The cost of getting your vehicle inspected in Costa Rica will not be going up next year, despite attempts to raise the charge more than 200 percent.
The Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) rejected Spanish private contractor Riteve SyC‘s request to increase rates for mandatory vehicle inspections — for the 10th consecutive year.
Riteve had asked for a 205 percent hike in inspection rates, but ARESEP again argued that it was impossible to evaluate the request because Riteve failed to explain how the proposed rates were calculated.
That is the same answer the agency has given to all Riteve’s requests since 2005, the year it approved the last increase in rates.
Riteve spokeswoman Jennifer Hidalgo said Friday that the company had received ARESEP’s notification, but she declined to address the rate hike rejection. “The company has already expressed its position regarding our petition to ARESEP,” she said.
Riteve has said in the past that its contract with the Costa Rican government states that the Public Works and Transport Ministry is responsible for defining the rate-setting model, but that MOPT has failed to do so.
Earlier this week, Riteve officials said that if the regulatory agency had approved all of the company’s previous rate hike requests, this year’s proposed increase would have been just 1 percent, equivalent to ₡287 ($0.50).
See the full list of RTV rates by vehicle type here.