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Would anyone be willing to provide me with a breakdown of what it costs to ship a car to St.Thomas from Florida? I have a Toyota Corolla. Some of the questions I have are:
What part of Florida do people usually ship from?
People have mentioned registrations fees and such, what are those and what will that cost extra?
How long does it take?
How far in advance do you need to book your shipping?
What is the shipping fee usually for a compact car?
Also, what are car insurance rates like in St.Thomas, are they similiar to those in the states?
If anyone cuold take the time to answer these questions fro me I would be very appreciative. I am just getting confused reading al the shipping posts. Thanks so much!
Posted : February 3, 2006 11:36 pm
Interest,
Your questions can be answered in several ways. What I can tell you is what I know while I set up my own move for May.
Shipping from Florida:
- This will depend on the company you go with. I was recommended Tropical Shipping by my brother, they are at: http://tropicalshipping.com/ . Now, the quoted me $1300.00 to ship a Dodge Caravan. it may be cheater for your smaller car. They ship out of Rivera Beach, FL. Which is around Palm Beach.
- Now, JR Auto Transport at: http://www.realpagessites.com/jrsautotransporting/ would ship out of Jacksonville, Fl for an additional $1000.00.
What it really boils down is, the further south you ship out, the cheater it will be. BTW, Tropical Shipping said 7 days. They ship out on Mondays and Thursdays.
Once in the VI, you will have to pay the following for sure to get your registration. BTW, your stateside tags are no good in the VI:
- Personal Use Tax = Blue Book value of your car minus $1000.00 times 4%.
- Road Tax = 16 cents per pound of your car.
- Insurance, I was recommended Guardian Insurance at: http://www.guardianinsurance.com/insurance/auto.html , for Liability only, about $300 to $400 per year. Don't send for a quote via their site, they wouldn't respond. You need to call them directly. The number is on their site.
- Once you get all that, then you need to go to the DMV and get a temp tag to move your car from the port to the DMV for inspection and registration. Temp tag is about $5.00.
- Don't forget Customs before you leave the port. If your car is made in US, then it can enter duty free, if not, expect to pay about 3.5% of blue book value or the Bill of Sale, which ever is higher.
- Once at the DMV, there is an inspection fee, plus registration fee which is determined by the weight of your car.
Hope this info helps. BTW, this infor was mainly uptained from this site. Look around, you'll find it. I did updated the prices and Companies names base on what I'm doing to move my wife's van. For my truck, the Government will be picking up most of that cost.
Good luck on your move.
Tony
Posted : February 4, 2006 2:02 am
