Every vehicle in Costa Rica must pay the annual marchamo and pass the vehicle technical inspection (revisión técnica vehicular) to legally circulate.
Marchamo:
- It is paid once a year, generally between November and December for the following year.
- It includes mandatory automobile insurance (SOA) from the INS, the circulation tax, and other municipal and Ministerio de Hacienda fees.
- It can be paid at authorized banks, online, or at INS locations.
Vehicle technical inspection - current operator:
- IMPORTANT: the name "RITEVE" no longer corresponds to the current operator of this service. Since October 2022, the German company Dekra has been the operator of the vehicle technical inspection in Costa Rica, after winning the COSEVI tender.
- Dekra's permit to operate, originally set between October 2022 and October 2024, has received several successive extensions — the most recently confirmed extends the temporary contract for up to an additional year.
- The Contraloría General de la República sustained objections filed by Dekra and Riteve regarding the public tender to choose the new operator, forcing a review of that bidding process.
- COSEVI's plan is that, once the tender is resolved, two companies will provide the service IN COMPETITION with each other (instead of a single operator as is currently the case): the Applus consortium (which includes the former Riteve SyC) and TÜV Rheinland are the most strongly mentioned candidates, but the process remains unresolved.
- Practical conclusion: as of the verification date of this sheet, the current operator remains Dekra, with repeated extensions and no firm date for a change. Before scheduling an appointment, confirm the active operator on the COSEVI website (www.cosevi.go.cr) or by searching "revision tecnica vehicular Costa Rica" for recent news — this information has changed several times in recent months alone.
General process (applies regardless of the operator):
- The deadline depends on the last digit of the vehicle's license plate.
- Lights, brakes, emissions, suspension, among other systems, are inspected.
- If the vehicle does not pass, the issue must be corrected and reinspected within the specified timeframe.
Maintenance note: this is exactly the type of data identified as being at high risk of becoming outdated (change of operator due to public tender). It requires more frequent review than procedures with a stable single source such as Ministerio de Hacienda or CCSS.
COLIBRÍ CR