Importing vehicles to Costa Rica

You may wish to read the following article: “Costa Rica Cars – To bring or not to bring. The first in a series revealing the inside scoop on the question of whether to ship your car or buy one in Costa Rica’ at

We will be publishing a follow up article later this week.

Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.com

Just to clarify, cars three years old and newer have the lowest import duties at 50-something percent. Four and five year old cars are next with a duty of 60-something percent and 5 year and older cars are the highest at 70-something percent.

They all have a ‘birthday’ of January 1 to the CR government, so a 2004 model will have the lowest duty from now until December 31, 2007. As of January 1, it will be considered 4 years old and the tax goes up.

This is also something to consider if you are running around on a tourist permit in a car which will have a higher duty on January 1. You’ll be ahead of the game if you nationalize it before the end of the year when the percentage goes up. The Hacienda value (the value used by the CR government to determine the taxable value) is only adjusted about once/year (never predictably), so you will probably be paying your tax based on the same value, but at a higher percentage.

There is no age limit on cars being imported. Every car must pass RTV, which is a safety and emissions test, but you can bring your prized ’55 Chevy if you want. I heard about a 60-something Mustang being imported where the people at RTV required a right-hand outside mirror be installed before they would pass it. With ANY vehicle being imported, you’ll want to make sure that all the lights work, the brakes are good, the tires don’t extend beyond the wheel wells, etc. There may be some special considerations for ‘classics,’ so talk to an expert before shipping to make sure that you don’t have any surprises.