Please weigh in on this if you have ANY experience or know people who have bought a car there OR shipped one down!
Here's the deal: I'll be moving down in 2015 and am starting to seriously figure out the gigantic lists of to-dos and start the process of preparing to go.
My wife and I won't have much money at least not at first, we may have more later, but there's no guarantee so we will be moving down and living frugally.
We will be bringing only what we can bring on plane trips, however many suitcases they allow us each to bring, and then later once we get settled we may ship down some stuff or just make another "suitcase run".
So, now that we've established that we're doing this as FRUGALLY as possible:
We will only have, say $6k or so to spend on a vehicle and it has to be 4wd. We're not looking for luxury and I know we won't get it at that price, we'll be getting an old basic 4wd.
I've heard that odometers are almost ALWAYS set back in Costa Rica, and that buying a used car there is a mine field.
I've also heard that shipping a car down from the USA can add a lot of cost.
So:
Which should we do? Buy a car here and ship it, or buy a car there?
Let me add that I do have quite a few Tico and American friends (well 3-4 Ticos and 15 or so gringos) who live in Costa Rica, so they might be able to help me get a good "honest" used car. But then again maybe not... Oh I also know a Tico who's a GOOD friend of a friend of mine who works for a car rental company. I doubt it would be a good idea to get a car from there but if it were okay to do I might get a better deal than most by doing so since I have a friend there... (just an idea to explore)
Opinions please!