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Alamo Rent A Car delivers hiqh quality vehicles and legendary service in Costa Rica and around the world. Begin your Costa Rica driving adventure here! Hit the road with any vehicle in our new fleet: We have SUV's (4x4's), economy cars, comfortable family vans, etc. Everything you need to make your Costa Rica road trip a memorable experience.
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| Customer Reviews for Alamo Car Rental - San Jose |
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robert
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From: United States
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11/9/2012
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Number of times you have used this Car Rental Agency?
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More than 5
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How friendly were the employees?
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5 (very nice) Season
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Would you use the agency again?
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Yes
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Languages spoken at Agency?
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English
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How many times have you visited Costa Rica?
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2
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I recently rented a car from Alamo and San Jose Costa Rica for 6 days and when I return the car I could not communicate with the employee who spoke no English. The car was returned in good condition with the gps that i had just removed from the windsheild and put in its case in the glove boxs. I asked the employee if everything is ok wandering if he should be inspecting the vehicle or if I should be getting a inspection form releasing me of my liability. He says todo bien. Wishing i could speak spanish enough to ask for that inspection form i figure thats all i can do and i thank him. I was tired and just wanted to get to bed so i drive away fealing uneasy about the situation. Well guess what, i get a charge of almost $400 on my statement. Im still trying to get my money back. This is a first. I have rented from alamo many times but because i could not communicate and ask for the inspection which they are supposed to do anyway, I left myself open for this problem. My advice is always cover your butt. People are friendly but if you allow them a chance to profit from you they probably will. Alamo is a great company now lets see how good their customer service is when one of their employees has not done their job properly. I will post the result on here and also many discussion boards.
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Ashton
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From: United States
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5/15/2012
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Number of times you have used this Car Rental Agency?
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1
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How friendly were the employees?
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1 (not nice) Season
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Would you use the agency again?
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No
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Languages spoken at Agency?
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English
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How many times have you visited Costa Rica?
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1
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Alamo Car Rental did a bait and switch. We returned our car, did the walk-around, and headed to the airport. The rental agent literally pulled me out of the customs line saying we had a "big problem." Which turned out to be a small chip in the windshield of the car. We had never seen this chip before, but we were told it would cost us over $400. We didn't pay, and they charged our card by the time we landed back in the US.
We disputed the charge, and now Alamo Costa Rica is coming after us with a collection agency. I will obviously never use them again.
My advice, make sure you take detailed photos of your rental car when you pick it up and return it, and keep your guard up.
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Ashton
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From: United States
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12/26/2011
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Number of times you have used this Car Rental Agency?
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1
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How friendly were the employees?
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5 (very nice) Season
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Would you use the agency again?
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No
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Languages spoken at Agency?
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English
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How many times have you visited Costa Rica?
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1
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Staff was very courteous etc.... BUT they tried to pull a bait and switch. This was the only poor travel experience I had in Costa Rica, and I am trying to not let it leave a bad taste in my mouth. Their office looks legit and they all speak decent English. But after I dropped off the car and signed the forms, someone came to the airport itself and told me there was a "big problem." I knew that this was bogus because the contract was over and we had looked over the car together. The "big problem" was a small crack in the windshield. 1. This was all after the fact at the airport so I don't even know if it was the same car, 2. the contract was over and papers signed, 3. it was a simple $10 repair where you just fill in the windshield ding. Two days later, there is a $435 charge on my account. I am disputing, but this is all pretty ridiculous.
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Anonymous
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From: Colombia
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12/12/2009
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Number of times you have used this Car Rental Agency?
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2
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How friendly were the employees?
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5 (very nice) Season
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Would you use the agency again?
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Yes
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Languages spoken at Agency?
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Spanish
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How many times have you visited Costa Rica?
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4
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Excellent car and customer service. No mechanical problems ever. Stay away from Thrifty at San Jose Airport...we used them once. We love Alamo and have used them twice and have never had a problem unlike Thrifty.
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Anonymous
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From: United States
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8/21/2009
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Number of times you have used this Car Rental Agency?
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1
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How friendly were the employees?
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1 (not nice) Season
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Would you use the agency again?
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No
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Languages spoken at Agency?
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Spanish, English
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How many times have you visited Costa Rica?
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2
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I got a good deal on a compact rental car for my last 10-day trip to Costa Rica through a website on the internet. The rate was something like $15/day, almost too good to be true. Well, the actual price I paid was about $320 for the 10 days, which was over half the price quoted. Most of that amount, however, was the mandatory 3rd party liability insurance you are required to pay as a visitor to the country, according to the law in Costa Rica. But there was also a $30 added to the bill for the shuttle from the airport to the rental car facility (just a kilometer or two away). Those facts, of course, should have been disclosed in the reservation process.
