Shipping a car

DOn't waste your time with Hacienda...
I used PR Car Transport... 904 322 7644 about 3 years ago.  They were very good.
they had all the info , door to door pick up and I actually paid a little less at Hacienda they they estimated.

https://www.puertoricocartransport.com/get-quote.php

pspsurf wrote:

Does anyone know the phone number to Departmento de Hacienda..? Im trying to get a quote for shipping a Honda Civic. The brand Honda is not an option to get a quote......do they call it something else down here ?

Did you try entering the VIM?

Yeah,I tried that  but still no info on the car. Hhhmmmm...

Older cars have the same issue, one has to go in person or call them, but they hardly ever answer the phone.

Anyway you get an estimate on the tax, not until the car arrives do they set on a final tax bill.

Shipping a car :: I got some sound info today, so here it is for whoever may need it.
Import tax : Vehicles from $1 up to $6000 = $ 750 import tax . Vehicles valued at over $6000 pay the minimum of $750 PLUS 11.5% of appraised value of vehicle. So there it is as of 10/8/2018. I hope this helps somebody. I'll be moving to PR on Nov 1st,any active people male or female please reach out to me so we can start adventuring. See you soon~Shawn

Dont ship a car here. Makes no sense. Cost to much and not worth it

How do you figure? I drive a 20 year old 4Runner that I love dearly. Shipping + taxes are going to run $1,700 and in exchange I end up with a car that I KNOW has had good maintenance, I KNOW was not flooded, I know wasn't beat to hell. I can't buy a decent used SUV in PR for less than that.

Additionally, my wife drives a 2009 Rav-4. Taxes and shipping on it are $2,109. Again, I know it's been taken care of, I know it's a reliable car, it's got super low miles, and there's no way in hell I can find an equivalent car in PR for less than the price to ship and import.

I've been through the car buying process in PR before and we ended up with a $3,500 Pathfinder with 200,000 miles on it. It worked great for us and never left us stranded (Aside from that once) but even at that low price, I'd be better of importing my cars.

Now if I had a brand new car, still financed, and I was trying to import to PR, yeah, I might reconsider. But a 20 year old and 10 year old paid off car that I know the maintenance history on them? It'd be idiotic to NOT ship them.

One thing to keep in mind when evaluating the choice between shipping your car and paying the import tax v buying a car on the island.   

In PR there is no tax on purchasing a used car   🤗.  ( PR has a sales tax of 10.5% on most things)    I found a fair deal on a used van by shopping in the classified ads on line from a private party.   

I have a nice Jeep that I would like to ship, but the shipping $1100 and tax of over 6000 gives me pause.  😤

We are moving to PR in May and were initially thinking of shipping our 2004 Honda Odyssey, low mileage ( <40,000)  and super reliable. But on second though, getting a pickup truck would be a wiser choice for our farm. I heard from a friend living in PR that car/truck buying can be a real hassle and could take some time.  So my question is, would you ship the Odyssey and then start looking for a pickup truck while on the Island? At least we would have a very reliable car for the time being.

Yep. If you've got a car that you like and you know the maintenance history on, especially an older one like yours, it's totally worth it to ship it (In my opinion). That way when you arrive you've got something to drive and don't have to spend money on a rental and go through the buying process, possibly ending up with a piece of junk.

You will still end up renting a car when arriving in PR since the car transport can take 7 to 14 days. But I agree, you have a car that you know is reliable. Hopefully!!!

Unless you ship ahead of time. That's what we're doing. Even then yeah we'll probably end up with a rental car for at least one day, but that's better than a rental car for a week while we try to track down something to buy...

I have bought a couple of cars here on the island.  From private parties, classified on line is a good starting place.  Bought an Odyssey that was for sale on the side of the road.

No sales tax on used cars here. 😊

Sitka, did you have the cars checked out by a mechanic prior to buying?  Sounds like you had good experiences with used car buying in PR.

We certainly could ship ahead of time. Downside, driving the car from Vermont to either NJ or Jacksonville,Fl for shipping. Or pick up here in VT which would add to the cost.

No, I didn’t have the cars checked by a mechanic.   But that is always a good thing to do if you can.

I did of course look them over carefully and test drive the car first.  My current car was purchased from the original owner and had a complete history. 

That being said, all used cars are a gamble to a certain extent, you pay the money and take your chances.