Importing Chivo… Part One

The time has come. Chivo is ready to become a full-on Costa Rican car! One of the questions about moving to Costa Rica that we see the most on chat boards and Facebook groups, is whether to bring a car down or purchase one here. There’s more debate to that question than whether the dress was gold or blue. So I won’t get into it here. Like everything – it is important to do a lot of research, take people’s opinions with a very large grain of salt, and settle on what decision fits you best.

TO IMPORT OR NOT TO IMPORT, THAT IS THE QUESTION

For us, the decision to import Chivo when we moved to Costa Rica (vs. purchasing a car down here) was a tough one. There is a substantial cost – both to purchasing a brand new Jeep and to importing it to Costa Rica. And that doesn’t even take into account the fact that a Jeep mechanic is not common in a country with only one Jeep dealer. What sold Nikk, though, was that we’d have a car that he knew the entire history of, that we’d have the bells and whistles that he wanted, and the fact that he loves Jeeps. What sold me was that it would have the safety standards of cars in the US and the fact that I love sitting shotgun in a Jeep with no doors on it, sun shining on my face. 

Once you decide to import a car into Costa Rica, there’s an immediate decision of how to get it into the country. Obviously we chose to drive it in. (If you want to import a car into Costa Rica via shipping, this post won’t do you a lot of good… sorry. But read on, because it could get fun!) 

When we crossed the border into Costa Rica, Chivo was given a 90-day temporary import permit, or TIP. With this document we had three months to either import him or take him out of the country. For a while, Nikk and I thought about storing Chivo in a government-sanctioned facility before our TIP expired. This would essentially pause the TIP; so if we put him in for three weeks with two months left on our TIP, the two months would still apply once we took him out of storage. It’s a nice work-around if you want to take your time deciding to import a car into Costa Rica or not. However, after a couple of weeks living here, we decided that we were ready to take the plunge. 

A quick word of warning (or encouragement, depending on how you look at it)… lots of Jeep photos to follow…

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU SHOULD KNOW

And what a plunge it is. The most important thing you should know about importing a car into Costa Rica is that it is EXPENSIVE! In order to discourage people from importing a lot of cars, the Costa Rican government taxes them heavily… like 50% or more of the value of your car. Add to that the fees of the process (there’s always fees), the fees of a customs expert, and the yearly “marchmo” (registration), and you’re looking at a big price tag. 

THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON YOU SHOULD GET TO KNOW

So once we decided to move forward with importing Chivo, we started doing research to find a customs agent to help us with the process. Luckily, we drink beer a lot. And while I wish that drinking beer was a magic cure for everything, it is not. But it did provide us with the opportunity to meet TJ, the brewer at our local brewery, Cervecería Independiente. In addition to learning that TJ had imported a car a few years ago, he shared with us that he has to import all kinds of equipment and product from outside Costa Rica on a regular basis to keep the delicious suds flowing. (Side note: if you’re in Potrero or Flamingo, seriously go visit the Cervecería. The beers are fantastic!) He gave us the name and number of his customs agent, Nester. If you’re going to import a car into Costa Rica, I can’t stress enough how essential having a customs agent will be. Or how awesome it is to get to know your local brewer, but that’s besides the point.

THE SECOND-MOST IMPORTANT PERSON YOU SHOULD GET TO KNOW

Once we’d had a couple of conversations with Nester, we thought we were ready to import Chivo into Costa Rica. All we had to do was get the money we had saved for our import taxes from our bank in the US to a bank in Costa Rica. Simple, right? Nope. Like so many things we’ve discovered after moving to Costa Rica, nothing is simple. Not only were we having to figure out what our bank’s transfer limits, wire limits, and fees were, we had to figure out where to put the money once it got to Costa Rica. So we decided to open a bank here in CR. Simple, right? Nope. Costa Rican banks have limits on how much non-residents (us) can deposit per month. 

Luckily, we drink a lot of coffee. And coffee definitely does solve problems; in this case, it helped us meet Mark, the owner of the Bagel Kitchen Costa Rica where we often go to get a morning cup of Joe or work when our Internet is out. Mark shared with us his banker’s name, who in turn, connected us with Gustavo, an accountant who can write us a letter of recommendation to increase our deposit limits. And ta-da! Just like that we were able to move our funds. Just kidding. It’s still taking time because of the US bank limits. See? Nothing is easy. 

LET THE IMPORT BEGIN

Despite the challenges with moving our funds, we were able to start the process of importing the Jeep! Nester explained to us that we would start by bringing Chivo to a storage facility that he works with, where Chivo would sit for 15-22 days while the aduana (customs) cancels our TIP and assesses the value of our vehicle. Once they have the value of the vehicle, Nester processes our paperwork for the import and then registers Chivo as a Costa Rican car; this process can take an additional week or so, putting our total time without our car at about a month. 

So Nikk and I made one last trip to the “big” grocery store to buy what we thought we’d need for a month that we wouldn’t be able to get at the stores within walking distance, and then we took off for San José where the storage facility was located.

Nester encouraged us to start at the warehouse first thing in the morning and said that we may need to spend a few hours at the Aduana facility, so we decided to drive up to San Jose the day before and spend the night. Nikk and I can turn anything into an excuse to take a mini-vacation!

The drive to San Jose, our night out on the town, and the actual customs process includes so much, so I’m going to break this journey into a few blog posts. So stay tuned! In the meantime, let us know in the comments section what questions you have. We aren’t experts, but we’re excited to share our experience with you!

And for those that could care less about Jeep pictures… here’s your Bosco and beach fix!