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Can anyone who has shipped a car from the USA to PR give me their impressions on the reliability of their shipping company (Crowley, Trailor-Bridge, V2, Puerto Rico Car Transport, Horizon, others?):
1) condition of car when it arrived in San Juan
2) did it arrive on time originally estimated or much later
3) you were given progress of journey updates
4) no surprises on either end - paper work, more tariffs than expected, etc
Also two other related questions:
1) the shipping companies I've talked to will not give the PR import tariff estimate. They refer me to PR Departamento de Hacienda and its estimator. One of my cars is not in the system - it doesn't recognize the VIN number or the model - the very popular Toyota Avalon! My much rarer other car shows up and gives an exact answer. ???? Is there a phone number or alternate way to get an estimate or must I just cross my fingers and find out when the car hits SJ how much I will owe? Sort of fun like Russian Roulette. The car is 17 years old so it shouldn't be much but I'm worried maybe only cars less than 10 or 15 years old or whatever are allowed in and that's why it doesn't show up.
2) Despite the huge port of Houston, nobody in Texas appears to ship anything to Puerto Rico. Is this true? I really don't want to drive the cars to Jacksonville from SE Texas. Is there a shipper that will do Doorstep (drive car or ship in truck) to Jacksonville to SJ reliably and get it there at the correct time ahead of embarkation? Any idea of approximate cost over simply Jacksonville to San Juan by sea?
I shipped with Trailerbridge at the end of 2010. I had to drive from New Orleans to Jacksonville, no questioned asked. I don't think you can get around this. I paid a little under $1,000 to ship it, and it got there exactly when promised. It was in fine shape, though the battery had died (not sure why)...it must be a common thing though because the security guys circling the lot in a golf cart immediately gave me a jump. There are guys who hang out at the terminal who are doing paperwork for customers who can't be there to pay at the hacienda...they'll drive you to the office and help you to understand where and what to pay...I think I paid about $1,500 in taxes on a 2001 Toyota Celica, plus about $50 to the errands guy, who drove me back to get my car from the lot. I saw old cars being shipped to and from, you could always call a shipping company if you have doubts
I shipped with Trailerbridge at the end of 2010. I had to drive from New Orleans to Jacksonville, no questioned asked. I don't think you can get around this. I paid a little under $1,000 to ship it, and it got there exactly when promised. It was in fine shape, though the battery had died (not sure why)...it must be a common thing though because the security guys circling the lot in a golf cart immediately gave me a jump. There are guys who hang out at the terminal who are doing paperwork for customers who can't be there to pay at the hacienda...they'll drive you to the office and help you to understand where and what to pay...I think I paid about $1,500 in taxes on a 2001 Toyota Celica, plus about $50 to the errands guy, who drove me back to get my car from the lot. I saw old cars being shipped to and from, you could always call a shipping company if you have doubts
Thanks for the great information for a very analogous situation.
Unless you plan on being in PR forever, I wouldn't ship a "good" car. For 5 months I dodged the rush hour native kamikaze methods of driving in PR (San Juan in particular)....no way I would ship a valuable car. I could be traveling at 45-50, with a 25' space between me and the car in front, and someone would always dive across 3 lanes of traffic, with a 24' car and jam into that space in order to get to his exit....ship a junker.
Unless you plan on being in PR forever, I wouldn't ship a "good" car. For 5 months I dodged the rush hour native kamikaze methods of driving in PR (San Juan in particular)....no way I would ship a valuable car. I could be traveling at 45-50, with a 25' space between me and the car in front, and someone would always dive across 3 lanes of traffic, with a 24' car and jam into that space in order to get to his exit....ship a junker.
Good Luck
Gemstone1
You are telling me that they are worst than NEW JERSEY drivers? LOL....
Yeah, driving in PR is not fun (though much better than the cities of Colombia, forget it!!!). I didn´t enjoy driving in San Juan especially, but in smaller cities it wasn´t so bad. San Germán has bad but friendly drivers, if that makes sense. They might have the stop sign on a side street and you´re driving straight ahead on the main avenue, and they creep out enough to actually block your path, then wave you on and ¨let you go first¨ as if they did you a favor. Expressways outside of San Juan were all pretty good and fast, basically like the mainland, so the island definitely has that going for it. Mayaguez and Aguadilla have serious traffic issues, especially the latter at peak times.
I find PR drivers slow and relatively careful. My wife, however, is actually from South Joysey (phonetic spelling), and , like all drivers from there, drives wild as heck! Even San Juan drivers at 2 in the morning muy borracho are mild compared to Jersey drivers.
I shipped with Trailerbridge at the end of 2010. I had to drive from New Orleans to Jacksonville, no questioned asked. I don't think you can get around this. I paid a little under $1,000 to ship it, and it got there exactly when promised. It was in fine shape, though the battery had died (not sure why)...it must be a common thing though because the security guys circling the lot in a golf cart immediately gave me a jump. There are guys who hang out at the terminal who are doing paperwork for customers who can't be there to pay at the hacienda...they'll drive you to the office and help you to understand where and what to pay...I think I paid about $1,500 in taxes on a 2001 Toyota Celica, plus about $50 to the errands guy, who drove me back to get my car from the lot. I saw old cars being shipped to and from, you could always call a shipping company if you have doubts
Yikes! That's an expensive tax bill (imo) on any car, let alone a 2001 Toyota! What is that tax for?
I'm getting ready to ship a 2011 Toyota Camry to St Croix, and I just found out yesterday that there will be taxes to pay. I don't understand why it's different moving a car to a US territory versus moving it to any US state. I don't remember ever paying a large tax when I've moved a car to a different state, just a small excise tax to get the license plate.
I never stopped and asked why, honestly. I all I know is I certainly made more selling the car 2 years later than I had to pay shipping it over, so for me it was a win-win from the very beginning. Someone who wants their car for a short time there would find themselves in a much less beneficial situation, obviously. And cars aren´t cheap in PR.
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I don't remember ever paying a large tax when I've moved a car to a different state, just a small excise tax to get the license plate.
