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I did do a search but can’t really find the answer to this. My husband and I are in the ‘research’ stage of moving to Costa Rica. We’re very busy reading books, forums etc, and planning a trip at the beginning of next year. Regarding the question of bringing in your own furniture or buying all new, it appears that there are two opposing views. One view is that it’s not worth the expense and bother and you can buy just as good locally. The other is that the expense isn’t all that much so you may as well ship your own.
I’m prepared to leave much of our furniture behind. However, I do have some things that I wouldn’t know how to put a price on. These are things like furniture that was hand made by my father (bookcases, plant stands); family heirlooms (loveseat handed down by my father’s grandmother; treadle Singer sewing machine; brass lamp with the orginal cloth electrical cord); things acquired on our travels (african tribal masks, etc). Even if we wanted to ship this in, how in the world would you figure out the market value on it?
Has anyone else tried to bring in this type of thing and if so, how was the value determined?
Please contact Arden Brink, whom you can see at [ https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/1586.cfm ]. They ship stuff into Costa Rica by the container loads and I am sure they will be able to answer your questions…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comThere is no mystery to shipping your household goods to Costa Rica. Your local worldwide mover (Bekins, Mayflower, Wheaton, et al) can arrange if from the U.S. They’ll deliver a 20- or 40-foot container to your door for you to pack, get it to Costa Rica via ship, and eventually deliver it to you at your new home. Or you can make the same arrangements from the Costa Rica end. Call around and ask for prices.
Costa Rican Customs will do its own assessment of what your household goods are worth. You’ll have to make an inventory of each item. That is, you’ll have to state “Used kitchenware” for the box that contains your pots and pans, and so forth. You don’t have to list the number of pots, lids, etc in each box.
I have yet to hear of anyone paying $1,000 in Customs duty to import their belongings to Costa Rica.
When you consider the garage sale value of what you own today and the replacement cost here, I think a compelling case can be made for bringing your things. That’s especially true if you have things that are dear to you or irreplaceable. Remember two things: first, not everything you own today is available to purchase here, so you may be able to sell your good cutlery in a garage sale but replacing it may be very difficult, if not impossible. Second, anything imported to Costa Rica for retail sale will be more expensive than it is in the U.S. That is where Customs duty really has an impact.
So unless you have a houseful of junk that you’d really like to be rid of, consider carefully getting a container and bringing it with you.
From my personal experience and the tales of others, Scott is right. Contact Arden at shipcostarica.com for the smoothest possible move to Costa Rica form the US or Canada.
DON’T call your local mover, as they have probably never moved anyone from there to here. You may use their services to load you container, but that will be determined after Arden’s assessment of your situation.
There may be other good people doing moves here, but I’ve never heard of one. Everyone I know who used other companies got surprise charges on this end, thus making their bargain quote less than a bargain. Arden Brink and Barry Wilson both have stellar reputations for quoting accurately and fully. Moving across the planet is a big enough headache when it’s done right.
If you’re bringing almost anything, it’s usually worth it to bring almost everything. You’ll either need a 20′ or 40′ container, so pack it full. I can’t tell you how comforting it was at first to have MY bed, MY sofa, MY pictures, MY… STUFF! Everything around me here was new, but my belongings gave me a sense of “home.” Try putting a value on that and I think you’ll need to throw away the calculator.
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