Warning: if you’re not interested in how to keep your vehicle in Costa Rica longer than 90 days, don’t bother reading this post!

When you drive into Costa Rica, just like all the other Central American countries, you are given a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) good for 90 days for your vehicle.  You are also given a stamp in your passport giving you 90 days.

• If YOU want to stay longer than 90 days, you can simply walk over the Nicaragua or Panama border and return.  They will stamp a new 90 days in your passport!
• If you want YOUR CAR to stay longer than 90 days, it’s not that simple.  If you drive your car out of the country, it has to remain out of the country FOR 90 DAYS before they’ll give it a new 90 days at the border.

So what are your options for keeping the car longer than 90 days?

1. Import your vehicle.  It will become a Costa Rican vehicle, with Costa Rican plates, registration requirements, etc.  You have to pay significant taxes to do this (50-79% of the value of the vehicle!) and you cannot import a car older than 12 years (as of June 1st, 2018).
2. Store your vehicle.  You can store it in a government-bonded warehouse, “almacen fiscal”, and they’ll pause your TIP while it’s stored.  If you store your vehicle for less than 90 days, then you’ll have the same remaining days left on your TIP as when you stored it.  If you store your vehicle for more than 90 days, then you get a brand-new 90-day TIP when you pick it up.

Storing your vehicle in the Almacen Fiscal, in Liberia, Guanacaste:

There’s a really helpful account of how to do this in San Jose (thank you Bruno!) but I couldn’t find any information about doing it in Guanacaste.  We didn’t want to drive 5 hours to San Jose, so I searched until I found HA Logistica.  They have an indoor storage facility that would fit any sized rig, with 24/7 security guard and cameras.  We were there right after a LOT of rain, but it was totally dry inside.  They also take care of the Aduana paperwork for you, so no need to trek back & forth to the airport for that.

Where is it?

Just a few minutes East from the Liberia airport.  Here is a Google maps link (opens in new window) so you can do directions on your phone.  Their “address” is: 200 metros Oeste de la Entrada a la EARTH, Finca La Flor, Liberia, Guanacaste.

The office is a small building, easy to miss, but look for this sign which is obvious from the road:

Contact Information:

The knowledgeable lady who seemed to be in charge is Isabel Varela.  Her number is: 2284-9188.  Email: ivarela@grupoha.com.  I don’t know if she speaks any English, but she was super helpful and seemed to know what she was talking about.

They’re open Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm – Isabel said come anytime during those hours, no appointment needed.

Process:

It was a surprisingly simple process.  You sit with Isabel doing paperwork, and you drive your car into their warehouse.  That’s it!  They take care of the Aduana stuff, which would be a separate process if you did this in San Jose.  We stored the van first, because Isabel wasn’t there when we arrived, but I don’t think the order matters.

Store the van:

1. Tell them you’re here to store your vehicle in the almacen fiscal.  (Don’t panic if they start asking about lawyers and paperwork that you don’t have, like they did to us – this is also the place you go to import your vehicle – just explain you’re only storing it temporarily to suspend the TIP).  Quiero dejar mi camioneta aqui para suspender el permiso temporal.  (My spanish ain’t perfect but that sentence will work for you :o)  They’ll ask approximately how long it’ll be stored for – you don’t have to know exactly.
2. They’ll open up the gates for you to enter the area, and then roll up the warehouse door for you to drive inside.  Anyone who enters the warehouse has to write their name and passport number on a login sheet.
3. Employee looks around & inside the vehicle, fills out a form checking off things like “does it have a radio?” and writes down the VIN.  (Check the VIN is correct – there was a typo on my form which I had them correct)
4. You sign the form and he gives you the carbon copy.  Leave your keys with him.  Yes that part is a little disconcerting, but it seems like a legit place!

Tons of space!

Note: we disconnected our batteries so they wouldn’t be dead when we return

Do the paperwork:

1. Go inside to the office.  She’ll need to see your TIP and your passport.  Fill out a form and sign.
2. She will send the info to Aduana and then talk to them on the phone to confirm the TIP is suspended. (We sat around waiting for a while for this step)
3. Aduana emails her back the suspended TIP paperwork and she’ll print it for you and hand it to you.  It will state clearly how many days will be left on your TIP once you pick up your vehicle.  All done!

Cost:  $300 for 6 weeks, cash only!  (you don’t pay anything until you pick the car up)

I’ll write up the steps in July for how to get the van back out.  Remember you have to extend or get new insurance before you can pick your car up!

John says this is the first time he’s been car-less since he was 16, and he is TOTALLY FREAKING OUT  ;o)  Lilly cried that night, saying she missed Vancito!  We are slightly nervous, but, the facility seemed legit, so we hope everything will be fine when we return in July!!

July PostScript:

To pick up the van we had to do the following 3 steps.  You must do them in this order!

1. Go to INS to get new insurance.  There is one in Liberia.
2. Go to the Aduana inside the Liberia airport to get a new TIP.  (You cannot do this until you have the insurance paperwork).
3. Go to HA Logistica to pay (cash only) and pick up your van!  (You cannot do this until you have your new TIP).

Steps 2 & 3 were surprisingly easy, and step 1 surprisingly difficult – only because INS was having some computer issue and couldn’t issue the policy for several hours.

The van was exactly like we had left it.  We give two thumbs up to HA Logistica!

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