Automobile business in DR

The problem is no one wants to give you any encouraging info only all the reasons it's not possible...

My advice start small 25k investment
Buy 3 salvage cars with title
Get shipping container brought to auction for pickup and have it delivered to Miami for transport to SDQ.

In my experience
the cars were all less than 5k each.. But worth 15k or more
Container transport was $4700 all inclusive
Taxes and port fees 2k
Repair cost 2k each

Now if you can sell each car for 15k or more maybe it worth reinvesting again until it becomes a lucrative investment...

The fundamental question is "will they let them past customs?"   I can't get a straight answer bug the best answer I received was from an importer who would collect them and flatbed them to repair shop.  He seemed trustworthy, but title was to be in his business name.  One wanted me to buy a car right there and put in his name.  No contract. I had a car repaired at one shop (wrecked there, insurance paid, would never be repaired here it would've been totaled) but could not get an invoice.  I wound up losing the car.

Can you even import a car with a salvage title? Cars can’t be over 5 years old, and there are other restrictions on engine size (no V-8s), etc. I can’t imagine it would be easy to import.

The intent was to title the car after repair. That's done here.  I've seen cars there repaired that would be junked here without question.  Here a car can be titled salvage and still drivable, it doesn't take much. Airbag deployment will often junk a car here.  Insurance companies here make/save money selling the car for parts or even repair and don't want to deal with it.

ddmcghee wrote:

Can you even import a car with a salvage title? Cars can’t be over 5 years old, and there are other restrictions on engine size (no V-8s), etc. I can’t imagine it would be easy to import.

Importation of salvaged light vehilcles is not permitted under Article 179 of Ley 63-17de Movilidad, Transporte Terrestre, Tránsito y Seguridad Vial de
la República Dominicana. G. O. No. 10875 del 24 de febrero de 2017.

Artículo 179.- Importación de vehículos de motor livianos. Únicamente se permitirá la
importación de vehículos de motor livianos de hasta cinco (5) años de fabricación. Sin
embargo, en ningún caso se permitirá la importación de vehículos de salvamento o pérdida
total.

Google translaton:

Article 179.- Import of light motor vehicles. Only the
importation of light motor vehicles up to five (5) years of manufacture. Without
However, in no case will the importation of salvage or loss vehicles be allowed
total.

Perfect and thank you

Good I think article 179 settles it.

I could be wrong. But I was told. That to import a car as a resident. It could not be older than three years old. And you had to have legal ownership of it for one year before you could import it.

I understand and actually applaud the government for not wanting to get totaled and salvage cars to be dumped into the Dominican. Not fixed properly and be dangerous on the roads.

It's dangerous enough with the dilapidated trucks and motorcycles that don't have rear tail lights at night that cause wrecks.  If they won't put a couple of dollar light bulb in a rear tail light think of how they're going to keep up cars that need shocks or struts or frame out of alignment. Too dangerous to be on the road!

I have several companies in the states and one love that I have is my company called Auto Locators.  I locate hard to find, discontinued classic and current parts or complete cars for customers.

I made a couple of contacts including Ameriparts in Santo Domingo and Santiago.  I've helped a few individuals and a few body shops with items from key fobs, door handles to AC compressors and alternators. But I had too many contact me wanting to buy complete cars like you were thinking. And  I didn't want to have anything to do with causing problems with the government.

I was told it could be done. I just decided I didn't want to have anything to do with it.

There are many concepts for good businesses that the government would applaud and the people need. Keep your thinking cap on and good luck.

Iamzacharias

There are lots of great ideas for businesses!  The right ones will come together!

Agreed but they would be inspected and I personally would never sell a dangerous product.

Unfortunately while you have standards many do not. This the laws in place.

As far as I know, the government wants to be all electric in 15 years, why would anybody invest in gasoline or diesel powered vehicles.

I have contact to a developer who wants to convert trucks and buses to run on fuel cells powered by methanol, rather than hydrogen. We expect the technology to be ready in 3 years. For passenger vehicles we already have proof of concept by producing street ready cars.

15 years is a long time.
As far as electric cars being the future, I don't disagree.

