car has still not been repaired even though it went to court and was determined the other driver was at fault. Heck, he did not even show up to court. Now he has 2 years to make payments and if my employer repairs the car on their own dime we lose the money that this guy is paying regardless of the court decision. I had to buy my own vehicle while I wait for this process to drag out, but at least my employer still pays for my gasoline and routine maintenance.

Way more than you asked for but just my $0.02.

excellent post

thank you

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The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

There are two types of insurance you can get in costa rica.

First, the mandatory insurance called Marchamo, that every car/truck must have. It is to be paid at the end of the year every year. You can see how much your marchamo will cost you by putting in your license plate number here:
http://portal.ins-cr.com/General/Marchamo/

To give you an idea, i have a year 2000 SUV, and pay about 200 USD a year for this.

For anyone in costa rica driving, i would also suggest getting additional insurance.
I have insurance covering damage to another car in the event of an accident, and covering any medical injuries or death to those people. My insurance covers up to 100,000 USD in damages to car, and 300,000 USD in medical care for the other people. It costs me 70 dollars every six months for this.

I could further add on additional insurance for my own car's damage in the event of an accident, or if it was stolen, this is a fair bit more and I am not sure of the price.

I would highly recommend getting that third party insurance covering damage and medical issues to anyone else, it is very cheap and it provides complete peace of mind to me. You can buy it at any INS insurance office.

by north american standards, those are cheap rates.

thanks for the post.

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The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

I have had the supplemental insurance from INS the entire time I have lived here. But from previous experience living in other countries I did have experience using Geigo's international plans and they were quite competitive.

I never checked in Costa Rica and frankly do not know why I have not checked up to this date, it may not be available in CR.

Additionally, a very good piece of advice is to put the title of your car in a Corporation. This help limits your liability in the event of an accident or other event. If you do not have residency, the corporation will also allow you to get up to 6 cell phone lines from I.C.E.. Considering the cost of a corporatoin it is well worth it.

great info/tips dudes!

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The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

Golfer, I'm not sure if that is correct. Having the car in a corp. will not protect the driver. It WILL protect the car.

If you injure someone, the injured party can go after the driver. If the vehicle belongs to a corp it (technically) does not belong to the driver. Makes it tougher to get at the asset.

I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn so best to check with your atty.

What ever you do, buy additional liability insurance from INS. The minimum cover that comes as part of the marchamo is only sufficient if you, like many Tico drivers, are dirt poor and have no assets. Since all Gringos are considered to be two-legged banks, you will need the additional cover.

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Women are like beers. I've never had one that I didn't like. Just some that I like more than others! --Western

Western,

That is exactally why I have additional insurance from INS.

I also have my assests such a land, a beach house, my bar, my car, a condo, my ATV all in different corporations. Maybe I was just giving my abagado a little too much business but he is on a flat annual rate so I just let him do what he suggested was best to protect myself and my assets. Maybe I understand the reasons why a little incorrectly but it was a few years ago that he explained it to me.

Just on this, i would suggest putting phone lines in a seperate corporation, because if you ever want to sell the car, then you would new to transfer the phone line ownership and that can be a pain (ahh ice).

In terms of protection, if the car is in a serious accident and is owned by a corporation, and you are driving it, this does not offer you any protection at all.

Courts also have the ability to "look through" a corporation to see who is the president etc of it, you can also get a court order to see who the owner of the 'anonymous shares' of the corporation is. My lawyer has told me the first thing she does whenever she sues someone, is goes and researches to see what corporations they own and are directors of, and then finds out what those corporations own, and puts those assets on the list of things she goes after.