island car question

Many people have nice cars in the VI. The roads can be tough on cars and the narrow streets can lead to dings, but in general the people who have money here drive newer cars that are not "island cars".

People can be laid back down here so driving a nice car might not be as much of a status symbol as stateside but people still drive nice cars. Lots of SUVs and pick up trucks.

Jim

Thanks I am not so worried about status as to the fact that I have a nice car and Its not paid for yet and the lien holder is letting me ship it so I figured that would be cheaper. And what the hell, I know its realiable, and I get relocation asst so I am pretty sure my job will pay for it.

you can get any type of car or truck here...........but realise a convertible has no safe space to store things......trunk locks are usually in the glove box and you can open the hood and get a battery pretty easy also..........I drive a jeep but nothing is ever left in it.............not even a towel........the roads down here will tear up even the toughest car or truck.......if you do bring your car realise also that a road tax and import tax will apply ....and with a lean on your car you will also have to pay extra for the shipping.....your lean holder will require boat insurance....on the value you asses with the shipper..........my 20k jeep ran $670.00.........with crowely...........$665.00 road tax ...and $1000.00 import invoice charge.,,.....even with it being made in the USA......plus the $1300.00 for the boat trip and I also paid a years worth of insurance with marshal and Sterling .............not many stateside company's work down here ......and you will need proof of insurance to drive off from the dock....registration and plates are another story ....you are not supposed to even drive with out of state plates here....I have seen a cars towed ...............these prices are 2 years old when I brought my extra car down.......not sure I would ever do it again.....added 4k to the cars cost and no extra value to the car ..................if you love your car bring it.............good luck.........

Salt air and road conditions around here shorten the useful life of every vehicle. Also, I don't know what make of vehicle it is, but if it's not a common one on the island, it may take a while for you to get the part you need should it break down or you get into a mash-up. I wouldn't ship a European-made car here for that reason. If your company will pay to ship the car, though, that's a good deal -- make sure they'll cover import taxes, too, if you have to pay any (for all vehicles not made in the USA).

There is no longer any luxury tax to bring a car into the VI. There is a customs duty on foreign made cars. Some US manufacturers have models made in Canada and they are charged an import duty of 6%. Regular foreign cars at 3.4%

My source works for customs .....here on STX......hes my neighbor and his numbers are a little different ther is a duty tax........also not all American cars are made in America......you can check the vin number on line to see where it was built....some if not most parts are made out side of the US ...................( GMC. in..Canada)........ and that does fit into the customs tax laws here....but you can call and check the numbers before you ship.........and even with out the tax its still kind of costly

Thanks to all for your advise it will all be taken into consideration as for it being a convertable its a hard top convertable. I live in florida on the coast so I am aware of the salt and all that. I am just afraid I wont be able to sell it before I leave. I only have a month

are there any age/mileage restrictions for bringing vehicles on the island? i have a '78 BMW R80/7 motorcycle that would love to bring down, but i thought i heard somewhere that they limit how old a vehicle can be bring it.

No limitation on age.

Post deleted because I'm an idiot. I thought you posted that you would be here FOR a month. You actually say you will be here IN a month. Big difference and my posting was not on point.

Just a different spin on the topic... you mentioned that you're not sure if you can sell it within a month. If you really want to give it a shot, try www.craigslist.org -- I've bought and sold just about anything you can think of there.

Here on Roatan, we ran into a guy who's driving a Russian military vehicle... a UAZ-something (3 numbers). He said it cost him $6000 (new) and another $6000 to ship it. Not bad. They're made to be extremely rugged and so easy to fix that a 10 year old could do it. So now I've got that on my mind for a future island car...

On stx I think a nice car like a new lexus, bmw or something flashy like a corvette or thunderbird sticks out like a sore thumb. I definitely KNOW you would draw unwanted attention to yourself especially going out at night. A new madza or nissan, not so much. Not many luxury cars here.

If you're bringing it to St. Thomas, there are plenty of new, luxury cars. You won't stick out. Capt.Jay regretted selling the car he had in the States & buying an older one here. Had nothing but problems.

There are no age or mileage limits. I brought down a pristine 1985 Bronco II with only 85K miles. However once I got here, I couldn't find anyone to insure it for anything but liability - too old.
I did not have to have insurance to get it off the dock, but then I had Flemming ship it and I picked it up from them. They got the license plates and installed them. I did have to go to a auto repair shop to get a inspection report and then to an insurance company.

The comment on a beater was to the person who was trying to get by on $2000 per month living expenses. A beater is only $400 or so a year to insure.

There are no age or mileage limits. I brought down a pristine 1985 Bronco II with only 85K miles. However once I got here, I couldn't find anyone to insure it for anything but liability - too old.
I did not have to have insurance to get it off the dock, but then I had Flemming ship it and I picked it up from them. They got the license plates and installed them. I did have to go to a auto repair shop to get a inspection report and then to an insurance company.

thank you

now i have to decide if it's worth it to spend the money to ship it down. are there many "island beater" motorcycles? again, i am well aware of the dangers of riding a bike down there, just wanna know approximately what's available.

Last night here on StX I was coming home from a vball tournament on "good" roads through the dark rainy mist, and I hit a really nice big pothole in my "beater" toyota. No damage, and not the first time. Everytime that happens I am thankful I made the decision to leave my nice stateside cars stateside. And everytime I pull into a narrow parking space at Sunny Isle I'm glad I have a small car down here.