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Published: August 3rd 2006
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Una Carreta
Costa Rica is famous for this type of painted ox cart. The past few days have been an education to say the least as we have been driving all over Costa Rica in search of the perfect truck. So far we have been to Grecia, Sarchi, Escazu, Santa Barbara, Guadalupe, Palmares, San Ramon and San Isidro. Some of these places are up to an hour away.
Purchasing a car here is very different that buying in the States. There are basically three places to buy cars here: the large dealership, the small dealership and individuals on the street.
Large dealerships are a lot like those in the States but not nearly as big and fancy. We’ve found that these places tend to charge much more for their cars and their guarantees seem to be for only 30 days. Don’t let the large dealership give you a sense of comfort though because of a guarantee. We’ve seen just as many messed up cars there as we have elsewhere and like I said, the prices were very high. On top of that, Gerardo and Roy refer to the salesman here as “Piranhas” because they’ll try to take advantage of you.
Small dealerships are usually a garage with 5-10 cars. Since the
lots are so small, you don’t even really have to stop unless you see something you like while driving by. These places remind me of the small used car lots we used to see up in the Pocono Mountains on the side of the road with a trailer as an office.
Buying from people on the street seems to be the best way to get a good car for a good price but you really have to get lucky and stumble upon someone with the type of car you want. Once you get that piece of the puzzle, you have to see if they have taken care of it, convince them to sell it and negotiate a good price. We’ve also been looking in the local papers and on Craig’s List which actually has listings for CR.
Our days now consist of driving around from town to town, slowing down in front of store fronts to see if there are any Pathfinders or 4 Runners on the lot. We’ve decided to narrow our search to only Nissans and Toyotas as they have the best reputation here, will hold up with high mileage, can be easily repaired and parts
are not expensive. This of course, makes our search that much more difficult as we are looking for something pretty specific. Price range is also a big factor for us and since cars are so much more expensive here, we are locked into specific years as well. One more requirement that makes finding this car more time consuming.
Roy and Gerardo have driven us around every day to help us with this venture. Honestly, they seem just as excited about it as we are. Their styles for dealing with salesmen are so radically different that having both of them with us is a plus. Roy is the mechanic. He’ll take one look at a car and you can tell whether or not he’s interested. He’ll walk around the car first, take a look inside, take a quick peek underneath and if you don’t see him lift the hood that means it’s time to go. If a car gets through Roy’s initial inspection, he’ll shimmy himself all the way under the car, check out a bunch of things and if the car is lucky, he’ll take a look at the engine and the muffler. Should the car pass all these
inspections (so far only 2 out of the 20 we’ve looked at have made it this far), we’ll take it for a drive. Very different process than in the States where the test drive is usually the first step.
Gerardo on the other hand is the social butterfly. He’ll talk to everyone for long periods of time, not really even about cars. He just loves to talk and loves people. Many times, Roy will have given a car a thumbs down and proceeds to get back into his own car where we wait for Gerardo to wrap up his conversation. Gerardo’s skills come into play once we get to the negotiation phase which so far has only been once. Then all his talking and networking pays off as he has built a rapport with the owner and since he’s a Tico, he’ll get us a much better deal than us going in alone. Gerardo has told us time and time again to buy a car from “Buena gente” (good people). While Roy’s first step is to see how the car is mechanically, Gerardo’s first step is to get a feel for the person selling it.
If we were
to go back to the States to buy a car, I feel confident that we’d know if there was something wrong with it before even taking it to a mechanic. Roy has shown us a few simple tricks to give us an idea if certain parts are not 100%. We can now tell if a clutch is going bad, if there are holes in the muffler, if there is oil leaking from any seals, if there are engine issues and if a car has been recently registered and is now being sold again - Lots of things to look out for.
When I say that we drive around all day, I do mean all day. Also, Roy and Gerardo don’t like to eat out so I’m learning to bring something small along for the ride. The roads here in the city and the surrounding areas are very good. Mike and I are so used to the unpaved roads of the coast, that these seem perfect. However with good roads comes high speed driving which in Costa Rica can often be fatal. On our journey, we came across many people walking on the main highways with backpacks. We were told
that once a year for “El Dia de la Virgen de Los Angeles” (The Day of the Virgin of Angels), folks make a pilgrimage to the town of Cartago from all over the country. They send prayers to the Virgin (This is not actually Mary, but apparently another virgin) and to show their sacrifice, they walk to Cartago. Folks come from all over the country on this pilgrimage and it’s quite a site to see. There are also policeman on the sides of the road to help the folks making the trek and also to encourage drivers to be careful. Just 2 days ago, a young man of 26 was killed by a drunk driver while walking to Cartago. Witnesses said that the car swerved out of his lane, hit multiple people and kept right on driving. Better roads are not always a positive.
I’ve mentioned Matthew’s neighbors Ana, Juan Carlos and their children Gaby and Carlos before. They too are making the trek to Cartago which we were told takes about 8 hours from San Jose. When Ana asked Roy if he’d be making the trek, he laughed and said he had done it once before and that
was enough - he was cured. HAha!
Mike and I also have also adopted a dog during our journey. Little Don Francisco was found on the streets of Sarchi, alone and abandoned. He is now my new little good luck charm and has been faithfully at my side ever since.
So far, we’ve had a great experience seeing more of the country and learning about cars here. I am confident that the right vehicle will present itself when the time comes. For now, we have an appointment on Friday to get our drivers licenses and in 2 weeks, we get a form from Immigration that shows we do not have to leave the country every 3 months so there is still much to be done before we can venture about anyway. Now, with a good system in place and the right personnel on our team, it’s only a matter of time.
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Christine
non-member comment
You tease!
You had me going with Don Francisco! I'm so glad that you guys are settling in and having such a great adventure...you're still an inspiration to those of us back here on the hamster wheel!