Buying a car in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Hi, depending upon the island there are not many cars available that would be reliable. It would be worth considering buying from car rental companies, the cars are well serviced and in good condition. Prices are high, even for old vehicles, for example, we sold our 20 year old car for $6,000, more than we had paid for it 4 years previously. Depending upon why you are planning to relocate, you can import cars from Japanese cars.com, the largest source of cars in the TCI. It takes 2-3 months; of course they show you pictures and grade their cars from 1-4 depending upon condition. There is a 37% tax payable on imports (scary!) but this is not always payable (i.e. reason for relocation) although even if you do have exemption, you will have to pay the tax if you sell the vehicle, tho it is pro rata dependant upon how long you keep it (we paid a very small amount as we'd kept it for 4 years-no tax payable if you keep it for 5 years.

There is an annual registration fee, not high, I think maybe $200 and insurance is available (and mandatory, you cannot register the car without an insurance doc). I think we used Heritage, only a couple of companies to choose from.  There is also an annual car check, from experience on Grand Turk it took less than 2 minutes, basically just checking you have 4 wheels (not tyres!?!?), lights and windscreen. Again minimal cost.

As a Brit we found the petrol costs very reasonable, certainly much cheaper than in the UK, although locals and Americans complained it was too expensive.  None of the islands are large though it is easy to rack up mileage on tiny Grand Turk (6 miles by 1.5) given that shopping is tricky and you usually have to go to 6 or so shops to get all you need (tho not EVERYTHING you need as its all imported).

Again depending upon where you live, many roads are not tarmac and so rough, often flooding, we chose a 4 wheel drive but it is not essential.

A common problem to be aware of its that cars rust due to the high salt, especially underneath, I recommend regular spraying the underside to clean the salt off. For that reason alone we would never have spent a lot of money on a big shiny new car!

Good luck, I hope this is useful, happy to answer any further questions, Philippa