shipping a car

There is no sales tax in USVI.

PH

Don't you pay sales tax when/where you BUY the car? Then shipping to the VI has nothing to do with sales tax.

Also most lenders will not allow you to ship car off the Continential US. To hard to repossess. And shippers will only ship cars with clear titles or permission from leanholders.

My understanding of sales tax stateside (Ohio) is that you pay the sales tax to the dealer, part of the confusion now is that the tax laws in Ohio have changed and dealers are required to pay the tax to the county you are a resident of at the time of the purchase. If I go to Michigan and buy the same car, interstate trade law between Michingan and Ohio is that the Mi dealer has to collect the tax for the county I live in which would be Lucas Ohio, pay it to Ohio and the state diperses it back to the county. Strike up another one for closing up That loophole.

Slowly your net is getting tighter...

I read the original post to mean the person is considering buying a special order vehicle thru a VI dealer & have it shipped here to VI. In that case there should be no sales tax if the person is a bona fide VI resident; the sales tax saving should offset the shipping charges.

I know someone who did this, they located the vehicle they wanted to purchase at a Florida dealership but arranged a VI dealer to buy it at dealer cost then had it shipped to STT & saved some $. I believe they also got a better shipping price since the VI dealer got a reduced shipping rate.

PH

I wasn't at all clear what the original question was!!

PH
That will definately be something I investigate as well. M and I are selling all our vehicles and buying on island. None of ours are good for the islands. If I can get out of paying the 7.25% we pay in Ohio and just have to cover the 4%personal tax and road tax that would be vvverry veerrrry good!

Thanks for the heads up.

I can't speak for every state, but if I purchase a car in Illinois, that I am planning not to use in Illinois, I can get a bill of sale and "in transit tags" from Illinois. These tags are good for ten days.

This would give me the time to drive the car to Florida and ship it to the VI where I would then register the vehicle and pay any taxes due the VI.

I have also checked with Carmax in Florida. They are used to exporting cars through out the Carribbean. Carmax would sell me a new or used car and deliver it to Tropical for shipping to the VI. This can be done sight unseen if you are willing to buy a used car without seeing it.

Also you can check the display ads in the local VI newspapers. There are advertisements for firms (brokers) that will buy the car of your dreams on the mainland and have it delivered to you in the VI. No idea how good a deal they get you.

Jim

What you do is have the dealer arrange for getting the vehicle to the port. becuse the vehicle is for export, you can avoid the sales tax. The ocean carrier's bill of laden proves that the car is being shipped out of the country.
Once the vehicle arrives in STT, you will be required to pay 4% of the blue book value (or invoice value) for personal use tax. Other taxes and fees will be charges by the local government. Contact me at info@managedfreight.com if you have addition questions. Regards.

Lee
ManagedFreight

Hi I have a toyota camry that is paid for, would you recommend shipping it? How are the road conditions in St. Thomas, is it better to have a 4x4? thanks.

Hello Kristy,

A car is fine for driving around St. Thomas. Lots of folks have toyotas, nissans, hondas ect. some drive jeeps, trucks and SUVs but lots of cars. The road conditions are good; all main roads are cemented or black top. Some roads have pot-holes and need to be repaved but overall roads are good. Keep an eye out for pot holes when you first get here, you will figure out where they are and then can drive around them.

--Islander

Kristy,
If you have a good car that you love, ship it. The roads here are fine. (except for the pot holes Islander wrote about).
Be prepared to get a little sand in it 🙂

Lee