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I’m moving to Costa Rica in 8 weeks and we are bringing one car with us. Our shipper told us to wait until 2007 to pay taxes on our car and get C.R plates, etc to save us $5,000 in import taxes. This is legal to come into C.R for up to 6 months tax free. Only problem with this is coming in as a tourist, you do not get auto insurance coverage with INS. Our insurance company (Safeco) will not insure out of the USA. Does anyone know of a U.S. Auto Insurance Company that will insure temporarily in Costa Rica? Otherwise, we may have to forego insurance which leaves me a bit uneasy. Thanks for any info.
Can someone explain to me how waiting six months to register an imported car in Costa Rica can possibly save $5,000? I understand that the value of the car may be a little less in January than it is today, but there’s also the possibility that the model year of the car will roll it over into a higher Customs duty bracket, right?
INS has a governmentally-granted monopoly on the sale of auto (and other) insurance in Costa Rica. I’d be surprised if any other company anywhere will cover you.
Someone… Anyone… Give mediatica the name of an insurance agent in Costa Rica. One who speaks English.
I wouldn’t want anyone to mislead or misinform this person…
I already know an agent and my mother is from Costa Rica, so I am fluent in Spanish… so I don’t have a need for an English speaking agent. The issue is this: I am shipping a 2006 Nissan Xterra 4×4 in October so it would be considered a new car if I paid import duties then. If I wait, the import duties would be depreciated for a year and would total $11,500 (new duties are estimated to be around $15,500- $16,000 range). Pretty steep I know. Looking back, I would have sold my car and bought one there, but I’ve already committed to doing this, so there you have it. Only problem with bringing in your car like this is that you cannot get insurance through INS. I will drive my car with my Florida tags around for up to 6 months and pay duties in April of next year…I don’t know if anyone knows if it’s even possible to get U.S Insurance companies to ensure if you drive to another country (in this case, Costa Rica). I remember in college when we drove our car to Mexico, we had to purchase Mexican insurance or go without it. I have a feeling this is what we may have to do once we arrive… Any insight would be helpful.
Edited on Aug 14, 2006 08:15
I don’t know if this will help you but a couple of weeks ago I called the Costa Rican embassy abou this issue.
They gave me this web site to get a estimate on taxes for what ever kind of car that you bring to CR.
You just type in the make and modle and it will give you the tax information. http://www.hacienda.go.cr/autohacienda/autovalor.aspxI have read that the older the vehicle the higher the taxes…
52.29% x importation valor for model years 2002 through 2006
63.91% x importation valor for model years 2000 and 2001
79.03% x importation valor for model years 1999 and olderThis makes sense as they don’t want junk vehicles imported into the country, so they raise the taxes.
When I try the website for the taxes, it shows something totally different.
Edited on Aug 14, 2006 13:07
The information that I recived is from the Embasy of Costa Rica in D.C. they directed me to this web site above that will give you the taxes depending on the vehical model and year and other imputs.
It will also depend on the import officer as well and what their mood is and who you know.
They check the condidion of the vehical and make further determinations.Hope this helps
http://www.sanbornsinsurance.com/ might be able to provide insurance that covers your car all the way through mexico to Costa Rica, and in C.R. until you nationalize it and buy C. R insurance.
Sanborn only provides vehicle insurance in Mexico. I drove two vehicles to Costa Rica, and insured them both through the INS even though they were not nationalized. At the time I was there on a tourist visa.
Thanks for the info. I did notice that about Sanborn. I’ll just have to call and see what they can do for me. Is there a particular person you dealt with at INS?
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