Green Mobility in Costa Rica -- Our Car Buying Adventure

Picking up our green wheels with our Costa Rica car buying consultant Russ, and our BYD salesperson Veronica.

When Barbara and I established our home base in Costa Rica in 2024, we were determined to be more thoughtful about our carbon footprint—something we hadn’t sufficiently prioritized while living in the United States, where we each commuted daily and ran errands in our own gasoline-powered cars. We did not plan on buying a car in Costa Rica, hoping that buses, ride-sharing services, and efficient trip planning would allow us to maintain a comfortable lifestyle while minimizing our environmental impact.

Our first year as fauxmads was split between the condominium we purchased in Santa Ana and traveling through eleven European countries, where we made daily use of amazingly efficient public transit systems. The contrast was pretty striking -- we realized we could get by quite happily without a car in Europe, but felt pretty stuck when we got back to Costa Rica. We felt good about our home, located in an eco-development with green spaces, three-story buildings that don’t require elevators, and a strong commitment to reducing energy consumption across many areas. Living green outside the bounds of our condominium development, though, was hard.

The bus to and from downtown Santa Ana runs about once an hour right in front of our complex, and we did our best to use it. However, wait times were often unpredictable, ranging from five to fifty-five minutes—sometimes longer when returning from town—as there was no clear schedule to consult. We also became increasingly reliant on Uber, which was the only practical way for us to travel several times a week to our pickleball club in Guachipelín. The expense, inconvenience, and occasional sense of isolation wore us down, as did the realization that every gasoline-consuming Uber ride we took was a small added disincentive for Costa Rica to develop a more reliable public transportation system.

So, we decided to buy an electric vehicle (EV). Costa Rica generates 98% of its electricity from renewable sources under optimal conditions, and even during droughts like those in 2024, renewable energy still provides 90–95% of the power. This makes driving almost guilt-free—and inexpensive. Our new BYD costs about six times less per kilometer to operate than a fuel-efficient gasoline Toyota Corolla in Costa Rica.

We appreciated the incentives Costa Rica offers to promote EV adoption, including a phased VAT (value-added tax) exemption which started at 1% in 2023 and will increase by 1 percentage point annually until reaching 13% in 2035. There are also gradual exemptions from customs and selective consumption taxes, plus property tax exemptions on vehicle registration fees (marchamo) that decrease over five years before returning to normal rates. Since we purchased at the start of this phase-out, we received most of the benefits, bringing the purchase price of our brand-new car down to what would only buy us an older, high-mileage used vehicle in the United States. Beyond the financial savings, we felt an intangible reward: by participating in the government’s incentive program, we contributed to its success—both environmentally and as public policy. It felt like voting for clean energy, but with our wallets.

Buying a car in Costa Rica felt very foreign to us as Americans. Back home, we were used to checking sticker prices and dealer incentives online, quickly finding current inventory, and negotiating with salespeople in person. Here, the process is different. We learned that there are several car-buying services in Costa Rica that cater primarily to expats. Friends who moved here four years ago referred us to Russ Martin of WheelsCR.com, who had brokered purchases of both a used and a new car for them. An early EV adopter himself, Russ gave us invaluable advice about the market, pros and cons of the latest imported vehicles, and even chauffeured us to multiple dealerships for test drives. When we chose our BYD, Russ handled the negotiations—though there’s usually less room for negotiation on new cars here—and guided us through payment, insurance, registration, and all the details. Insuring our car was more complicated than buying it, and Russ put forth tremendous effort to provide us with insurance quotes, facilitate the payment, and secure the policy. As Americans, it’s easy these days to be defensive and cynical about large commercial transactions, especially abroad. Hiring our own purchase consultant lifted that burden off our shoulders for a modest fee.

Perhaps like practicing a religion, it’s hard to be a fully consistent green citizen of the Earth. We feel fortunate to have landed in a country so environmentally conscious that it has become a leader in renewable energy and clean transportation in the Americas. The convenience of personal mobility enhance our quality of life in Costa Rica, but we are proud to say we won’t be contributing significantly to global warming as we explore this beautiful country.