avis.cr

I booked a vehicle with Avis Costa Rica - Terrible Experience

I booked a vehicle with Avis Costa Rica on 26 October 2025. On 12 December 2025 I confirmed with Avis Costa Rica via WhatsApp, if the vehicle is indeed all wheel drive (AWD). I know the Nissan Patrol (that I booked) but wanted to make sure it is AWD or 4x4 as the roads we intended to drive were quite bad last time we were in Costa Rica and we needed a large vehicle for all our luggage. They confirmed the vehicle is AWD.When we collected the vehicle they told us they do not have the vehicle that we booked and could only give us a Nissan X-Trail. It was also AWD or 4x4 but a lot smaller and the biggest problem was that it did not have a spare wheel. On top of that, they initially tried to charge me more than the booked price for an inferior vehicle. When I picked that up, I queried it and they deducted 400US$, which I reluctantly accepted. I complained about the fact that the car does not have a spare wheel and told the AVIS agent that we will be driving dirt roads and this will not be good for us. He told me they do not have other vehicles, and I have to take it or leave it. They could only offer a double cab pic-up but our luggage would have been outside as the bin was not covered. This did not work for us, so we took the car, not knowing where else to go and what to do. The vehicle was initially fine until we got a puncture in a very remote area on a dirt road on 13 January 2026 early in the morning – before 7h00. We tried to fix it with the pump and fluid that was supplied but it did not last as the cut in the tyre was too big.We contacted Avis and they told us to contact the insurance. The insurance did not come and change the wheel. They took the vehicle and arranged to have us dropped off at our accommodation. We were then stuck without a vehicle. Avis Costa Rica did not answer any of our calls and initially also not our WhatsApp messages. Eventually they sent us the following message at 17h48 on 13 January 2026: “Sorry, we don´t have availability of cars at the moment, we are checking to provide you with one as soon as we canAlso, we only can provide you with a taxi to the place that you are staying like this morning”We sent numerous messages after that, to both numbers that we had from Avis in Costa Rica, but neither of them returned our messages after the above message. We also tried calling but the calls were not answered. We told them that we have to be out of our current accommodation on the 15th of January 2026 and we had to pay for transport on the 14th and for an excursion that we did not have on the 13th as we could not get to it – all because they did not give us the vehicle that we booked and they did not communicate at all with us.We have to assume that after getting no communication from Avis to remedy the situation that we were left with having to find our own why out from where we were at that moment, which was very remote and ended up costing us a lot of additional money.We communicated this with Avis, but only got a message back from them 2 days later. They offered a small reduction on the rental what was far less than what we had lost due to the fact that we were not provided with a replacement vehicle. We found all totally unacceptable! The lack of communication was the worst. At least they should have had the decency to let us know we are on our own and have to make our own plans to get away from where we were. I have been an Avis Preferred member for many years and have used Avis numerous times in South Africa and also in Europe. I have never had such a terrible experience with any rental company.

Date of experience: Jan 13, 2026