Common money scams in Costa Rica, and what they cost you

This is not a scam, it is a legal requirement presented badly, and it costs more than everything else on this page combined. Costa Rican law requires local third-party liability cover, sold as TPL, PLI or simply Liability Protection and underwritten through the state insurer INS. No credit card benefit replaces it, and you cannot decline it. Budget roughly 10 to 25 dollars a day on top of the headline rate, which on a ten-day trip is a hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars that was never in the price you compared. Aggregator sites are the worst offenders here, because they quote the metal and nothing else.

The honest fix is arithmetic rather than vigilance: get a quote that already includes the mandatory cover, then compare. The separate collision damage waiver is genuinely optional, but declining it means a large hold on your card and paying for any repairs in Costa Rica before you can claim a cent back from your card issuer. One exclusion overrides every policy sold: driving into water voids the lot, so ignore any navigation app that routes you across a riverbed. The full breakdown is in the Costa Rica car rental guide.

The US Embassy in Costa Rica names this one directly in its own crime guidance: a rental car's tire goes flat, people stop to help change it, and passports, bags, cash and a camera leave with them. The embassy's advice is unusually specific and worth following exactly. If you get a flat, drive on if you can, to the nearest service station or another public area, and change it yourself while watching your valuables. Most rental companies cover damage to the tire, so there is no reason to solve it at the roadside. Be wary of strangers offering help with car trouble at all.

The same logic covers the car when you are not in it. A November 2025 embassy security alert added a detail worth knowing: thieves use signal blockers so a key fob press does not actually lock the car, then help themselves. Pull the handle to check the door is really locked, park in secured lots where you can, and take valuables with you rather than leaving them in the trunk.

Costa Rica runs on two currencies, and the gap between them is where money quietly goes. Pay in the currency on the price tag: colones for a colon price, dollars for a dollar price. Mixing them hands the merchant the exchange rate, and it will not be a good one, typically costing you 5 to 10 percent. Paying dollars for a colon price is the common version, because your change comes back in colones at whatever rate they choose.

The separate, legal version is the convert to USD prompt on card machines and ATMs. Decline it every time and choose colones, so your own bank sets the rate rather than a marked-up one at the till. The US Embassy also advises changing money at banks or other financial institutions, noting that street money changers have passed counterfeit US dollars and local currency. Bring small, clean US bills as backup, since fifties and hundreds are hard to break and torn or worn notes get refused. The mechanics are in the Costa Rica cash and cards guide.

Official taxis in Costa Rica are red, they are metered, and the meter has a name: la maria. The one habit is to insist it is on, because some drivers skip it for visitors and name a figure at the end instead. Fares are genuinely cheap when the meter runs, so this is a small loss rather than a large one, but it is the most frequent one. Uber and DiDi both work well here and remove the question entirely by fixing the price up front.

The one to avoid is the pirata, an unofficial taxi in an unmarked car, particularly one whose driver approaches you rather than waiting at a rank. At San Jose airport, use the official orange airport taxis, which run a regulated fare, or book an app. The full picture is in the Costa Rica taxis and apps guide.

One item on this page costs real money and it is the one nobody warns you about: budget the mandatory rental insurance before you book. The rest are habits. Pay in the currency on the price tag, decline convert to USD, use official taxis or an app, and do not stop for roadside help. One more, straight from the embassy's own financial advice for visitors: set a daily withdrawal limit on your account before you fly and keep less in any single account, which caps your exposure whatever happens.

Two smaller ones worth knowing. Your restaurant bill already carries a 10 percent service charge by law, and some tourist spots then hand over a US-style receipt with a blank tip line, hoping for another 18 to 20 percent on top; the Costa Rica tipping guide has the detail. And informal parking attendants in high-visibility vests will watch your car for a small tip, which is a local custom rather than a scam, though the amount is yours to choose. For getting and spending money well, see the Costa Rica cash and cards guide and the Costa Rica cost guide.

Common questions

Quick answers.

More on Costa Rica

The little money things nobody warns you about.

• What does renting a car in Costa Rica really cost?Costa Rica is one of the great drives and also one of the places where the rate you booked is least likely to be the price you pay. A single mandatory insurance explains most of the gap.
• Taxis in Costa Rica, and the apps to useCosta Rican taxis are cheap and metered, and ride apps make it easier still. The one habit to keep is insisting on the meter, called la maria. Here is how it works.
• Do I need cash in Costa Rica, or can I use cards?Short answer: cards work almost everywhere, dollars are accepted, but you get better value paying in colones, and you will want a little cash for sodas, buses and small vendors. Here is how to handle it.
• Staying connected in Costa RicaThe catch in Costa Rica is that the coverage gaps sit exactly where you came to go: the parks, the cloud forests and the wild coasts. Which network your eSIM uses is what decides whether you have signal in Corcovado or Monteverde, so it is worth getting right before you fly.
• Tipping in Costa RicaThe short version: most restaurant bills already include a 10% service charge, so the tipping is largely done for you. The people worth tipping extra are your guides and drivers, and the one trap to watch for is a blank tip line on a bill that has already charged you.
• Do US citizens need a visa for Costa Rica?Short answer: no visa, and no online form. US citizens are stamped in on arrival, now for up to 180 days. The one thing that trips people up is the onward-ticket rule. Here is what actually matters at the border.
• What does getting sick in Costa Rica cost a visitor?Costa Rica's medical story is a geography story. In San Jose the care is excellent and priced for Costa Rica. On the beaches and in the rainforest, where your trip actually is, the answer to anything serious is a ride back toward the capital.