Shipping and reselling a truck

There is a Ford dealership on island and they have big and bigger trucks. You might want to see if they have used utility trucks. When you get on island, check the papers and looked for used. You might pay a lot for one on island. It might be cheaper to buy a good one on the mainland and ship it, but I hate to say that as the island has more vehicles than it needs. We bought a used Ford explorer on the mainland and shipped it down for less than buying it at on island. We did ship it back to the mainland when we left so I didn't contribute to the overpopulation of vehicles. 🙂 Be sure you inspect the vehicle before you buy as the ones on island that are used may need more work than your home. Brakes, 4WD, engines, etc. tend to wear faster on island. Good luck with the truck and home!

Have you looked in the Island Trader to see what is available? There is a 2003 F250 4X4 for @ 20,000 dollars. Didn't read it all, but just to give you an idea.... Here is the link: http://editions.pagesuite.co.uk/Openpagesuite.aspx?pubid=115

Teresa

Okay, I have to learn to read. So yes, you can sell your truck on island. See link above for what they are going for and you should come out ahead. I need more coffee...

Teresa

Thanks, Teresa

Thanks for the link to the Island Trader. Your info has been helpful.

molly: Some clarification, please! Are you doing the renovation work yourselves? If so and you're using a local supplier such as Home Depot, they'll deliver whatever you need to site for a relatively small charge.

If your property is in bad shape and you're going to be gutting a lot of stuff which needs to be disposed of, I recommend that you call Bailey and Sons Trucking at 340-775-6153 who will provide you with a dumpster and arrange to make regular pick-ups at your convenience. I've used Bailey's for many years now at my business and they're great people to work with.

Hauling stuff to the Bovoni landfill site is no fun.

If you check into shipping a used vehicle here, be forewarned that the shipping costs have risen enormously over the last couple of years and you're looking at $2K. Then if you're going to do all that hauling and dumping yourselves, that truck is going to end up far less pristine than it was when you arrived. Even if you're REALLY CAREFUL, just the island roads will ding it up.

Teresa neglected to mention that the pick-up which she and her husband shipped down here and which they shipped back is a total eyesore in stateside suburbia. I laughed like crazy whe she emailed me about that. The truck I guess wasn't BADLY 'dinged' but then Teresa suddenly noticed that all her neighbours were driving vehicles often MUCH older than their truck but which were basically in pristine factory condition with sparkly clean paint and totally dentless.

Anyway, hope I've offered some help. Cheers!

I still drive my 'islandized' vehicle. Somehow in the shipping back to the states, they fried my computer electronics. Sometimes my blinker works, sometimes it just stays solid. Only one key works as we have the anti theft key with a computer chip or something. That got fried with everything else. I still shop at K-mart because it is cheap, but seeing the big Red K I tend to vear to the left and have to remind myself to drive on the right side...

I have a new dent in the passenger side. No paint chipped off, but I guess people assume I don't care about my scratched and dented vehicle and just slam their doors into it. I went thru the local suburbia car wash and they kind of wondered why my truck is in such bad shape. By island standards it is practically new and never been wrecked. It has new tires, new brakes, is clean, no broken tail lights, all lights work, engine runs well and doesn't have any rust. By surburbia standards it is an eyesore. I don't care. Another funny thing is that the air conditioner comes on when you turn on the fan, even on heat. During the winter we had to turn the dial to the far red line to get heat. Our truck just doesn't understand that we have returned to the mainland. 🙂

Teresa

Thanks STT,

Thanks for the info. Our unit will need to be nearly gutted. It is in Pineapple Village and they converted it into a day care center and conference facilities for the Palace Resort. They took the entire floor plan and sealed off the rooms into separate units. Also removing the kitchen and 2 of the bathrooms in doing so. We have our work ahead of us. So the answer to a dumpster is a definite YES! We will be doing a majority of the work ourselves. Our family has been in the building trades for over 28 years. We will be looking to hire local professionals for any work that may require local licensing (electricians, plumbers, ect.). Also, the cistern was connected to the hotel water supply and has been dormant for over 2 years. We will probably need it to be pumped, painted and a new pump installed.

One of the main reasons that we thought of shipping a utility truck was that we could load up our tools. By the time we paid for shipping or replacing large tools like air compressors, nail guns, table saws, a generator and everything else, are we better off bringing an older and dependable truck and leaving it?

Thanks you so much for your help and insight.

The answer to purchasing from Home Depot is yes. We were planning on ordering up any custom items (cabinets, countertops, doors) locally and having them delivered to the store down there. When we were down there last month they seemed to keep plenty of construction items on hand. Do we need to worry about 2x4 studs and drywall being in short supply?

I''ll get back to you - good basic information! Cheers!

Why do you need to bring a truck to bring the tools? You can't ship the tools in the truck. It would likely be more cost effective to ship a LTL of tools and buy a truck here, or rent one if you really only need it for the 6 to 8 weeks you mentioned.

I'm not saying that we can't ship the tools without a truck. I'm trying to weigh my options and pick the best one. Is their a reason why we can't ship the tools with the truck? That was the purpose of a utility truck, It has locking side panel storage and a rear door in back of the truck for more lockable storage space in the box of the truck. I keep hearing how everyone is loading up all of their personal goods in their cars. Is it different for trucks? We also needed a ladder rack for hauling lumber. Specialty trucks are rarely for rent. That was my main dilemma.

I also understand some of the costs associated with importing a vehicle. We can pick up an older model truck, assembled in the US, locally at an auction for next to nothing, have our mechanic drop an engine in it and everything else it may need. We would have a very low book value vehicle that is in updated perfectly good condition that shouldn't be too pricey to bring to St Thomas. That was the plan, not sure if it works or is worth it.

Molly,

BEWARE!!! I think the rules have changed about shipping and vehicle loaded with stuff. Many people have done it and have things stolen or broken. I shipped some things with locks on them and they snapped the locks in half with I guess the jaws of life. They were good locks. Nice of them to leave the locks (sheared in half) in the trunks that were originally locked with some pretty green tape that read U.S. Customs. I shipped a whole household and nothing was stolen, but like I said, they snapped the locks. You have to leave your truck unlocked as well even though they have the keys.

Teresa

We just shipped our truck to the US - so, I don't know if this is relevant...we had to ship it unlocked (all compartments, tool boxes etc) and completely empty.

Molly,

All vehicles, trucks and cars, have to be shipped unlocked and empty. It used to be possible to ship vehicles packed to the gills but not anymore. If you accidentally leave something in it when you ship it you will almost certainly find it completely empty when it arrives on island. 🙂

Thanks guys, It certianly makes a HUGE difference if we can't pack the truck. What great help you have all been!