How to keep your vehicle in Costa Rica longer than 90 days (almacen fiscal)


almacen fiscal liberia costa rica

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:

almacen fiscal liberia

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)almacen fiscal liberia costa rica
  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!

almacen fiscal liberia costa ricaTons 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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I rode my motorcycle from Canada about 2 years ago and still have it in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the motorcycle nationaized and want to do that now. The local INS office in Guanacaste has been renewing my insurance every 90 days, so the marchamo is paid up. Yesterday I tried to get the bike inspected at the Dekla office in Nosara. They said they could not do it and told me to go to Pinas Blancas aduana office, but that seem risky. I don’t want it to be impounded. Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

HI there. Have you gotten any feedback as to whether this still works? We are about a month away from being in Costa Rica and are hoping to suspend our TIP for about 9 months. Thanks

Steve: I know of someone that buys and sells cars in CR. He is helping me with the nationalization of my truck. Are you getting a new or older car?

Hi Mary, thank you very much for writing this post, I bought your book on 🙂
Fingers crossed the 90 day workaround is still possible, I’ve read it is no longer an option. I’ll call Almacen to inquire when they open tomorrow. Do you know if there are any exceptions to the 12 year rule?
Best, George

Tha

Hi George,
Let me know if the government warehouse storage is no longer an option – that would be a bummer. I don’t know about exceptions to the 12-year rule because we weren’t really interested in importing our vehicle, so I didn’t look into that situation.
Thanks for buying my book! I hope you enjoy it.
– mary

Thank you for the recount on how to storage the vehicle. I did not know that to nationalized vehicles, it has to be less than 12 years old.

Do you know where to obtain a copy of the ‘book’ that the authorities in CR use to charge the import duties of a used car?

We did just enough research into that topic to decide that we weren’t going to do it, so then I didn’t note down any details about it sorry!

Question if you drive it for 85 days and then lock it up for 90 do you get another TIP for 90 when you pick up? and then can drive it for another 85 and do the same ? just planning on staying a year and want to drive down .

Hi Vanessa, it’s been a long time since we did this, but my blog post says the following which seems to directly answer your question but let me know if I misunderstood: “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.”

Hello there, thanks for sharing.
Do you know if we can suspend the same TIP multiple times? For example, drive in September then suspend in October, drive again in November and suspend it in December….can it be done? If within 90 days how many times can you freeze/suspend the TIP? Thank you in advance. surf7seas

I didn’t do this nor researched if it’s allowed but I would think it shouldn’t be any problem. If I were you I would contact the almacen fiscal that I’ve listed in this post and ask them. Good luck!

Thank you Mary for the info about traveling through Central America. Is was very useful. I will subscribe to the Pan-American group.

Hi Mary. Did you drive from USA or Canada all the way to CR? If so, how was your experience with paperwork in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua or Honduras and then CR?

I am thinking in driving from.Niagara Falls at the end.of.summer. destination: playa Lagarto in Guanacaste, CR.

Hi Eduardo, we drove from California to Argentina. The central american borders were a bit more of a hassle than the South american ones (plus the countries are so much smaller so the border crossings can be more frequent) but all totally do-able. You just need to get to the border in the morning, be patient, smile, ideally know some spanish, and you’ll get through no problems. Don’t lose the TIP (temporary import permit) paper that they’ll give you when you enter the country because you’ll need it when you exit the country later, plus you might be asked for it by the police during your stay. Some countries also require insurance which is usually available at the border and very cheap. Tons of info online about all of this, or in the fb group panamerican travelers association – it’s a super useful resource. Have a great trip!

Hi Eduardo,
I have a place in Lagarto in the Congo Negro development, do you know of someone selling a car?
Steve

$300 dollars for 6 weeks. Like, US dollars? If so, I guess leaving my bike there for three months is too pricy

Yup, it ain’t cheap! But it was the only way we could stay in CR longer than 90 days so it was worth it to us. Good luck!

Hi Mary! This blog is amazing, thanks for all the useful information. My girlfriend and I are doing an 8 month teaching sabbatical in Costa Rica and plan to ship our truck from Boston. I know that you drove in, but do you have any advice on the best way to do this? Also, was there car insurance I am required to get / what car insurance do you use as an international driver? We will definitely be using all of the guidelines above for leaving the truck at almacen fiscal in Liberia before the 90 days is up!

Hi Nick, I don’t know if it’s worth it to bring your truck to CR for 8 months since you’d only be able to use it for 90 days out of the 8 months! For shipping, there are several companies and the recommendations are changing year to year – the best source for up-to-date information on shipping agents can be found at the overlanding facebook group “panamerican travelers association” – do a search in there, or post your question – it’s an incredibly useful resource! Yes we had to get insurance in most countries – usually can be purchased at the border. Good luck!

Hey Mary! Does HA Logistica have a storage facility on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica?
If not – can you recommend a safe & reputable storage facility on the Caribbean side? Thanks!

Hi JT, I don’t know other government storage facilities, except for the other blog I referenced by Bruno who stored their vehicle in San Jose. You could try calling HA Logistica and ask if they know of other locations in the country. And/or I would google search for “almacen fiscal”. Good luck!

So did this facilitate keeping your vehicle in the country on a permanant basis or just for an extended vacation

I don’t think there’s any limit to how long it can stay in the almacen fiscal. But it wouldn’t make any sense to leave it in there permanently because obviously you can’t use it while it’s in there, plus you’re paying for it to be there.

Yup it’s a pretty walkable town we’re in! 5 minutes to surf beach and grocery store. But of course, the very first day that we were car-less, Lilly’s school bus got stuck on a dirt road behind a giant truck that had fallen into a muddy ditch, and we weren’t able to rescue her! But they got out after not too long. And, Lilly is so happy hanging out on the bus with her friends that she didn’t even notice.

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