Shipping Car to STX

you can try Jason Rames at 340-473-8586
Flemmings also has people who handle this, but I think they are a little more expensive than going with Jason directly.

Flemming was about $150, but when I picked up my car from them, they did the shipping, everything was done.

Check out www.viontherun.com - we've worked with Judi before and she is great!

It ain't rocket surgery. I took care of getting my own car off the docks and registered. In total -- from getting the documentation, to paying the road tax and getting the temporary pass, to paying customs, getting the car inspected and registered -- took me about 4 hours. The details weren't "icky;" you just have to be able to deal with bureaucracy. I guess living in Russia for three years made receiving / registering a car in STX seem easy.

Look up bureaucracy in the dictionary....there is a picture of "Icky"!:)

Jefgar is right, it's not that hard. I had Flemming to mine, as we are only on island a few weeks at a time. But I did go and renewed the license last year, no problem. If you are going to be on island, do it your self, at most it should only take a full day or so, probably much less.

Hello there again my friends! No matter which company you choose to deal with, in general you pick up your car and are given a piece of paper that is good to get you from the incoming freight to motor vehicles. They give you directions, and once there, I think the great variable is what time and what day you arrive at motor vehicles. I had no problem with getting this done and in total, it took just over 1/2 hour from pick up to finishing registration. The only near glitch was that I brought over a Mazda truck. There is a special fee for foreign cars, I believe an import fee, however my truck was 'Mazda American' made in the USA. They actually checked the motor (as I was breaking out in a sweat) and it went right through.

After living in Connecticut for 20+ years and waiting hours to get to the wrong window at DMV, this has been much easier over these past three years.

Best of luck with this,

Dan

Hmmm...interesting.

Dan other than proof of insurance what pre-work did you do before you picked up the car? I called a service yesterday and was quoted $350 to register a car but after reading your post I might just try this myself.

Here's what I wrote on the subject two years ago, after retrieving my car from the docks. Note: the excise tax has now been ruled invalid, so that step should no longer be necessary.
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Having just gotten my car from the docks today......

First you get your shipping documents from your freight forwarder. Then you go to the VI IRS office where you pay

1) road tax: (gross car weight)x $0.16

Then you go to the registration office where you pay a $5 fee to get a special permit allowing you to move the vehicle from the docks to the registration office (you can't drive legally w/ non-VI license plates). You'll need proof of having paid road tax to get this "special permit."

Then you go to the port where you pay

2) excise tax (car value) x 4%

3) customs/import duty (car value) x 3.5% (that's what it was for a Swedish car; I think it's the same for a Japanese car). [note: US cars get in "free"]

When you've satisfied the excise folks, the customs folks and the shipping company (you'll need to get a "release form" from them to get the vehicle off the docks), you can drive your own car again...

Return to the registration office to get your car inspected and registered. You'll pay

4) Inspection/Registration/Title: $88.

The VI Customs folks assess the escise tax, based on the blue book value of the car.

US Customs assesses the import duty -- they're pretty liberal; they start with the blue book value and then subtract for mileage, wear & tear,etc.

For my 1998 Volvo S70 T5 (paid extra duty because it's a turbo), I paid around $525 in road tax (based on 3272 pounds of gross weight), around $280 in excise tax and $225 in import duty. Not bad, considering I didn't have to pay anything for shipping (my employer paid).

Law 64 (get to love this one) is the basis on which we're charged import duty for bringing goods into the VI. I read Law 64 yesterday. It starts off: "We, Christian the Tenth, by grace of God, King of Denmark........" According to the treaty that made the VI the USVI, Law 64 continues in effect for 100 years. So I read on. Law 64 refers only to "St. Thomas and St. Jan" -- nothing in it about St. Croix. When I mentioned this to the US Customs Officer, he asked if I wanted to take the issue to court. I just wanted my car. I suspect I'm not the first person to have noticed this discrepancy, so I just paid.