Hi Steve,
While you can find used car prices galore online for Costa Rica, the new car dealerships (almost all of which are in San Jose, the capital) don’t really publish the prices online in most cases. The only one I’ve found is Toyota, through the Purdy Motors dealership: http://www.toyotacr.com
For other makes, I think you’ll have to contact the dealership directly or visit them. Here’s contact info for Nissan and Suzuki:
http://www.nissancr.com/sp/web/header/header_10681.htm http://www.suzuki.cr/sucursales.php?suc=uruca
As far as hybrids, there is a duty – it’s 10%. Fully electric vehicles can be brought in duty free.
The thing about hybrids is they are very rare. I read an article last year that reported that less than 200 hybrid vehicles had been sold in the country since 2008.Depending on the model you might need to special order it. A Chinese automaker called BYD started selling a hybrid vehicle in CR last year. And I’ve heard that the Prius is also available at the Toyota dealer.
The cost of a new hybrid is still more than the U.S. but not as significant a jump as with regular cars. New hybrids average about $40,000.
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