Cost of living in Bavaro

Rent and a daily lunch provided, this should be sufficient for living pretty comfortably here. This is of course depending on your definition of comfortable and your personal spending habits. If you eat alot of local fruits veggies and stay away from the more expensive imported foods you should have money left for small pleasures like eating out now and then or getting a bottle of wine with a friend etc... Stay away from the local smaller supermarcados and shop at Super Pola and local fruit stands. If you enjoy the simple things in life then 20,000 RD should be plenty for a single person.

One of your big expenses will be transportation. The expense will be either large up-front payment and lower monthly running cost, or no upfront but higher monthly running cost.

In Bavaro/Punta Cana area everything is far away. from Punta cana to Bavaro (Arena Gorda) it's almost 30 minutes drive by car. There is virtually no public transportation (if we do no count interurban buses that connect Veron with Punta Cana, Higuey, and Bavaro) and you can transport only along the simple route they run (one and only).

So you will either have to use taxis or motoconchos (motorcycle taxis). Taxi base rate is about 10 dollars (or more) just to get in (compare to Santo Domingo US$3.50). Motoconchos are about twice as expensive as anywhere else for the same distance traveled.

Your other option will be to buy/rent a car, motorcycle or scooter.

Car has high up-front cost (there's a lot of articles about car costs and purchase, so do a search) and maintenance fees will also run high (all spare parts are about 30% more expensive than in the US), plus fuel costs are about 50% more expensive than US. You will also need (and WANT) a full insurance, which is about 5% p.a. of a car's value.

Motorcycles and scooters are less expensive (you can get a new good scooter for under US$2,000 and good quality motorcycle for roughly the same price), mechanics are plentiful and cheap, parts are widely available (on every other street corner in most DR cities, does not apply to Bavaro, but still plentiful) and are reasonably priced, and you will have inexpensive transportation. You can roughly get 70 miles or more on 1 gallon of premium gasoline on scooter/motorcycle in-city driving.
Scooters may consume a bit more fuel than motorcycles but are automatic, easy to learn to ride, and can serve for cargo hauls as well (e.g. transporting your gas tank to a gas plant, grocery shopping, etc.)
Scooters/motorcycles are plentiful in Bavaro/Veron, but are not that widely used for transportation between the areas (e.g. between Veron and Bavaro/Friusa, etc.) lots of curves and crazy drivers on the road. If you need to drive a lot along that route then you will need a car.

Now, if your transportation is provided for, none of this applies.

stephrossi said:

Are salary figures net of taxes or does the government take out a monthly tax?

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Your employer will take out a small (about 5%) value for contributions to the health insurance fund and social security fund. The employer contributes I think 60% of the cost and employee 40% of the cost. The total contribution is about 12% of the salary value (5% employee 7% employer). This is not an exact number just a rough estimate, but if there is a difference in actual contribution percentages it's only a very small one. You can select the health insurance company as per your preference.

Your salary is exempt from income taxes for annual income of up to RD$371,124 (monthly income RD$30,927, brutto, before health&SS contributions). Over that amount, you pay % tax on the "overages" e.g. if you earn RD$500,000 per year you would pay 15% tax on RD$128,876 or in other words a tax of RD$19,331.

You can find personal income tax information, exempt values, and tax brackets here:
http://www.dgii.gov.do/dgii/impuestos/Paginas/ImpuestoSobrelaRenta.aspx

Good advice on the transport side. I'd even say that transport to work provided or not you still need some form of transport or you'll be stuck when not working. It is difficult to comprehend how stuffed you are without something, you can't even pop to the shops in most cases. And as he said, taxi's and conchos take full advantage of the situation and charge stupid rates.

If you do need transport then get a scooter, and it just so happens I can hook you up with a 2009 Aprilia RS125, GP edition in orange and black, great con, all the paperwork legit and in Bavaro.

8-10,000 should be more than enough. Buy a bike.
Yanandu

yanandu said:

8-10,000 should be more than enough. Buy a bike.
Yanandu

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Are you Bicycle?

Anastacio said:

Are you Bicycle?

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Planet bike is here!
mountain bike, dominican republic, trail, rides, maps, caribbean
Ana has gone........ it must be the heat!
Yanandu

Cycling to work in the heat is not possible if you are going to an office environment. Apart from that it is dangerous on the bavaro roads, you need to keep up with the traffic of someone will knock you off.
Stupid idea!

Anastacio said:

Cycling to work in the heat is not possible if you are going to an office environment. Apart from that it is dangerous on the bavaro roads, you need to keep up with the traffic of someone will knock you off.
Stupid idea!

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It's no more dangerous than a motorcycle: there are plenty of those. Maybe electric bike is good!
There's not so much traffic there. Back roads also.
A bottle with a couple of litres of water for washing/ sponging down and changing when arriving is easy.
In most areas there may be swimming pool for a quick dip!
Yanandu

That sounds really practical

yanandu said:

A bottle with a couple of litres of water for washing/ sponging down and changing when arriving is easy.
In most areas there may be swimming pool for a quick dip!
Yanandu

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You forgot to add a good deodorant !

Between us, a pool is not for bathing

I wouldn't want be the coworker sitting next to him if the OP bikes to work :cheeky:

You can't be serious Yanandu

Many people just take their laptop near the pool and work in the DR.
Saves office space.
Pools well looked after are fine!
I know you are going to suggest a motorized skateboard. OK in Paris for getting to work but tricky in the DR as the roads are not that good.
Mountain bikes win!
Yanandu

waterproof laptop, LMAO

yanandu said:

Many people just take their laptop near the pool and work in the DR.
Saves office space.
Pools well looked after are fine!
I know you are going to suggest a motorized skateboard. OK in Paris for getting to work but tricky in the DR as the roads are not that good.
Mountain bikes win!
Yanandu

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How did you guess ?? You took the words out my mouth, that is exactly how I take my children to school !!!!!!!!!!!!

Poor Yanandu :dead:

The latest thrill sport sensation for your children!

Yanandu

This guy is going to be seriously rich!
5 grandes a night at 40 pesos each just nibbles into his allowance!

Yanandu

You can have it for RD15,000. See what happens, I've relocated back to the capital so I'm not even in Bavaro now. Just watch the local boys offering you scooters, most of them are nicked in Santo Domingo and brought over and run until they get confiscated. Well, I say most, I mean some.

Just mail me on here if and when you might want it, see what happens.