Costa Rica News – Are you guilty of ever referring to your car as your baby? Many people are so don’t be embarrassed. Importing your car to your new Costa Rican home is not too difficult. Since leaving it behind is simply not an option here is some advice about how to bring it with you.
Get your car to Miami before you leave. That way, your cost will be only about $1,000 to ship it. If Miami’s too far from 
your starting location you may also ship it from Seattle, Los Angeles, or Houston for additional fees or even auto-transport it to Miami.
If you are looking to bring some personal items down with you in your vehicle, there is one East Coast port that allows you to pack your vehicle to the brim for only $150 extra dollars.
In a week or so it will arrive in the Limon Port on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica if you ship from the East Coast of Caldera if you ship form the West Coast.
Keep in mind that Asian cars are the easiest and cheapest to fix in Costa Rica. You may also prefer to trade in for a 4×4 for easier traveling. Main roads are paved but many others are not. The company you ship with will do customs paperwork with you.
Expect high taxes and import duties. They base these on the market value of the car in Costa Rica so you may pay taxes that equal around the “Blue Book” value! How much you paid for the vehicle, it’s condition, and mileage are not considered.
Getting the car here and taking care of the US side can be handled pretty easily by yourself, the tricky part is when it gets to port. This is where people get to start to experience the fun inefficiencies that come with importing into Costa Rica.
The vehicle will have to go through Riteve for vehicle inspection. The car will have to be stored in the fiscal warehouse and delivered to San Jose if you do not pick it up in one of the ports. You need to decide if you want to nationalize the vehicle or if you want to take it on a tourist VISA. You have to get the car through customs and into your hands.
When it comes to the Costa Rica side of shipping a vehicle find a company in Costa Rica to do it or you. It will take the headache out of doing this yourself.
One last piece of advice, make sure you use a trusted shipping company for the ocean shipping. Several people have contacted CRT to talk about negative experiences where things were stolen out of their vehicle when using Crowley to ship their cars. So watch out!
If you would like to know more about shipping your vehicle or personal belongings to Costa Rica, get your FREE Shipping to Costa Rica E-Book
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