motorcycles from USA into the Dominican Republic?

[johnnj2000]

On my last vacation while in the Santo Domingo area , I spotted a car that had License plates from Puerto Rico, I asked a friend of mine who lives in the country and he told me that he has seen this before there . He said that what they do is take there car across on the ferry from Puerto Rico into Santo Domingo, and that he has seen Americans with motorcycles who also have even taken the ferry from Miami into Puerto Rico , and then take the other ferry from Puerto Rico into Santo Domingo. My question is , can you do this? bring say your motorcycle over there if you were going to be there for a few weeks? I mean I would love to do something like that , but wouldnt they say something if you had say new york license plates on your bike? or is it all good ? any help on this? would they stop you from entering the country?

[windeguy]

I think a search will provide better answers, but when something appears too good to be true it is.. In other words, it would not be all good.

Yes people bring autos and motorcylces from PR to the DR on the ferry. They can be here for a short time before they must be officially imported into the country. I don't know if the length of time is the same length as a tourist card, that would make sense, but this is the DR and laws such as that are not well synchronized.

( One thing to think about: Does your US insurance cover you in the DR? )

If you keep the car or motorcycle here for use, you almost have to pay for them again, not the exact same amount you paid originally, but a very high amount indeed for customs and registering your vehicle. There are many threads on that topic that show the fees in the 40% range of vehicle value set by customs. There are other rules such as having to own the vehicle between one and X years to be verified. Vehicles can only be a certain age, for another example.

My question is, would it be a lot less painful to import a vehicle this way or do they take even more advantage of you because they know you already purchased it and it is here? One major benefit is not having to go to the docks to pick up the vehicle. Do the same rules of vehicle importation apply such as time periods of ownership and vehicle age apply? Anyone with experience "importing" this way recently?