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INS, the governmentally-blessed insurance monopoly, is the only source of supplemental car insurance (liability, property damage, collision, theft, etc) in Costa Rica. When you pay your annual “marchamo” in December, the legally mandated liability insurance is included, but it’s a pitifully small amount. And there is no coverage for property loss. If you own a car and want additional public liability and property damage insurance, and if you’re unwilling to self-insure the car against theft and collision, you’ll need to talk to an INS agent.
Last week, when we were chatting with our agent at the Association of Residents of Costa Rica, he mentioned that we should redeclare the value of our vehicle since INS will only insure its loss for the current market value (less a 20% deductible). When we checked the value of this car which we bought new two years ago, it appears to have lost about a third of its value. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that we’re now paying theft and collision rates on a one-third less valuable vehicle, and it’s these rates that are the most expensive part of the total bill. And when I say “expensive”, I mean it.
So the point is that vehicle owners should have their agents check the current value of their insured vehicles about once a year and adjust downward the premium for theft and collision coverage.
Aside: We have friends who had an INS-insured car stolen. Getting a settlement was a bureaucratic nightmare and took about three or four months. The moral is: Safeguard your car.
Thanks again, David, for some good info.
I need to do some research into just how advanced car thieves are in CR. I use a steering wheel club here in Miami. That device can be cut but it does require a special blade or else a tow truck to cart the car away so would only be useful against a casual thief. We have had one car stolen in Miami recently but it was recovered in a matter of hours due to the hidden anti theft device (LO JACK) which when activated, transmits a signal to police. (Obviously this would be useless in CR)Bureaucratic nightmares in recovering a portion of a loss almost makes the insurance a waste of time especially if that insurance is costly. Better care in guarding a car from theft is of course the best measure one can take. I am considering the possibility that it may be the ONLY measure worth taking.
There are a variety of car security systems and devices available here. The Klub isn’t difficult to bypass because the thieves can simply cut the steering wheel, but it is one more obstacle to auto theft. Steering wheels are purposely flimsey to reduce the severity of injury from hitting them with your chest in a crash.
You can also have installed a transmission lock that keeps your car in Park or reverse. They’re sold by MultiLock in the Paseo Colon barrio of San Jose and other locksmiths. It, too, is probably defeatable, but still it’s one more obstacle.
There are also electronic systems that disable the ignition, the fuel pump, etc.
And LoJack is available here. It works by radio triangulation rather than GPS. The good news about LoJack is that you get a substantial discount on your INS theft insurance which virtually pays the annual fee for the LoJack.
LO JACK available there? Incredible! I wonder what the recovery rate is?
Which anti theft devices, if any, have you installed? Do you know any stories about LO JACK effectiveness in retrieving stolen cars there?We use the Club, the transmission lock and LoJack. And the remote door opener disables the ignition when you lock the doors, so even if you put the key in the ignition and turn it to “Start”, it won’t. And I always turn the wheels so the car will be more difficult to tow.
LoJack “says” they have only ever lost one car and that one had had its electrical system messed with and the LoJack transmitter wasn’t working. I do not, of course, know any of that to be true. When they install LoJack, they do not give you any window stickers since apparently it’s not difficult for a thief to disable if s/he knows to look for it.
Another way to reduce premiums is to not submit any of those marginable claims. INS gives a discount every so often after a period has passed without the insured having submitted a claim. I believe it’s after 2 years they give a 5% discount every 6 months after that. Not sure of the specifics but here’s an example I am sure of. We bought our first car in Jan 2003 and began full coverage with it. We just bought a second car and our discount for being accident free since Jan 2003 was 20%. That about works out to 5% every 6 months after 2 years. I believe the maximum is 40%.
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