At 3:00 pm December 31, 21.7% of vehicle owners in the country had not paid the 2019 Marchamo according to the State insurer, the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS).
In total, there are 1,556,963 registered vehicles required to pay the annual circulation permit that is due by midnight on December 31.
According to the INS, some 337,000 vehicles still have their 2019 Marchamo pending.
To be fair, not all the vehicles are in circulation. The number includes vehicles that have an active registration, that is subject to the Marchamo payment, but not in circulation.
Unlike in the past, when points of sale for the Marchamo was restricted to the offices of the INS and approved INS agents across the country. Today, the Marchamo can be paid at 2,314 POS including banks, supermarkets and online.
Starting at 12:01 am January 1, vehicles circulating without the 2019 Marchamo or that do not have the Marchamo sticker on the windshield are subject to a fine of ¢52,000 colones plus costs.
In addition, the Policia de Transito (Traffic Police) can also confiscate license plates and/or the vehicle. However, in real practice that measure is typically applied in extreme cases where not only there is no Marchamo, no Riteve (vehicular inspection) and the driver has no license.
Paying the Marchamo in the new year comes with interest and late fees.
On January 2, 2018, some 36% of vehicle owners had not paid the 2018 Marchamo.