Q COSTA RICA — Starting today, Monday, November, 2, 2026, the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) 2027 derecho de circulación—vehicle registration/circulation tax payment—period begins, with a key change: for the first time, the vehicle registration document will be digital.
The new system applies initially to vehicles with windshields, including cars, trucks, and buses. Motorcycles are excluded from the first rollout and will continue using the traditional sticker while the INS tests the technology for those vehicles.
The change is easy to misunderstand: the sticker may last up to 10 years, but the payment does not. Drivers must still pay the Marchamo every year. What changes is the renewal routine.
After receiving and placing the new sticker, vehicle owners need not replace it each year; they can renew through the INS website or other available payment channels.
Vehicle owners have until December 31, 2026, to pay without facing late fees or traffic fines starting January 1, 2027.
A digital document and a durable tag
The reform digitizes more than the windshield sticker. The paper proof of circulation is being replaced by a digital document, which the INS says will be sent to the email address provided during payment. The document remains important: motorists should be prepared to show it when authorities request it.
The sticker uses passive RFID technology, which identifies the vehicle when read by compatible equipment. The INS describes the project as a modernization of the circulation-payment process, and the new sticker includes physical safeguards intended to make it harder to transfer or reuse: it is designed to self-destruct if removed from the windshield.
The INS also says the sticker has no GPS and cannot track a vehicle’s location. That distinction matters amid public questions about privacy.
An RFID sticker can be read by a compatible reader nearby, but that is not the same as continuous GPS tracking. The INS says the device does not monitor a vehicle’s routes or location.
Less paperwork, but a transition to manage
For vehicle owners, the main benefit is practical: once the sticker is installed, there should be no need to collect and apply a fresh sticker every year. The change may also reduce the production and disposal of annual stickers, while the digital proof removes the need to handle a paper document.
Those gains depend on the new process working reliably and on vehicle owners being able to access their digital proof when needed.
The transition will not be identical for everyone. As mentioned before, motorcycles are being held back for testing. The INS ordered an initial batch of 1.6 million labels, according to El Financiero.
There are also practical details owners will need to get right. The sticker is intended to be applied to the inside of the windshield. If it is placed incorrectly or has to be replaced, the owner may need to arrange a replacement through the INS rather than simply transferring it to another vehicle.
The self-destruct feature helps deter misuse, but it also makes careful installation important.
What the change does—and does not—solve
The digital Marchamo is a substantial change to an annual administrative task, but it does not eliminate the underlying obligation or the annual cost. Nor does it, by itself, make the full process paperless for every owner who will still need to make the yearly payment, and the first installation involves receiving and placing a physical label.
The bigger test will be operational. Vehicle owners will need clear instructions on how to receive the sticker, how the payment updates its status, and what to do if the digital document does not arrive or the sticker is damaged. A system meant to reduce annual errands will be judged less by its technology than by whether renewals are straightforward and problems are easy to resolve.
For now, the headline is simple: Costa Rican motorists with windshield-equipped vehicles will keep the same electronic marchamo label for multiple years, but they will still renew and pay each year. Motorcyclists remain on the older system during the initial rollout.
Important information to keep in mind
What information does the new digital Marchamo sticker contain?
In principle, the digital vehicle registration sticker will store two pieces of information about the vehicle: the license plate number and the VIN—an alphanumeric code that serves as the vehicle’s unique identification.
Additionally, there will be a database containing supplementary details to facilitate the verification of the registration fee payment.
Who will store this information?
The data will be housed on the platform currently used by the INS (National Insurance Institute) for the collection of vehicle registration fees.
Access to this information will be restricted to the INS and traffic officers. External inquiries by users will also be possible, just as they are today.
The INS has stated that security filters and strict access controls will be in place to safeguard the information in the database.
What are the potential uses?
Traffic police will be equipped with devices capable of reading the information stored on the sticker. The additional database will allow officers to verify whether the registration fee has been paid.