With respect to the DR, they will lag in this area for sure unless there is an economic turnaround that enables infrastructure investment.

They can't keep water and electricity reliable in developed areas today.  Good luck then adding charging stations to the grid.

I don't know too much about fuel cells in general other than major automobile manufacturers have not been successful investing in that technology so minimally it's not a slam dunk.  I recall BMW, GM and Toyota developed cars powered by fuel cells and yet none available in the marketplace and to my knowledge no plans for them entering the market anytime soon.

Besides, we are talking about used cars at affordable prices here. And we are not talking about a massive investment but we are talking about an optimized ROI while supplying value add jobs outside the service industry which is something the DR desperately needs as the country has very little in the way of manufacturing.

I'm not sure why this is the case because the country has labor rates very attractive to investors.  I suspect it's a combination of education, culture and corruption that limits foreign investment.

I've heard of such ventures being tried before, and that they had all failed...not worth the effort. The high tariffs are there for a reason and it's tough to get around them. The gov figures that if you're rich enough to afford foreign luxuries like cars and wine,  its reasonable that they should have some of your money  so they themselves can line in luxury.

jmiller0017 wrote:

The problem is no one wants to give you any encouraging info only all the reasons it's not possible...

My advice start small 25k investment
Buy 3 salvage cars with title
Get shipping container brought to auction for pickup and have it delivered to Miami for transport to SDQ.

In my experience
the cars were all less than 5k each.. But worth 15k or more
Container transport was $4700 all inclusive
Taxes and port fees 2k
Repair cost 2k each

Now if you can sell each car for 15k or more maybe it worth reinvesting again until it becomes a lucrative investment...

Salvage cars cannot be imported into the DR unless laws changed.  Did they?  You seem to have had experience with this.

Overall, I would suggest this is not a good idea.

The laws did not change honey!  ITs still the same set of rules.

did you try this venture? did you bring cars into the country on a salvage certificate?

be very careful when you  buy a car in this country which came from offshore. if that thing has a rebuilt salvage title you will be running it on seguro de ley, because no insurance carrier will give you any type of comprehensive or collision coverage.

Miller, it's not that no one is willing to give any encouraging info, but rather the fact that there is no such info. The deck is stacked against this activity. The comments are realism oriented.

cruffman wrote:

be very careful when you  buy a car in this country which came from offshore. if that thing has a rebuilt salvage title you will be running it on seguro de ley, because no insurance carrier will give you any type of comprehensive or collision coverage.

Since bringing in a car with a salvage title cannot legally be done, it is a moot point.

it is not a moot point. you cannot legally bring in a vehicle with a salvage CERTIFICATE.  ou can bring them in with aa salvage TITLE.

when you buy a salvage in its destroyed form you get a salvage certificate. when you repair the vehicle, and present it to auto squad for its check, you get a salvage title . there are gazillions of cars in the DR which came in on salvage titles.

So the discussion was bring them in and repair them here. That is not possible.

So we have clarity.

for many years it has been illegal to bring in salvage certificate cars. at one time you could do that. just like many years ago some Toyotas came to the DR in crates and got assembled here.  just like 15 years ago you could bring in cars with steering wheels on the right side and drive them on the roads. not any more...neither are salvage certificates allowed...repaired salvage is. 

you just cannot get insurance for them...

For purposes of this original question - no you can't bring them in here as salvage!

absolutely right...

cruffman wrote:

it is not a moot point. you cannot legally bring in a vehicle with a salvage CERTIFICATE.  ou can bring them in with aa salvage TITLE.

when you buy a salvage in its destroyed form you get a salvage certificate. when you repair the vehicle, and present it to auto squad for its check, you get a salvage title . there are gazillions of cars in the DR which came in on salvage titles.

I am glad we have resolution to this discussion where one person was talking about apples and the other oranges.

Looking for Her.......hope you appreciate all the advice, and please give us say, quarterly updates on how it's going. Keep track of your time too. Then we can factor that in, as well as the money you've blown, and if your hair has turned white already after about one year.

@jmiller0017 but they will inspect the container. You cannot send vehicles with salvage titles.. im notnsure about a rebuilt title.