When you lock your car in Costa Rica, don’t assume it is locked. A group of Colombian visitors found that out during a coffee stop near Caldera, on the central Pacific coast. The group left their rental cars for about eight minutes, according to an account one of the travelers shared on TikTok. When they came back, two suitcases and two passports were gone from one vehicle, and another traveler lost a wallet with credit cards, which he was able to cancel.
The car had untinted windows, so the luggage was visible from outside. The travelers believe the thieves blocked the signal from the key when they pressed the lock button, so the doors never actually locked. Authorities have not confirmed how the theft happened. The technique is not new in Costa Rica. Thieves use signal inhibitors, small devices sold online, to jam the signal between a remote key and the car’s central locking system, so the alarm never arms and the doors stay open.
In 2024, JoaquÃn Sánchez, head of vehicle theft at the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), described the devices as a kind of scanner that blocks the remote’s signal and said thieves were using them in supermarket and mall parking lots. In July of this year, three men were arrested in San Ramón on suspicion of stealing a car from a parking lot with one of the devices.
The fix takes five seconds. After you press lock, listen for the click and watch for the lights to flash, then pull the door handle. If the door opens, lock it with the button on the door or the key itself, and check again. Leave nothing in sight, not even an empty bag, because thieves pick the car with something worth taking. If your rental has no trunk cover, put luggage away before you reach your stop, not in the parking lot where someone can watch you do it.
Keep your passport on you or in your hotel safe rather than in the car. A lost passport means a trip to your embassy in San José before you can fly home. Park where you can see the car, or in a lot with a guard. Roadside stops along main highways are a common target because drivers expect to be back in a few minutes.
If your car is broken into, file a report with the OIJ as soon as you can. You will need that report to replace a passport and to make a claim with your rental company or insurer. Vehicle break-ins tend to rise in tourist areas during the high season, which begins in December, the OIJ has warned in past years.
