| Pick-up location | Tamarindo |
|---|---|
| Hire locations | 15 |
| Airport locations | 4 |
Cons: Having the actual size car (and in 4x4) I reserved available. Having them accept the insurance I paid for through Kayak and not having to spend more money on insurance again. They are a scam. Kayak has a lot of misinformation about the availability of cars insurance & what you actually get.
Needed: Vigilance ... you need to stay up on everything.
Pros: If I compare it to my Avis rentals in the US not much.
The rental experience is not like Avis rentals in the US -
You should hope for the best be prepared for the worst. This is regardless... any any agency: Hertz, Budget, National... in Latin America always be vigilant. I speak from experience that cost me (twice).
I was glad that I brought a camera (iphone) and took photos of both the agent and name tag and the car's condition. As he marked the damages I took photos. He make damages on a form/paper but when I looked at my copy, (latter) the yellow copy. there was nothing marked. He had used a felt on the white copy and thus the pressure did not cause marking on the users copy) beware of this.
Cons: The Car I requested via this website was not available but the size below it was, but the agent did not recommended this car "bad roads", thus, I had to pay more to get the car above what I requested (Surprise?! not really). The car was dirty but the agent whipped off the window so I could see out ... The car's gas was not on full but was marked as full on the form. The car mechanical condition was ok.
It had 36000 miles and the suspension was shot, but it drove ok. Upon, return, I was not given a receipt showing the return rather I was told it would be sent to my email. "we do not print receipts" 6 hours latter no receipt in my email. Thus, I had no evidence that I returned the car in good condition and full. I returned to the office and was told again that he could not print a receipt but would resend the email receipt ... finally 2 hours latter I got it. The issue is trust (you should no have any - always think what if) and competence.
A bit misleading
Pros: Everyone we worked with was very friendly. The return process was actually very smooth and the rep made an effort to move quickly so we didn't miss our flight home.
Cons: The pick up process was a pretty bad experience. The amount we were quoted on Kayak was less than 1/3 the amount of what we ended up paying. There is some sort of insurance that is REQUIRED that you are never aware of until you are signing the contract. We had to have the contract redone three times because the wrong thing was being added in. Also, the hours at the airport Avis are limited. They only open at 6 so if you have a 7am flight like we did, you have to check in first, then return your car, then go through security. While it ended up working out for us, it was really frustrating having to do this process in a backwards way. There is no 'after hours' drop so you HAVE to wait for a person to be there to return your car. All in all I would not rent from Avis again.
Cons: Having the actual size car (and in 4x4) I reserved available. Having them accept the insurance I paid for through Kayak and not having to spend more money on insurance again. They are a scam. Kayak has a lot of misinformation about the availability of cars insurance & what you actually get.
Needed: Vigilance ... you need to stay up on everything.
Pros: If I compare it to my Avis rentals in the US not much.
The rental experience is not like Avis rentals in the US -
You should hope for the best be prepared for the worst. This is regardless... any any agency: Hertz, Budget, National... in Latin America always be vigilant. I speak from experience that cost me (twice).
I was glad that I brought a camera (iphone) and took photos of both the agent and name tag and the car's condition. As he marked the damages I took photos. He make damages on a form/paper but when I looked at my copy, (latter) the yellow copy. there was nothing marked. He had used a felt on the white copy and thus the pressure did not cause marking on the users copy) beware of this.
Cons: The Car I requested via this website was not available but the size below it was, but the agent did not recommended this car "bad roads", thus, I had to pay more to get the car above what I requested (Surprise?! not really). The car was dirty but the agent whipped off the window so I could see out ... The car's gas was not on full but was marked as full on the form. The car mechanical condition was ok.
It had 36000 miles and the suspension was shot, but it drove ok. Upon, return, I was not given a receipt showing the return rather I was told it would be sent to my email. "we do not print receipts" 6 hours latter no receipt in my email. Thus, I had no evidence that I returned the car in good condition and full. I returned to the office and was told again that he could not print a receipt but would resend the email receipt ... finally 2 hours latter I got it. The issue is trust (you should no have any - always think what if) and competence.
A bit misleading
Pros: Everyone we worked with was very friendly. The return process was actually very smooth and the rep made an effort to move quickly so we didn't miss our flight home.
Cons: The pick up process was a pretty bad experience. The amount we were quoted on Kayak was less than 1/3 the amount of what we ended up paying. There is some sort of insurance that is REQUIRED that you are never aware of until you are signing the contract. We had to have the contract redone three times because the wrong thing was being added in. Also, the hours at the airport Avis are limited. They only open at 6 so if you have a 7am flight like we did, you have to check in first, then return your car, then go through security. While it ended up working out for us, it was really frustrating having to do this process in a backwards way. There is no 'after hours' drop so you HAVE to wait for a person to be there to return your car. All in all I would not rent from Avis again.
Based on ratings and reviews from real users on KAYAK, the best car hire companies in Tamarindo are Alamo (8,7, 6471 reviews), Avis (7,6, 2244 reviews), and Thrifty (7,1, 2732 reviews).
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