Of course, what could NOT be disclosed is that the Alamo at (near) the San Jose, Costa Rica, international airport has employees who scam unsuspecting gringo customers who appear to them to be easy prey.
Well, I arrived alone at the airport, took the shuttle to the rental place, and perhaps when I showed up, as a middle-aged man, alone, with intermediate skills in Spanish, the tico staff at Alamo thought they had the perfect victim.
They gave me a crappy Yaris (Toyota). I was fine with the fact that the car I had had numerous imperfections on the exterior, but I was not amused to find that panels/frames on the back left and right of the car (just over the wheels), very soon flapped out like wings as I got onto the national highway. I heard a loud noise coming from the back of the car, stopped, and found out what the problem was. It appeared there were some loose screws. I managed to push the back panels back in, where they stayed for periods of up to a day at a time, before I had to do this again.
Then I got a flat tire, which I was able to change by myself, in San Jose. There was equipment in the car for this purpose and a spare tire. When I returned the spare tire to the rental car place and sought a good tire to replace the one that so quickly went flat, the staff at Alamo made me move the car three times to different places, finally making me drive it back to the first place I had been told to park it.
Obviously displeased, with horrible service, someone finally replaced the tire, and also secured the panels.
Then, three days into my trip, I was pulled over twice by police because the license tag number of my rental car was a number that required it not be driven on that day (to reduce excess traffic, Costa Rica requires certain plate numbers not to drive one day each month). Now why was I given a car with a license plate the rental company should have known was not to be driven on one of the 10 days of my rental? ALthough I was not fined when the cops in both cases discovered that I was a foreigner with a rental car (and thus it was not my fault), after the second stop, I parked the car in a mall garage and used taxis the rest of the day to avoid this hassle once again.
Finally, when I returned the car to the Alamo location near the international airport, my friend (a tico) and I got out of the car and went into the Alamo office. Within 5 or 10 minutes, after doing preliminary paperwork, the nice guy behind the desk said there was a crack on the windshield of the car. My friend and I looked funny (as there had been no such crack on the windshield when we got out of the car).
I was ushered outside, where my friend and I saw a huge crack, emanating out in every direction, in the center of the front windshield. The cracks came from a center point, right in the center of the windshield, and the cracks covered a good 40 percent of the windshield glass.
Wow! Of course, I immediately said I did not do that, and my friend backed me up. We couldn't believe that they would deliberately crack the windshield after we parked the car and then try to make us pay for the damage.
My Spanish suddenly became much better and more authoritative than usual, as several mechanics surrounded us. One guy who appeared to be in charge of the mechanics looked as though he was trying not to laugh. He really smiled, almost as if to say, ok, you got me, when I said, with considerable anger, "Quien hizo eso?!" (Who did this?) as I pointed back behind me at all the guys in the garage/mechanics area. "No tenga la culpa por eso." (This is not my fault.)
Well, we went back into the office and I had to fill out a form denying responsibility for the damage. I wrote a lengthy statement explaining just what happened (that Alamo employees had deliberately damaged the windshield right after we returned the car) in English.
The guy behind the desk tried to get me to sign another form, one part of which had written in Spanish that the car was returned with a big crack in the windshield), but I saw it, even before my tico friend did, and I wrote beside that statement, "DESPUES de retornar - no tengo la culpa por eso" (after it was returned 0 I am not responsible for this), and initialed it, before signing the bottom of the form as the guy had tried to make me do without reading the rest of the page.
Because I was insistent and assertive, the Alamo of San Jose, Costa Rica, did not collect this time on their scam. My tico friend speculated that one or more of the guys responsible for the damage would now have to pay the actual cost of the damage to the windshield.
Stay away from Alamo in Costa Rica. There are some scamming ticos who work there and they will steal from you if you give them half a chance.
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Danielle
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From: Canada
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8/17/2004
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Number of times you have used this Car Rental Agency?
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1
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How friendly were the employees?
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5 (very nice) Season
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Would you use the agency again?
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Yes
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Languages spoken at Agency?
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English
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How many times have you visited Costa Rica?
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1
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I was in costa rica in 1993 - I have rented a toyota tercel for 2 weeks - everything went ok
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| San Jose Downtown Map |
Satellite Map of Alamo Car Rental - San Jose |
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