Depending on your specific budget, and which car you would like to purchase, you may wish to consider a new vehicle from one of the new car dealers in Costa Rica, which has advantages:
- You are getting a brand new vehicle under warranty (3 years and 100,000 kilometers is normal)
- You don’t worry about the car’s precedence, previous maintenance or other issues.
- You don’t worry about problems that aren’t apparent at the time of purchase but could crop up later.
- Many vehicles offered new here are created specifically for the Costa Rican market and terrain, these can have advantages since many factors have been taken into account. For example, the 2016 Hyundai Tucson SUV has a different engine and transmission than the same SUV offered in the US. Certain engines Hyundai doesn’t offer here, because the performance would deteriorate over time due to the fuel quality offered by RECOPE.
- Because of tax structure, depreciation isn’t as much of an issue as in the US. You can still lose about 20% of the value the first year. From there, popular brands and models tend to hold their value very well, due to the import duty structure. Meaning that as the new car’s value depreciates over the years, the used cars imported here will be paying more taxes – so the new car maintains its market value.
There are some disadvantages to buying at a dealer:
- Some major brands don’t have good dealers here. You can end up with a car that has hard to find parts and if you need to sell the vehicle suddenly for some reason you could end up losing a lot of money on the deal.
- The same goes for mechanical repairs. As long as the vehicle is under warranty at the dealer, you have no problem, what if the dealer’s mechanics are the only ones in the whole country who know how to fix the vehicle? (e.g. Alfa Romeo) You’ll be stuck paying dealer prices for mechanical work the whole time you own the car.
- You are required to take the car in for maintenance every 5000 kilometers. Every 10,000 kilometers is a major check up, which takes longer and costs more. The minor check up is an oil and filter change and a scan. This costs from $100 to $200 and more at some dealers. It takes a half or full day to complete and there are no loaner cars. The major check up is more detailed, and costs $250 and more at the dealers. It takes from 1 to 3 days to complete, and again there are no loaner cars.
Read the related section ( Buying New Vehicles Testimonials ) in order to find out how our clients viewed the process.
Contact us here ( New Car PASS Service ) to get assistance in purchasing a new car at a local dealer.
Read the article ( Should I Buy a New Car ?) to compare the advantages and disadvantages of buying a new car.
Read the article ( What Car to Buy and Dealer Procedures ) to find out how the dealers operate and what characteristics you may look for in a new car.