My experience importing my car and getting a license

Hi all!!

Just want to share some things we learned during the last few weeks regarding shipping our car from Colorado, registering it in PR, and obtaining PR licenses.


THANK YOU to all you folks who have written about the experience of importing cars here and obtaining drivers licenses, it was very helpful!!! 

Shipping the Car or  "oh my gosh are we getting stood up!?"

We used Puerto Rico Car Transport. Overall it was a mildly positive experience as our car got here in one piece with no damage. It cost about $2000 to have it shipped from Denver, Colorado to San Juan... but there were some very frustrating snags along the way! We requested a quote online, talked to someone there, and scheduled our shipment. They were very responsive to questions until we provided our credit card number and after that we were in the dark for a week with unanswered calls and emails. 

We had to drive 5 hours to Denver to have the car picked up since they couldn't get a truck to our more rural area of Colorado (understandable). Since we were moving as soon as the car was shipped we ended up staying in a hotel in Denver for two days because they couldn't get a driver there when they had originally scheduled our shipment and did not tell us until the night before pickup was scheduled. We also had to change our flights to stick around an extra day as the hotel could not accept responsibility for giving the key to the transport truck which would be "hopefully" arriving the next day. The other option PR car transport gave us was to leave the key in the car or under the car and they assured us they would pick it up in a day(so they recommended we leave our car with keys in it in a hotel parking lot while we flew to Puerto Rico....uh no!). 

Once the car was picked up in Denver I believe it took about 12 days to arrive in San Juan. We never received a tracking number from PR Car Transport and had to call several times for updates on estimated arrival. Once the car did arrive though we received an email with info on where to go to pick it up at the Crowley terminal in Isla Grande.

The positives: everyone we spoke with at PR car transport was friendly and spoke English fluently, the car arrived in good shape when it was supposed to arrive, cost was worth it to us.

Picking up the Car or  "good lord we are going to die here in the Crowley terminal and no one will ever find us but everyone is so friendly and there is a coffee machine so it's all good"

You will need your ID and I think your social security card too, as well as the car title.

Once the car arrived we had 5 days free storage including Saturday and Sunday at Crowley but as the car arrived late Monday we could not pick it up that day so we had to leave it for a week (had to be back for installation of AC and other various repairs to our condo). Because we overstayed our 5 free days by 1 day we had to pay a storage charge of $5.63. I will never forget that number because it added an hour and a half to our pickup process! Don't overstay your 5 days!

First we went to Crowley terminal (car division) in Isla Grande, had to park our rental car in the visitor lot and sign in, show ID, and get visitor name tags, then walk about a hundred feet to a small red hut where a man gave me a orange vest and told me to go walk around the lot and find my car and also get a piece of paper out of my car. It took awhile to locate the car (key was inside) but I found it right as it started to pour rain so that was good!  Then I had to take the paper to the main Crowley car division office (it's right there by the red hut, don't worry), tell the security guy I was picking up my car, and go straight to the window to the left of the main entrance. If you are picking up your car you do NOT need to take a number and sit, only if you are shipping a car from there.  The lady here was very nice and gave me the "bill of lading" and then the lady at the counter beside her looked up my car value for determining import duty and gave me some papers to sign and then take to our next stop- Hacienda. This lady gave me directions to Hacienda and also wrote down the floors and room numbers for me to go to at hacienda. Very helpful!  It was less than a ten minute drive(in the rental- you don't get your car til the very end!), we parked in a big garage and went into hacienda, just go straight to your floor - don't wait in the line on the bottom floor!  We had two stops at Hacienda, first on the 4th floor to pay the import duty and a few other small fees. We just walked in, signed in, and handed the papers from Crowley to a nice lady and she took care of it. They took credit cards, we had to pay about $2600 import fees on a 2012 Subaru Impreza.  The next stop was on the 3rd floor where we walked in and gave the papers to another lady who took them for about 10 minutes and gave them back to us, I think all she did was stamp them?? There was a registration book on the desk to sign in here as well and wait to be called. Keep all the papers and receipts that you get! You need them when you go back to Crowey to show you have paid duties.

We felt great! Things were going smoothly, we didn't get lost, we just had to go back to Crowley and get the car! Home free!! It had taken 2 hours total up to this point and my husband and I set the line at 3 hours from "arrive at Crowley the first time and drive our car out of the lot". I had taken the under...I should have won. 

