Best Way to Find a Car in the DR

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Medic5916

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Jul 11, 2014
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About a year ago my wife and I bought a car that gave us problems almost all the time. It never truly ran very well and was constantly finding its way into the shop. We finally decided that we had to get rid of it and look for something else. We did massive amounts of research on autoimportadores and supercarros dot com and had to have our car fixed to have any chance of trading it into a car dealer to take some off of the price of our car.

We then posted on DR1 to see if anyone would be willing to help us look for a car and give us a ride because our car was being fixed. Derfish and The Gorgon helped us out a lot and PM'ed us the same day.

Derfish spent an entire day driving to pick us up, took us to Santo Domingo, and followed us to car dealerships and his price was less than all of the local transport services just to take us to Santo Domingo, and he was with us all day.

The Gorgon did an awesome job and was extremely knowledgeable about cars. He searched the entire car from top to bottom and looked for anything that could be wrong with it. The first day we didn't find a car and he woke up early the next day to search all of Puerta Plata. He was even willing to take a bus all over the DR to find the best car for us. He does a great job at finding a car that you are looking for based on your personal needs. He is also great at talking with dealers and haggling prices.

We were extremely lost about what to do or how to go about finding a car and couldn't have done it without The Gorgon or Derfish. My wife and I have a lot of friends and work with a lot of Americans in Jarabacoa and we will be recommending both of these guys to everyone for their hard work, willingness, and just for being all around great guys. Thanks again, we couldn't have done it without you.
 
S

sayanora

Silver
Feb 22, 2012
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Medic5916 said:
About a year ago my wife and I bought a car that gave us problems almost all the time. It never truly ran very well and was constantly finding its way into the shop. We finally decided that we had to get rid of it and look for something else. We did massive amounts of research on autoimportadores and supercarros dot com and had to have our car fixed to have any chance of trading it into a car dealer to take some off of the price of our car.

We then posted on DR1 to see if anyone would be willing to help us look for a car and give us a ride because our car was being fixed. Derfish and The Gorgon helped us out a lot and PM'ed us the same day.

Derfish spent an entire day driving to pick us up, took us to Santo Domingo, and followed us to car dealerships and his price was less than all of the local transport services just to take us to Santo Domingo, and he was with us all day.

The Gorgon did an awesome job and was extremely knowledgeable about cars. He searched the entire car from top to bottom and looked for anything that could be wrong with it. The first day we didn't find a car and he woke up early the next day to search all of Puerta Plata. He was even willing to take a bus all over the DR to find the best car for us. He does a great job at finding a car that you are looking for based on your personal needs. He is also great at talking with dealers and haggling prices.

We were extremely lost about what to do or how to go about finding a car and couldn't have done it without The Gorgon or Derfish. My wife and I have a lot of friends and work with a lot of Americans in Jarabacoa and we will be recommending both of these guys to everyone for their hard work, willingness, and just for being all around great guys. Thanks again, we couldn't have done it without you.
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I think this is a great service that is definitely needed for anyone to purchase a car in the predatory used car market in the DR. Would you mind sharing what you charge or maybe even the service providers themselves would like to? I think that this service can be worth upwards of 5-10% of the value of the vehicle being purchased if they know what they are talking about and have knowledge of the used car market. In a lot of cases just a carfax report can cost a good amount of money if it's needed (if the vehicle is from NA).
 
AlterEgo

AlterEgo

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Tashi Siu's Dad said:
That's one reason why I'm shipping my 2012 RAV4 down here next month. I've owned it since it had 4 miles on the odometer and I know every oil change and tire repair ad nauseum. It's mine, I have the title and I think the Duty and all the fees with shipping and handling, etc., will make it worthwhile to bring it down. I can ship it from Jacksonville, FL and they'll even put it on a truck and take it to the port from my house in Tennessee. I've priced the same SUV on Supercarros and they are WAY over the cost involved with bring my own down.
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We did that early this year, shipped down a Toyota Venza.

Are you aware that if you get permanent residency in DR, you can bring in a car at a substantial discount in the 6 months following your residency approval?

We brought ours in as returning Dominican, similar discount.
 
