Your 2027 Marchamo Is Due and the New Sticker Can Only Go On Once

You can now check and pay your 2027 marchamo, Costa Rica’s mandatory annual vehicle fee, and you have until Dec. 31 to do it without surcharges. This year the payment comes with something new for your windshield: a ¢1,200 electronic sticker designed to last up to 10 years, and one you can only stick on once. The National Insurance Institute (INS) opened collection today. This year 2,090,602 vehicle owners have to pay, and INS expects to collect about ¢365 billion (roughly $800 million). By 10:30 a.m. on the first day, the system had logged 1.37 million queries and 1,256 payments. Before you pay, look closely at the total. On Monday, the INS online calculator added Más Protección, an optional accident insurance policy costing ¢11,900 (about $26), to the amount it showed as the total to pay. The box was ticked by default, and you had to untick it on the next screen to avoid buying it. After complaints from drivers and a call from the general superintendent of insurance, INS said it would stop pre-selecting the policy from midnight Monday. If you looked up your amount on the first day, the figure you saw may have been higher than what you owe. The optional policy is still available if you want it. The new 10-year digital sticker covers cars, buses, trucks and other vehicles with a windshield. Motorcycles and special equipment keep the traditional sticker for now. A motorcycle sticker sits outside, exposed to sun, rain and mud, so INS will test the technology on motorcycles in a pilot first. You receive the sticker when you pay at an INS branch or one of the 2,407 authorized collection points around the country. Its ¢1,200 cost is already included in your marchamo total. In later years you only pay the fee, and the same sticker stays on the glass. Put it on carefully, because you get one try. Clean the glass, then place the sticker on the inside of the windshield, at the top and in the center. The chip inside is destroyed if you peel it off, a security feature meant to stop stickers from being stolen or moved to another vehicle. If you later replace the windshield or the sticker is damaged, you will have to request a new one through INS. If you own more than one vehicle, check before you stick. INS President Gabriela Chacón said owners should confirm in the INS Móvil app that the code on each sticker matches the right plate. INS General Manager José Arévalo said the code is tied to your vehicle and should only be shared with someone you trust. The paper receipt is gone, too. Your proof of payment, the derecho de circulación, arrives by email at the address you give when you pay. You can also download it as a PDF from grupoins.com or the INS Móvil app, or save it to your phone’s digital wallet. If you don’t use email, INS suggested giving a relative’s address and printing the document to keep in the car. Either way, keep a copy handy in case a traffic officer asks for it. You don’t need to scrape off your 2026 sticker. The Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) said leaving it in place will not get you fined. MOPT expects Traffic Police to switch to new devices in 2028 that can check whether a vehicle is up to date just by reading the sticker. The sticker is not a tracker. It uses passive UHF radio-frequency identification, and INS said it has no battery and no GPS, stores no record of where you drive and responds only when an authorized reader scans it at close range. To see what you owe, go to marchamo.grupoins.com, choose your vehicle type and enter your plate number without spaces or dashes. You can also call 800-MARCHAMO (800-6272-4266), message INS on WhatsApp at 2287-6100 or use the INS Móvil app. You can pay on grupoins.com, in the app, by phone at 800-TeleINS (800-835-3467), at INS offices or at any authorized collection point. Your total covers more than the fee itself. Any unpaid municipal parking-meter charges are added, with interest. Property tax makes up about 59% of the marchamo, and the mandatory vehicle insurance about 27%. That insurance, known as SOA, rose ¢1,643 for private cars, ¢4,487 for motorcycles and ¢10,048 for buses compared with last year. It fell ¢1,672 for light cargo vehicles, ¢834 for heavy cargo and about ¢5,500 for taxis. Sidney Viales, who heads mandatory insurance at INS, said traffic accidents drove this year’s rates. INS said motorcycle riders account for 65% to 70% of the people injured in crashes. The deadline is Dec. 31. From Jan. 1, unpaid vehicles face surcharges, and driving without a current marchamo can bring fines under the Traffic Law.