Need help with auto woes

Hello Sharese,

Lease a car - I don't know who if any offer this. Maybe someone on St. Croix has had experience with that.

Buy a used car and sell it before leaving. You would need insurance. Your stateside license is good for 90days, after which you are supposed to get a VI license. That said if you are only planning to be here for 6 months you could play the am I lucky game and take a chance for the last 3 months.

--Islander

Thanks Islander. All but one of the rental car agencies (I think it was Hertz) offer a "mini-lease" program, but the prices varied from $800 - $1100 per month! Does anyone know if you can lease a new car for less than a year?

I didn't realize that our stateside licenses would only be good for the first 90 days - thanks. Since I am secretly hoping this turns into a permanent move, I think we'll go ahead and get our VI DL's. 😉

Look at the numbers. If you rent it will cost you about $800 to $1000 a month. ($5000 to $6000 for 6 months)

Most "leases" are about the same. Don't pay more....

If you buy a car on island you might spend $5000 (OR MORE) and sell it for for a bit less 6 months later. Your actual cost should be much less than $1000 per month. But you will need to go thru the buy/sell hassel. However it can be affected by your arrival and departure dates.... Selling in early fall(slow season) will be much more difficult than later, but not impossible. it might work out ok. If you buy you will need to provide insurance,etc.. so put that into the equation.

As far as the drivers license is concerned, I know people who have been driving here for years (4-5) without every changing to a VI license.
If you are temporary (six months is temporary) it will not be necessary to get a local drivers license. Don't give up your stateside license until you absolutely have to.

Co to Caribbean Auto Mart
Address: North Shore Road, Estate Glynn
Island: St. Croix
Phone: (1-340) 778-0600

They have a purchase or lease program over here in St. Thomas and I am sure they have the same one over there.
Ronnie

Hi there... my husband has the opportunity to relocate to STT for 18-24 months while working at the Ritz. First of, thank you so much for this site... we have spent hours reading it all!!

We are also in an "auto woe" of our own... We were thinking that we'd probably sell our cars here and either look for a lease or used car - but someone else just recently mentioned using a moped? Would this be a viable option, do you think?

The Ritz will put us up for the first couple of months until we find housing, so I'm not sure how far we'd have to travel.

I had one other question, during "off season" how slow is the island? Because this is a popular time for weddings here in the NorthEast, I would imagine that STT is a pretty popular honeymoon destination - just wondering.

Thank for your time and information!

Sure, you can use a moped for one of you, but life would be very difficult if that was your only form of transportation. Kinda hard to load groceries in it, ya know? Or taking the trash to the dumpster! Call the Daily News (www.viphonebook.com) and ask for 'Circulation'. For $4 they will mail you an Island Trader. It'll give you an idea of what cars are going for here...and apartments, too.

Our'off season' is from the beginning of May to the end of November. To get an idea of how slow it gets: Hotels go from 100% occuancy down to about 30-40%. Cruise ships change their itineraries, so we may have 2, 3 or even four days a week with no cruise ships in. May and June we have a lot of honeymooners here.

Thanks for the info Marty - coincedently, the hubby's name is Marty as well!!!

We need to decide in the next week or two if we are going to take the trip... all your information on here has been a great help!

I have one additional question - do you, or anyone else, know if Occupational Therapy is practiced in STT? I have seen quite a bit on Physical and Physio-Therapy, but have not seen anything related to Occupational Therapy?

Thanks again!

~Stephanie

Hi Stepanie,

i am looking at a PT position in the schools. They are contracted from an outside agency. I could send you their info if you want. I know they are looking for a PT for 2005-06.
Lynne