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drSix

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Oct 13, 2013
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a'right, so with the new residency thingy you have to have owned the car for a year and it has to be less than five years old, correct? How do they check to see if I have owned it for a year?

Also, and I think I know the answer to this question, can I ship a car here that I am making payments on, or do I have to own it with the leon card?
 
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jeanchris

Bronze
Feb 27, 2012
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Bringing a car tax free is probably the only reason i would get residency here!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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playacaribe2

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Jan 9, 2004
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drSix said:
a'right, so with the new residency thingy you have to have owned the car for a year and it has to be less than five years old, correct? How do they check to see if I have owned it for a year?
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The title indicates your first day of ownership. Save your old registrations to show you actually had it registered and on the road.

Also, and I think I know the answer to this question, can I ship a car here that I am making payments on, or do I have to own it with the leon card?
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No, it must be owned to be let out of the country (US).



Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 
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playacaribe2

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Jan 9, 2004
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Tashi Siu's Dad said:
The only exception to Playacaribe2's post is if you are Active Duty Military or Foreign Service Employee on Official Orders--then you can send a financed car out of the U.S.---but the U.S. Government is paying the costs, too.
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Your response implies that the government allows either a foreign service employee or active duty military have some sort of federal waiver. They do not.

The only way to remove a vehicle with a lien no matter who you are or who you work for is to get a waiver from the lienholder. And, as a matter of good business practice, they are rarely if ever given...unless a pledge of sufficient other assets is undertaken.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 
W

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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from my experience

the car sits at the dock for a few days while the title is checked for liens... can be almost a week as I recall.

needs a clear title before being exported
 
AlterEgo

AlterEgo

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william webster said:
from my experience

the car sits at the dock for a few days while the title is checked for liens... can be almost a week as I recall.

needs a clear title before being exported
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I wondered about that, because no one ever asked us for proof that we owned our car free & clear. Like Tashi, we owned it from day one.

Dumb question alert.... do people who finance cars get a title before they pay it off?

We love having our own car there, although it was a little surreal the first few days.
 
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playacaribe2

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Jan 9, 2004
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AlterEgo said:
I wondered about that, because no one ever asked us for proof that we owned our car free & clear. Like Tashi, we owned it from day one.

Dumb question alert.... do people who finance cars get a title before they pay it off?

We love having our own car there, although it was a little surreal the first few days.
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Title in some states is held at the DMV/RMV until the lienholder issues a release. In others it is actually physically held by the lienholder.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 
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william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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but in both cases, the title is not released to the driver/owner until all is paid..

free and clear before you get title possession
 
AlterEgo

AlterEgo

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playacaribe2 said:
Title in some states is held at the DMV/RMV until the lienholder issues a release. In others it is actually physically held by the lienholder.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
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william webster said:
but in both cases, the title is not released to the driver/owner until all is paid..

free and clear before you get title possession
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Okay, well that answers the question as to whether or not you can ship a car that's still being financed - the first thing they wanted was a copy of our title, then the original when it was shipped. I wasn't sure because we've never financed a car.

We never got our original title back in DR - they kept it. Of course, we were given a Dominican matricula/title, and in our case it is marked right on the matricula that we cannot sell the car for 3 years.
 
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playacaribe2

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Jan 9, 2004
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AlterEgo said:
Okay, well that answers the question as to whether or not you can ship a car that's still being financed - the first thing they wanted was a copy of our title, then the original when it was shipped. I wasn't sure because we've never financed a car.

We never got our original title back in DR - they kept it. Of course, we were given a Dominican matricula/title, and in our case it is marked right on the matricula that we cannot sell the car for 3 years.
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You turned your old title in for a new one (Matricula). Same thing if you moved from NJ to NY. Turn in the NJ title and a NY title is then issued. They record the old title and then destroy it.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 
W

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Tashi Siu's Dad said:
Even without the discount, it's still considerably cheaper and more reliable than buying from a dealer in the D.R.
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Are you sure you added in all of the shipping, taxes, duty, first license fees, etc? Most people doing the analysis do not come up with a price that is that is substantially different for an automobile. I would be interested in seeing your final results.
 
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