Riteve Part II - Vehicle Inspection in Costa Rica

We have our own car.

In my blog entry on October 28, 2018 I reported on the need to have a vehicle inspected in Costa Rica.  Inspections are done by a company known in Costa Rica as Riteve SyC or simply Riteve. It is part of a worldwide group of companies which operate under the umbrella of an organization known as Applus+.

In Costa Rica, all vehicles are required to have a sticker on their front window confirming that a required inspection has been done and that the vehicle passed. Serious issues can arise if you drive with an out of date sticker or, if it is out of date, without a paper indicating that you have an extension of time to correct any problems found during inspection. 

Last year, we elected to handle the matter ourselves. To say the least, the experience was interesting. But, the time and inconvenience was a bit much. This included time spent driving to and from Riteve, time spent parking and standing in a line-up of people to pay Riteve and be assigned to one of several inspection stations, time spent slowly progressing in a stop and go line-up of vehicles to the station, time spent progressing through several inspection points in the station, and time spent waiting while an inspection report was produced.

This year, we took a different approach. We knew that the car required maintenance and servicing - including a tune-up. It is a previously owned 2006 Subaru Forester with about 141,000 km (76,000 miles) - meaning that it is due for inspection on an annual basis. But, the engine was coughing and almost stalling on some start-ups. The air filter was making an obnoxious resonating noise when the car was struggling up steep hills while being forced to maintain speed. The dashboard lights … well … there weren’t any - so it was sometimes difficult to tell how fast we were going whether uphill, downhill or on the flat. 

We decided to take the car to Carlos Morera at Superior Automotriz in Grecia for servicing and also to ask whether he or an associate would be willing to take the car through Riteve. Happily, he was willing to do both. He was familiar with the vehicle and had previously done a first class job addressing a transmission problem.

Had we elected to take the car to Riteve ourselves before having the servicing done, the car would have failed miserably. Although not particularly noticeable, one rear shock was blown and leaking oil. The brakes required attention. The air filter had a cracked rim. The fuel injectors and spark plugs were on their last legs and needed replacement to cure the coughing problem - without which the car would have failed an exhaust emissions test. New dashboard lights were required.

In the end, the car passed Riteve without incident and was returned to our doorstep. The charges for taking the car through Riteve totaled 26,000 colones (about USD $45) and that included 16,000 colones paid to Riteve. I don't know, but the charges may have been more if the car had been in good condition beforehand and all Superior Automotriz was called upon to do is take the car through Riteve. In any case, it is highly unlikely that we will ever again take a car through Riteve ourselves.

First Year of Owning a Vehicle in Costa Rica - Vehicle Inspection

In Costa Rica, vehicle inspection is handled by a government agency generally referred to as "Riteve". As it seems, the inspection procedure turns out to be far more rigorous than we ever encountered in Canada. I expect the same is true for the U.S. For older vehicles, inspection can be an annual event.

The procedure involves not only checking exhaust emissions, tire tread wear, break lining wear, headlight alignment, do the blinkers work, but also checking under the hood, under the body, can the horn actually "honk", etc. What was different, at least compared to our past experience in Canada, was a bone rattling dynamic testing of the brakes.

The procedure is a step by step drive through procedure and you do the driving. You are expected to follow instructions in a very noisy environment. Unless you are absolutely fluent in Spanish or luckily get a Riteve technician who is fluent in English then you could have a problem. Normally, the whole procedure should take about 15 to 20 minutes.

In the absence of fluency, then for a nominal fee you should consider hiring a local mechanic to take your vehicle to Riteve, do the drive through, and report back to you on any deficiencies found by Riteve. Riteve does provide a report card (in Spanish). 

In December 2017, we purchased a used low mileage 2006 Subaru Forrester. Part of our due diligence dictated that we confirm it had passed on its last due date (and it had). The next due date was recent. We went online to Riteve and got an appointment. This was easily done (in English) HERE.

We FAILED! Riteve had four observations:

(1) Rear tires with mild tread wear but not requiring attention at the present time (not serious).

(2) One clouded headlight cover burned by the sun but not requiring attention at the present time (not serious).

(3) A "sunscreen adhesive" on the rear window but not requiring attention at the present time (not serious).

(4) One low beam headlight considered to be too low - a serious problem ("grave" in Spanish). FAILURE - NEEDS FIXING!

The "sunscreen adhesive" was actually a small "Baby On Board" sticker applied by the previous owner. We could easily scrape it off but decided to leave it in place. What bad guys would attack a vehicle if they thought a baby was on board? Possibly a naive thought - and not necessarily a good message for first responders.

We were given an initial three week deadline to return to Riteve and show that the low beam headlight problem had been fixed. We did so, but not before going through some hoops. 

First, we unsuccessfully looked for any advertised local service which could provide headlight alignment. Second, we turned to Facebook only to be advised by many that any competent mechanic could do the job. Not knowing who "any competent mechanic" might be, we went to an auto repair shop which had previously fixed a problem we had with vehicle air conditioning. They were very competent but not in the business of aligning headlights. They directed us to a shop which specialized in automotive electrical systems. While busy with other work, one person in that shop stepped aside, quickly checked the alignment of both headlights, fixed the one which was misaligned - and declined to accept any payment for the service - Taller Electromecánico y Baterías Bull.

We returned to Riteve and were cleared almost immediately when we got to the headlight testing station. But our exit was delayed because there were vehicles in the line ahead of us which seemed to be having some issues.