Well.....We went back to Crowley, parked in the visitor lot again and went into the main building. It was much busier now than when we were there the first time right when they opened.... Went straight to the window again and this is where we began to regret our extra day of storage!!!! The lady said I had to go to the other side of the building and pay the storage fee to Carmen, then come back to finish up. I sat and waited for over an hour before Carmen could see me. There were only two people in front of me waiting for Carmen but they were car dealers I think and apparently had lots of fees to take care of . When it was my turn I went back into the rows of cubicles to the right and found Carmen who calculated the fees and wrote up an invoice for $5.63 for one day extra storage. Then I had to go with a gentleman to a room where he called a company and then left me there for a few minutes on hold on the phone... the company then took my credit card payment for $5.63 over the phone and emailed me a receipt. You cannot pay cash nor can you pay Carmen or anyone at Crowley! But everyone was very nice this whole time. Once that was done I went back to the window and they gave me a receipt and took some of the papers from me.  Then back to the red hut to get a vest and get my car! Showed my receipt and ID to the man at the exit gate and gave him the vest and we were free to go! 

Registering the car in Humacao (our region) or "well that was an adventure and what is the point of this inspection??"

DTOP looks crazy when you go in...bring a sense of humor, a charged cell phone or book, and maybe a snack and some water.  Even just half an hour after they opened there were dozens of people standing in different lines and sitting in the chairs waiting. It really helps to know some Spanish and to ask some questions before you wait in any lines. We needed to go to special services department in the back of the building to register the car.  This department closed earlier than the rest of DTOP so we did not arrive in time to get everything done there in one day.  The lady at the Special services desk gave me a set of steps to follow and a form to take to the Colectaria office in Humacao. Step 1: get the car inspected at an inspection station (we went to a puma gas station) Step 2: take the forms to the Colectaria in Humacao and pay the necessary fees for insurance and buy the stamps "sellos". Step 3. Return to her desk at DTOP with those things, my car title, ID, proof of residency, passport, social security card, and firstborn child (ok not that one). 

We did the inspection (took 10 minutes) that day.  The next day we went to the Colectaria at 8 am when they opened to pay fees (stand in line and hand them your form from DTOP and your identification and pay the fees).

We then went straight to the DTOP - stand in the info line again and tell them what you need, and get a number before going to wait the special services area for them to call your number. We got the registration, license plate, sticker showing we have purchased mandatory insurance, and new car title at DTOP in about an hour.   

I think it cost $11 for the car inspection at Puma (literally did not even look at the car, just the title and my ID) and then $170 at the Colectaria for insurance and stamps. Both took credit cards.


I recommend assembling an "Identity theft starter kit".  Something that really helped in this process was that I had put together a plastic bag of documents that I knew or thought or suspected that I might need. I had it with me for all of these stops along the way and obviously guarded it with great care . It contained my original social security card, original birth certificate, marriage license (since my name on my car title is my maiden name!), current passport and copy of current passport as well, void passport with maiden name, my current Colorado drivers license, my car title and car registration, and proof of residence in Puerto Rico. This bag of stuff saved my sanity as I was not panicking about remembering and bringing the right things to each necessary stop- I had EVERYTHING I could possibly have needed with me at each place, just had to dig for whatever specific thing each place needed.  I also brought some cash in case if was needed which it was when I went to get my drivers license.

Drivers license or "wow this is a walk in the park after the other things we went through!".

First go to DTOP information line and ask for the forms for changing your state license to PR. I heard that all states now have full reciprocity with PR! At any rate, I did not have to take either a written or driving test to get my PR license. In Humacao DTOP they staple the forms to a little instruction sheet (in Spanish) with exactly what you need listed on it. Then not even a hundred yards away is a little place with a sign that says " abogado, Medico, fotos, sellos". Go there and show them the forms you got at DTOP. I sat and waited for 10 min and filled out those forms (they are in Spanish) and the doctor then had me do a quick vision screening, answer some basic medical questions, and step on a scale. He filled out his part of the form and I paid him $20 cash. Then the front desk lady took my foto and printed it ($6) and I asked for the sellos ($11) and went back to DTOP. Make sure you stand in the correct line here with your identity theft starter kit and your sellos, fotos, and forms. The line moves fast, I waited 15 min and it was my turn.  They took my forms, sellos, one of the 2x2 fotos, my passport AND the copy of the passport, my Colorado license, my social security card, and proof of residence.  The lady filled out something and a man at the foto desk took me over to get another foto taken, and to make copies of some documents and return them to me (except the Colorado ID).  Nothing was wrong with the foto from the other place, they took it for something, I don't know what for! I sat and waited for about 10 minutes and my new license was ready!   Whole process took around an hour I think. 


If I had it to do over, I would probably not ship my car.  I recommend you carefully consider the costs (time and money) before electing to import your vehicle.


Good luck!!

Donna