If your cars are in good shape, ship them... to buy a used car here is a real crap shoot: cars here are generally abused by bad
(REALLY bad) roads, floods and bad drivers who don't always keep their cars serviced. Trust me on this one, it will cost you a few $$ to ship and pay the local taxes but as i said, if your cars are in good shape you will save in the long run. I shipped a 7 year old car via ROSA DEL MONTE several years ago but i don't know if they are just in NY. it cost me at that time about $1000-$1100 to ship and then about another $1000 for local taxes, marbete and tabllia ( plates & registration) but i had the car till last year and I knew it was in good shape.
Furniture: sell everything you can. life here is much simpler. you will find all the "stuff" you have accumulated is useless. metals will pit if you are near the ocean. you don't want heavy, north-eastern decorations in an airy, bright island home. we also have Marshall's, Home Goods, Burlington and Bed Bath and Beyond and MORE if you need anything
Food is expensive but don't let them get you crazy; we have Costco, Walmart and Sam's for bulk and good quality buying. There are also good discount services such as YUPITI.com and GROUPON.com which allow you to try restaurants and services at discounted prices.
hope that is helpful.
