No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeCosta RicaTransit police confiscate hundreds of license plates for failure to pay marchamo

Transit police confiscate hundreds of license plates for failure to pay marchamo

The new year has taken a sour start for drivers in Costa Rica who failed to pay the annual vehicle tax, the marchamo.

Traffic Police spokeswoman Wendy Jiménez told The Tico Times that, as of Monday afternoon, 130 drivers all over the country who have failed to pay the yearly circulation permit have had their license plates confiscated and been handed fines. Each fine for not having the marchamo sticker posted on your car’s windshield costs ₡51,000 (just under $100).

“The first punishment is a seizure of the license and the fine, but if you get caught again without having paid the marchamo then it results in confiscation of your vehicle,” she said.

Jiménez said drivers who get caught without an updated marchamo will have to pay the fine, as well as the price of the marchamo, and a storage fine for the plate or vehicle.

Fines started rolling out Sunday after the passage of the Dec. 31, 2016 deadline in which all vehicle taxes and outstanding parking tickets had to be paid in full. Drivers who have forgotten about their marchamo payments should pay as soon as possible, as the tax accumulates interest daily interest once the deadline passes.

According to statistics taken Monday from the National Insurance Institute’s (INS) online database, one of every six drivers with vehicles registered in Costa Rica has still failed to pay the latest vehicle tax.

Many drivers have been ticketed on their way back from holiday travels as traffic police set up numerous roadside checks across the major highways coming into San José on New Year’s Day.

Read more about how the marchamo is calculated and how to pay here.

Trending Now

Life After MS-13 in El Salvador as Residents Seek a Fragile Peace

Esperanza Martinez lost three relatives who were murdered and saw numerous bodies left in the streets of her neighborhood, a former stronghold of the...

Costa Rica Surf Film Festival Honors ‘Pura Vida Bodysurfing’ with Top Audience Award

Pura Vida Bodysurfing is an award-winning short film that strips surfing back to its essence—riding waves without a surfboard. Filmed across Costa Rica’s legendary...

Climate Change in Costa Rica Devastates Coffee Farms in Los Santos

In Costa Rica’s Los Santos region, famous for producing nearly half the country’s coffee, farmers are reeling from heavy losses driven by wild weather....

Costa Rica Pushes USA to the Brink but Falls in Penalty Heartbreak

If you just caught the end of the USA vs. Costa Rica Gold Cup quarterfinal, you probably feel like you need another cup of...

Costa Rica Hunts for Nicaraguan Hit Squad After Exile’s Assassination

Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) is investigating whether a hit squad tied to Nicaragua’s Ortega-Murillo regime is targeting exiled critics on its soil....

Costa Rica and Panama Seek Gold Cup Glory Against North American Giants

With no Caribbean teams advancing, a Central American contingent made up of Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala heads into the quarterfinals of the...
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica