Importing And Buying Cars, Costa Rica
Options, Answers & Info for First-Time Punters
Recently a letter to the editor appeared in the Tico Times, advising people to “Learn From Our Mistakes When Shipping Your Car” (Beedle, 2008). If moving is stressful, then finding your feet in a foreign country can be insane. But it doesn’t have to be. Your choices are only as good as the information you have available. Whether you are thinking about shipping a car from overseas or buying one within Costa Rica you need to know and consider the following.
The Basics
What kind of car do you want to buy/import? Are the right parts available here for maintenance and repair? Is the car appropriate for Costa Rican roads, which are often unpaved, potholed, and damaged during the green season? Will you need a vehicle with 4×4? Only you know your individual needs. Meeting them is the next step.
Driving Your Car to Costa Rica
Obviously this is an option and an adventurous one at that. If you drive from the United States you will pass through Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. It is not within the scope of this article to go into detail about all these border crossings, however there is a lot of information you should know if you chose to do this. A good starting point for your research is: www.costaricareisen.com/firmen/autohandel/info_eng.htm.
The Back & Forth
Even if you’re just drifting about in a fairly non-committal way, it’s better to know the laws instead of finding out the hard way. To renew your visa you must leave the country every 90 days, for 3 days. This is not the same for your car – your car has to stay out for 90 days before it can return. You must also carry with you the original import and visa documents while driving a United States registered car within Costa Rica (Beedle, 2008). Some people think they can leave the country for 72 hours and then bring the same car back in with a different license plate to get new permits. However this is illegal. If you are caught doing this, your car may be confiscated and you can be sent to jail, deported, and banned from Costa Rica for a number of years (Charles Zeller, shiptocostarica@racsa.co.cr, personal communication December 24, 2008). Your car is allowed in Costa Rica for six months before you have to pay any taxes. It doesn’t matter which car the country is from, they will just put an extra stamp on your passport for your car. However, from January 1st 2009, Costa Rica will enter into the CAFTA agreement, so perhaps this rule will change (Marielos Meléndez, Lawyer@CostaRicaLawyer.com,personal communication, December 27, 2008).
Shipping
There are many different shipping companies to choose from, so it’s definitely worth checking out options to find the best deal. You can start fishing around by submitting quotes online at sites such as:
www.omegashipping.com/carshipping.asp
www.compare-international-movers.com
www.autocarshippers.com
www.abc-movers.com
www.rexcargo.com
www.jetbox.com
Remember to take into consideration costs such as storage, port fees, insurance, documentation, handling charges, customs inspections, demurrages (compensation you have to pay in case there is a loading or unloading delay), delivery etc. Any vehicle you want to ship into Costa Rica must also pass a EPA Smog Test, approved by a Local Consulate from the country of exportation. It is important to find out what your quote includes and what charges will be outstanding. To read a case example of what quotes may entail read Nicolas Ruggia’s article “Bringing in Your Four-Wheeled Baby”, The Tico Times, May 23 2008. For more information you can contact Charles Zeller by emailing shiptocostarica@racsa.co.cr or by phoning (toll free from USA and Canada) 1-866-245-6923 or (506) 2258-8747.
For information and advice about how to avoid shipping scams see: www.autocarshippers.com/carshippingscam.aspx.
Freight Charges
From the United States, cars are shipped into Puerto Limon. If you drove your car into Costa Rica, or for some reason you don’t have a freight bill (a bill of lading), then freight will be calculated as 7% of the market value of your car. Be careful, because this calculation could produce a cost more expensive than what actual freight might have been. If you didn’t have freight insurance, customs will figure one out for you by multiplying the sum of the market value and freight by 110%, then they multiply that figure by 1.5% (Howard, 2008).
The Black Book
To establish a value for the car being exported, you need to present the commercial invoice with the purchase value. If you don’t have a commercial invoice you have to declare a value. You can’t try and be sneaky by just making a value up, as Customs Officers follow a guide – The Black (or Blue) Book. Unless your declared value is within about 3% of what they’ve established, it will be rejected. The guide lists prices for new and used cars (used cars are defined as any car that is owned/titled). For examples of Canadian and United States evaluations you can visit www.blackbookguides.com.
Also go to www.crautos.com. The site is in Spanish, but don’t be put off. Click on the “Blue Book” tab at the top of the page, then click “INGRESAR” (“access”). This brings you to a form where you can enter specifications to get a price estimate. The estimate is drawn from a database of vehicles used in Costa Rica.
Despite these guides, the Costa Rican government often has the final say over car values and may assign higher values to cars than what is quoted in the Book (www.costarica.com/Retirement/Cost-of-Living/Auto-Expenses). “Costa Rican Market Values” are applied by the government by basing values on the selling prices of used vehicles in C.R. Depending on the year and model of your car, this price can be multiplied by between 0.432 – 0.502 to establish the import value. And this is what can make things pricey. For more detailed information and an example of how such calculations can produce high costs see www.1costaricalink.com/elresidente/oo-3-4-2001.htm.
Costs and calculations
You can be stung with high import taxes and duties when importing a car. The Costa Rican government taxes at between 50-80% the value of the CIF (cost + insurance + freight) OR 50-80% the value determined by the Costa Rican Finance Ministry’s Car-Tica system (Ruggia, 2008).
Factors taken into consideration when establishing the value include not only the car purchase value and year, but also the model, cubic centimeters, and any vehicle extras. The older your car is, the less it will be taxed (old cars are roughly defined as 10 years or more) (www.vacationcity.com/costa-rica/information/import-export). As of January 1st 2009, regardless of whether you drove your car into Costa Rica or had it shipped, models 2007,2008 and 2009 will be charged 52.9% of the import value at Hacienda. Models 2006 and 2005 are charged 63.7% and anything older is charged 79.03% (Charles Zeller, shiptocostarica@racsa.co.cr, personal communication December 23, 2008).
To get a more accurate idea of what you might be charged, check the government website “Ministerio de Hacienda” at www.hacienda.go.cr/autohacienda/autovalor.aspx. At this site you enter the specifications of your car to come up with a cost. Caution: Sometimes Government websites are out of date and the best thing you can do is ask an expert or official. Another way to obtain an estimate of duties is to send a fax or email to the Association of Residents (arcr@casacanada.net / www.arcr.net) detailing where you want to ship the car from, the car’s make, model, serial number (VIN), features, e.g. manual or automatic, air conditioning, power windows, and any other non-standard equipment. You can also email Charles Zeller (contact details under “Shipping a car”) and you can contact the National Auto Research by writing to:
2620 Barrett Road,
P.O. Box 758,
Gainsville, GA 30503.
Phone (800) 554-1026 and fax (770) 532-4792
(www.vacationcity.com/costa-rica/information/import-export; Howard, 2008).
Registration & License Plates
After a new car has been brought into the country it’s supposed to be registered at the tax office in San Jose within two days (www.costaricareisen.com/firmen/autohandel/info_eng.htm).You can get the paperwork to register it from customs. The cost of registration depends upon the value of your car. Firstly, the papers need to be taken to the vehicle section of the Registro Público, or Public Registry, and then the Ministry of Public Works (Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes). In time you are issued with a placa provisional (temporary paper license plate) by the Public Registry, which you display on your windshield. The paper will probably fade, so attach a photocopy to the windscreen and keep the original in the glove box. You have to watch the expiry date of the paper plates while you’re waiting for your permanent metal plates, as you can get a fine (from about 10,000 to 20,000 colones or to ) if they run out and you don’t renew them. You cannot renew your paper license until the day it expires. You have to go back to the Registro Público to have it renewed and there is no charge to do this (Administrator, 2008). Once the metal plates are ready you need to go to the Registro Nacional (National Registry), bringing with you:
Your temporary paper plate,
Title of ownership (título de propiedad),
Yellow registration card (tarjeta de circulación) and…
Your passport or Resident I.D. card (cédula).
Insurance
You can hire somebody to take care of all these processes for you or your dealer will do it.
Visit the National Registry’s website (available in English) at www.registronacional.com (Howard, 2008; Lytle,
