Foreign Drivers Leave Costa
Rica Without Paying Traffic Fines
If a foreigner driver gets a traffic ticket
and does not pay up before leaving Costa Rica,
the amount of the ticket is transferred to
the vehicle owner and is attached to the
compulsory vehicle circulation payment known
as the Marchamo that is due each December
31.
No law exists that would force a foreign
driver to pay his or her traffic tickets
before leaving Costa Rica.
This situation has car rental companies
worried.
The Asociación Costarricense de
Autorrentistas (ACAR) says situations have
already arisen where renters have gotten
traffic tickets or involved in traffic
accidents and leaving the country without
paying.
Federico Barquero, president of the ACAR
explains that in the case of a serious
accident, a foreign driver can take the next
flight out and avoid the financial
consequences associated with the accident,
leaving the problem to third parties.
Car rental companies typically require a
credit card as a deposit which each rental.
However, given the high fines of the new
traffic law, a foreign driver can easily
rack up a fines higher than the deposit
and leave the rental car company holding the
bag.
Barquero and the ACAR says the law lacks the
mechanism for controls at the airport or
land border crossing points that would allow
immigration and customs officials to collect traffic fines owed
by the foreign driver.
The most common traffic tickets of foreigner
drivers are for speeding, not wearing a
seatbelt and talking on the cell phone.
The ACAR says
the Consejo de Seguridad Vial (Cosevi) is
slow to enter the traffic ticket information
into their computer system. ACAR says that
if the information was entered immediately,
it would allow car rental companies to check
online for any outstanding infractions and
collect before the customers leaves the
counter when returning the vehicle.
Prior to the new traffic law that went into
effect on March 1, 2010, many times the car
rental companies absorbed the cost of the
traffic fines. Barquero explains that car
rental companies now will have to do the
same, however the fines are much higher,
meaning bigger losses for the car rental
companies.
To check for any traffic fines on your
vehicle go to:
http://www.csv.go.cr/cosevi.html
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