In Costa Rica, the traditional procrastinating philosophy of “there’s always tomorrow” often gets in the way of big business. Such is the case with the leviathan National Insurance Institute (Spanish acronym: INS), which recently reported that more than 60 percent of marchamos (vehicle circulation permits in Costa Rica) for 2014 have not yet been paid.

With almost 1.2 million registered vehicles on the road, Costa Rica has clearly become a car-crazy nation. This is good news for companies such as INS, which is one of the most profitable insurers in Latin America. INS handles marchamo payments, which are only issued in conjunction with a liability and motor vehicle accident insurance policy. The more cars circulating in the Costa Rica, the better for INS’ bottom line. For this reason, INS releases up-to-date information on how many drivers haven’t paid their marchamos each year.

The deadline for paying marchamos is December 31^st. The consequences for driving a car without a marchamo in Costa Rica include a 47,000 colones fine (about $94) and confiscation of the vehicle’s license plates, which means it cannot be driven and must be towed away. To this effect, transit police officers can be usually seen at numerous checkpoints around the country in January.

The steep cost of fuel and vehicle maintenance in Costa Rica has prompted some banks to offer special financing on annual marchamo payments.

Thus far, INS has collected about $130 million in marchamo payments from 422,390 vehicle owners in Costa Rica, which according to national newspaper La Nacion represents 35.6 percent of the outstanding amount. There are more than 1,400 establishments across Costa Rica where marchamos can be paid, and they are expected to get quite busy as New Year’s Eve gets closer.

In the past, INS has considered switching to an exclusive online marchamo payment platform, but the thought of server overload on December 31^st as hundreds of thousands of drivers rush to pay their certificates in the nick of time has dissuaded them from this idea.