Boats and Personal Water Craft (Jet Skis) - Importing

We are still debating whether or not to bring our PWC with us to St. Croix. I know the ins and outs on bringing our vehicle, however, am having a hard time getting certain questions regarding boats and PWC. I have found the information required for registering PWC, however, I am unable to find out if there are fees/duty, etc. associated with the importing process. If anyone has any information on this, I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks.

If it's foreign made you pay duty like every other foreign made thing.

As luck would have it, it appears that my Yamaha PWC were manufactured in the good ole USA.

All of the parts must also be made in USA.
You can call Customs to be sure.
The VIN number is used to establish this.
I say this because a friend bought a Ford from states thinking no Customs duty as a U.S. manufactured vehicle but ended up with customs duty imposed because some of the parts were made in Mexico. While the U.S. has a trade agreement with Mexico, the USVI does not.

The VIN number is used to establish this.

I guess the HIN in this case and you can likely find online if any parts are foreign-made in advance so there are no surprises?

Alana33,

You're statement is partly true. The parts can come from wherever in the world, that doesn't matter. It's where the vehicle is actually manufactured. Ford may be an American brand but many of their vehicles are assembled in plants in Mexico thus having to pay customs fees on those. I brought a Nissan truck down when we moved and no customs fees because it was manufactured in the USA. The VIN number is the way to find out where it's manufactured and has no bearing on where the parts came from.

Sorry, it was awhile ago.

Thanks for the correction.
You're right.

It's a good thing to check as it can be an unpleasant surprise when you have to dole out several hundred dollars over and above what one anticipates in shipping costs.

Thanks for all of the responses. I could find no documentation on importing watercraft like that which is available for vehicles. I did have success with in speaking with the customs office directly as well as the excise tax office, both in St. Croix.

Here is what I have discovered:

HIN (Hull Identification Number) - These do not contain country of origin information in the same way that VIN's do.

There is neither Duty or Excise Tax to be paid for importing watercraft.

On a side note, the information regarding all parts of a vehicle or watercraft needing to be made in the US to meet the US Manufacturing requirements is inaccurate. A simple VIN check can clarify if a vehicle meets the importation requirements to avoid the importation fees.

Thanks again for all of the feedback. This forum has been very helpful in so many ways.