Furthermore, the technology behind the digital registration sticker could have future applications, such as for automated traffic enforcement (photo-enforcement) or barrier-free toll collection—initiatives currently being pursued by the MOPT (Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes).
Inquiry and Payment Platform
You can now check the exact amount you need to pay by entering your license plate number on the official INS | Marchamo portal or through authorized banking channels.
For clarity, anyone can pay the 2027 INS Marchamo for a vehicle; you do not need to be the registered owner to complete the payment. To process the payment, the person paying only needs to provide the vehicle’s license plate number and specify the vehicle type (e.g., private car, motorcycle, light commercial).
The digital derecho de circulación document is sent directly to the email address provided by the person who completes the payment transaction. It does not automatically go to the registered vehicle owner unless they are the one paying and typing in their email.
When you log on to a banking portal, visit a collection point, or use the INS portal to pay, the system will prompt the user to manually input or confirm a target email address for that specific transaction.
If you’re paying for someone else, enter the email address of the person who needs to keep the document on their phone to show traffic authorities.
What if a mistake is made? If the person paying inputs the wrong email or the message doesn’t arrive, the document is not permanently lost. The INS provides backup download options where the digital receipt can be retrieved using the vehicle’s information.
Important!!!
If a driver who is not the registered owner loses the sticker or the digital marchamo sticker, they cannot simply walk in and request a new one. While anyone is allowed to pay for the marchamo, obtaining a duplicate or replacement sticker/tag is treated as an official legal transaction regarding the property of the vehicle. The INS strictly regulates who can pick up a duplicate to prevent fraud.
There are several legal and everyday scenarios where the driver of a vehicle does not need to be its registered owner. In Costa Rica, as long as the vehicle is legally registered and has its active Marchamo up to date, which includes the valid mandatory insurance, anyone with a valid driver’s license can legally drive it under the following common arrangements:
- Casual or Family Borrowing: A registered owner can freely lend their car to a spouse, child, relative, or friend. No formal written permission is required for day-to-day driving on public roads. If stopped by traffic police (Oficiales de Tránsito), the driver only needs to show their own valid driver’s license and the vehicle’s physical or digital derecho de circulación (Marchamo) and RTV/Dekra inspection documents.
- Company Vehicles: Employees, delivery drivers, sales representatives, or executives drive these vehicles daily for business purposes without being individual owners.
- Corporate Authorization: While not always requested during routine traffic stops, companies often provide drivers with a letter or copy of the corporate certification (personería jurídica) to prove the driver is authorized to use company property, especially for commercial transport.
- Rental and Leasing Agreements. Tourists and locals rent cars daily. The rental agency remains the registered owner, while the driver is authorized via a signed rental contract. Traffic police will accept the rental agreement as proof of legal possession. Many people “buy” cars through bank leasing. In this case, the bank or financial institution remains the legal owner of the vehicle on paper until the lease is fully paid off, while the driver is legally designated as the lessee (arrendatario).
While a driver doesn’t need to be the owner to navigate public roads, there are specific situations where a non-owner must have formal legal authorization:
- Crossing Borders: If a driver wants to take a vehicle out of Costa Rica (e.g., driving into Nicaragua or Panama), they cannot do so without a formal, notarized authorization from the owner, which must be registered with the National Registry (Registro Nacional).
- Retrieving an Impounded Vehicle or license plates: If the vehicle and/or licence plates are confiscated by traffic police, only the registered owner—or a third party with a specific, notarized power of attorney—can legally reclaim the car from the MOPT/COSEVI impound lots.
What happens if the vehicle registration is never changed on purchase or sale?
If a vehicle registration is never officially transferred at the Costa Rican National Registry (Registro Nacional) following a purchase or sale, both parties enter a dangerous, unregulated legal gray zone.
In Costa Rica, this is commonly referred to as dealing with an open deed (traspaso abierto).
Legally, whoever is listed on the National Registry title remains the true owner of the vehicle, regardless of who paid for it or who possesses the keys. This creates severe, contrasting risks for both the seller and the buyer. Including issues with the digital Marchamo or sticker.