tropical shipping

Ocean freight is calculated based on the cubic feet. The bigger the volume of the shipment the bigger the freight bill. (There are surcharges for heavy dense shipments like cement. )

My guess is that having your vehicle lifted woul increase Its volume in cublic feet. I'm not sure how they will calculate the volume, but my guess is that is the length bumper to bumper x the vehicle's width x its height from the ground to the top of the roof.

The cost of SHIPPING ONLY for a small vehicle is usually around $775 with larger vehicles being charged $800 - $825.

You will then inccur taxes in the VI bring your total cost on shore with VI plates and registration to between $2,000 - $3,000.

Jim

WHAT!!!! $2000-$3000????????? What are you talking about! That's the very first time I've heard that quote!!
I totally understand what you're talking about, Kimberly. We're moving in August and Tropical wasn't very helpful over the phone. And the website is just as bad. However, the price doesn't sound bad compared to some of the other companies I've contacted. Try a Google search "USVI shipping vehicles" and that will give you more options.
Hope I've helped! Good Luck!! 🙂
Amanda

Kimberly, I tried two times to get a quote from Tropical Shipping. Never received a reply in both instances My husband and I have been dealing with a gentleman named Lee from Managed Freight. He returns emails quickly and is very knowledgeable. We have been very pleased with him. I would suggest emailing or giving him a call. We will have two Jeep Wranglers to ship. So far, the estimate for shipping is around $1,030.00 per vehicle. Of course, this depends on where your place of origin. Once the vehicle arrives on island, you will also have to pay a road tax $.16/lb. and a personal use tax of 4% of the blue book value which accessed by the local tax department. Finally, you will have licensing and registration. I hope this helps. If you need any additional info, feel free to email me.

We used Tropical and had a good experience. Shipped a sports car and a minivan. Filled the van up with stuff. Dropped it off on a Monday, picked it up the following Monday on-island.

I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience with Tropical. I was just giving Kimberly another alternative.

Linda,
Did Tropical tell there was a limit of 30 cubic feet of stuff inside your car? I am moving with a truck that has a canopy and would like to be able to pack the bed with stuff but I'm afriad they will not go for that. Did they inspect the inside of your van before you shipped it?

Thanks for you help,
Lauren

Yes, 30 cf. We drove our vehicles down to Florida and the springs wouldn't take the weight of 30 cf. We wound up with about 15 - 20.

Tropical told us to put things in boxes and put a list of contents on each box -- a general list, kitchen equiment, towels, books, like that. We paid them to get the cars through customs and we had no problems. Everything had to be BELOW the height of the windows.

We called them when we were about 3 months out. They sent us a packet of info and forms. We faxed them back. When we were ready to go we called and told them we were coming. Tropical ships on Thursdays, first come, first served. They require that the car be on their lot by Monday. They did "inspect" the cars, but more to see that they (Tropical) wouldn't have any trouble with customs. And they will give you a list of things you cant' have in the car. The car will have to have less than 1/4 tank of gas. And they do not guarantee that the car will make the Thursday sailing. Evidently in the shipping world, private cars get bumped by other goods. We called on Thursday afternoon to make sure our cars got on the boat.

It was obvious that our cars were not bother during transit. Even the trash was right were we left it. And the change I left in the cup holder was still there.

We dealt with them by phone and fax. And your question about the pick-up with canopy, You'll have to ask them. But my guess is, if it's enclosed and lockable, you can put things in it.

And, you don't pay them (except for the charge for getting the cars through customs) until you pick the cars up.

Good Luck.

I suggest you look at the post by Steve N on 5/29/04 further down the page in Personal Tax.

He listed the penny by penny cost breakdown of what it cost him to bring a car to the VI.

The ocean freight is only about a third of the cost!

Jim

Tropical shipped my car to St. Croix instead of St. Thomas. Add another week to see my car. It threw off the plans because I took a week off to get the car off to West Palm, Fl and then this week so that I would have time to get the car straightened out. Well, no car so will have to figure out what to do about when it does come in. Lee at Managed Freight is handling things for me. He said that it was 100% Tropical shippings problem and they acknowledged that it was their fault. I asked him if they would cover the additional week of a Rental car. He said it was doubtful but he would try. Not too pleased with this one. Not sure how to make sure how this doesn't happen to you so just cross your fingers I guess.

Hi I am thinking about relocating from Long Island to St. Johns with my 2 dogs, can anyone recommend a realtor or friend, newspaper to find a house rental that allow dogs? Thanks very much