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I may move to STT this summer. I've read pertinent parts of this website and still have a question about bring a car to the island.
Some of the taxes and fees are based on the value of the car:
"The value of the car is determined by the Blue Book Value if the car is older or the purchase price for new cars."
Question: how new is new? Just off the showroom floor? Purchased new within a specific time frame? New cars lose ~20% of their value when you drive them off the lot.
I'm asking this because I need to calculate whether to trade in my current car for my desired "island car" now, closer to the move, or whether I should just buy it new (or used) on STT.
Posted : December 16, 2005 12:38 pm
jayceetoo,
How new is new? A friend had a used 2005 vehicle shipped here in October. She had written receipts indicating that the vehicle was used on the mainland for one year, 10/04 to 10/05, and the odometer read around 5500 miles. The VI government still charged her taxes and fees as if the vehicle were "new" and their reasoning was that the vehicle is a 2005 and it is still 2005!
Posted : December 16, 2005 2:50 pm
VERY interesting... not altogether suprising...
Hmm. More food for thought.
I'll call the local Honda dealership and see how their price compares to the price of bringing over a "new" Honda from the states.
Thanks for the info.
Posted : December 16, 2005 10:05 pm
Hi,
About your car question, we shipped our 99 Camaro here in August, and we had about 98,000 miles on it. Customs did look up the value of the care in the Blue Book, but they do not consider any depreciation on the vehicle. Our vehicle was rated mint condition so the value was higher than what we expected. We also had to pay additional taxes because our Chevy was manufactured in Canada. So we had extra fees and costs. And we were told that if the car was made within that same year it is considered new because there is not a way to determine used value on a vehicle that may not be listed in the Blue Book yet.
and just so you know, you can not expect to do anything quickly here. We had to register our vehicle here and the DMV was closed most days that we went.
And getting an island car here is easy, but do not expect much if you buy it used.
Email me if you have any questions.
-nikki
Posted : December 17, 2005 4:54 pm
