Bringing a leased car into DR

[bugaloo]

Saludos,

I'm bringin a Nissan Altima into DR from New Jersey. Montero shipping quoted me $1300.00 to bring it there, 360.00 to take it "puerta a puerta" once there, and they said that for that car, taxes will be around $600.00

Does this sound fair?

Another question:
Currently, the car is leased from Nissan Motors. the lease will be over in 2005 but I want to payoff the lease and just bring the car with me. My wife is Dominican. The car is not legally ours right now. (leased from nissan). it will be once I pay it off. Are they going to give me a hard time because the car was leased to us since 2001 and the registration card says Property of Nissan?

Please help,

Fernando.

[PJT]

Don't even bother shipping it unless you own it. The car cannot leave the country without the owner's (Nissan's) authorization. You have to pay it off and have the "Title" in your name because U.S. Customs requires the original title to be surrendered to them along with the shipping documents for their scrutiny before releasing the car for shipment overseas. If ownership "Title" does not match up with your name as the "shipper" or "authorizing party" on the shipping documents the car will be seized and detained by customs. You do not want to have this happen.

Also, if it did happen to pass you were able by some fairy tale happening to get the leased car into the D.R. it is automatically is held at the port for at least 15 days. When you attempt to pick-up it up from the holding yard, if your name does not match the name of the owner on the papers, some Dominican general has a new car for his stable.

Don't do something you will regret later, pay off the car and have the original title in you name before you attempt to ship.

Regards,
PJT

[bugaloo]

thanks PJT,

I guess I didn't explain properly about the pay off in my question. Yes of course, I will pay off now in May and get the title ASAP. We are arriving to Santiago july 1st.

My worry is that since we would be legally the owners of the car for only a month, does that not qualify us to import the car without the crazy taxes/custom mordidas?

Gracias por la pronta respuesta.

Fernando.

[Seachange]

Originally Posted by bugaloo

thanks PJT,

I guess I didn't explain properly about the pay off in my question. Yes of course, I will pay off now in May and get the title ASAP. We are arriving to Santiago july 1st.

My worry is that since we would be legally the owners of the car for only a month, does that not qualify us to import the car without the crazy taxes/custom mordidas?

Gracias por la pronta respuesta.

Fernando.

Unfortunately, DR Customs is a small government (some say mafia) on to itself. What you've been quoted and the tax you'll actually be required to pay could be very different (but always higher, sometime much higher). And, once you've arrived at port, you're stuck. It's pay or ship it back!

[Robert]

From now until After August 31st I have a feeling customs are going to be a nightmare. Especially as some of the people you will be dealing with will be loosing their jobs real soon. They will be looking at the next few months as their retirement fund.

[bugaloo]

Originally Posted by Robert

From now until After August 31st I have a feeling customs are going to be a nightmare. Especially as some of the people you will be dealing with will be loosing their jobs real soon. They will be looking at the next few months as their retirement fund.

So no go huh? don't the people from Montero shipping know their biz enough so that they can take care of all this ahead of time? should I ask them to guarantee what the tax will be when the car comes out of customs?

I was planning on taking this car to DR because if I pay 11.000 now and pay off the lease here, then the car would be mine. add to that 3.000 in transport/taxes and that puts me at 14.000 out of pocket to have a car out there.

I was planning on trading or selling the car out there so that I can buy a Van for my ever-growing family. would a nissan altima sell nicely in dr?

is it fair to say that I can buy a 7 passenger van out there for about $15.000? because if that's the case, I would gladly just turn the leased car now and not worry about bringing it.

sorry for the lenghty post. thank you all for your help.

quiero mambí y presidente afri ya!

fff

[Seachange]

Originally Posted by bugaloo

So no go huh? don't the people from Montero shipping know their biz enough so that they can take care of all this ahead of time? should I ask them to guarantee what the tax will be when the car comes out of customs?

I was planning on taking this car to DR because if I pay 11.000 now and pay off the lease here, then the car would be mine. add to that 3.000 in transport/taxes and that puts me at 14.000 out of pocket to have a car out there.

I was planning on trading or selling the car out there so that I can buy a Van for my ever-growing family. would a nissan altima sell nicely in dr?

is it fair to say that I can buy a 7 passenger van out there for about $15.000? because if that's the case, I would gladly just turn the leased car now and not worry about bringing it.

sorry for the lenghty post. thank you all for your help.

quiero mambí y presidente afri ya!

fff

Forget about it. You would probably be skinned alive at the port. It's simply not worth the gamble unless you already have the right individuals in your pocket. Essentially, what we are trying to tell you is that it's a racket. Therefore, if you should to go forward, you've been warned.

[adrianb]

should I ask them to guarantee what the tax will be when the car comes out of customs?

This comment shows you don't know much about how things are done down here. As a dominican company, they'll guarantee whatever you want - verbally. And even if you got it in writing, it would be extremely hard to enforce.

Turn the car in, even if it means taking a loss. Do not try to bring it in, especially now - Rob is exactly right with his "retirement fund" comment. You'll thank us later. And for your first year here, try as hard as you can to minimize your financial exposure. In every situation think hard about what your potential loss is, and try to reduce that as much as possible.

This is one where your potential loss is the value of the car. So avoid it.

Adrian

P.S. I took a $20k loss through selling my 2 year old BMW convertible before I came here, 2 months after 9/11. And I am extremely glad I did - it was hard enough to bring in all my furniture through customs.

[bugaloo]

Gracias...

lesson learned before hand.

I'm also from a third world country (ecuador) and know all too well about this. (the corruption). I will just turn in my car and get something there when the right deal surfaces.

thank you all for taking the time to advice.

salud,

fff