Buying a car in the Dominican Republic...

@ppauley Hi, I suggest you go to Antonio Ochoa in Santiago, one of the most reliable dealers in the region. If you are looking for a used vehicle, you can try Espaillat Motors. Good luck

Please contact our member Cruffman aka Mike Logan. He has helped many expats and locals get good reliable vehicles.  His whatsapp and phone

By the way he has helped me andy businesses with several vehicles

He has helped many of us.

Antonio Ochoa is great for new cars.... mine is from there....in Santiago

HUGE dealership

Thanks, @planner, Mike contacted me and I've reached out to him.

Maedig auto sales in La Vega is a good place to look. 809-342-2000. They always have have a good selection(10-15 to choose from) Honda CRV’s brought in from Canada. 2-5 years old in good condition. They also have a few other models too. They detail them with new tires. They only sell SUV’s. The owners speak some English and you can deal with them. They will come off of prices in the DR. You may have to walk away and return the next day to get your deal. They have some cars featured and priced in super carro online. Some price in US dollars. Beware in negotiations if you are paying in Dominican Pesos. If the exchange is say 54/1 , they want to use a bank rate of 52. Know they exact exchange rate when you’re negotiating. They do titles a, tags and insurance a little different in the DR. If you want an attorney to go with you to help negotiate or oversee the payment and make sure everything is in order. Call Morris in Puerto Plata. He didn’t charge very much and I had the title and tag delivered to his office. He is also a good attorney if you have problems. Contact him and tell him William sent you. His number is ***. He will not scalp you for being an expat. Used SUV’s in the DR are more expensive and the Honda CRV is in high demand. It maintains its value though in the DR. Good look

actually, dealers post their ads in either dollars or pesos. you only have a problem if you do not pay in the currency they post.  if they post the car as 500,000 pesos, and you try to pay for it in dollars, then you will have an exchange rate issue. if you pay in pesos there will be no issue.

a word of caution to people buying cars in the Cibao region....a 2017 CRV is going to run you close to 40 large in places like the tramo....  same car in Santo Domingo will run 35k.

@ppauley facebook marketplace or corrotos.com . Most of the good agencies for used cars and new are in Moca and Santiago. You need to be very very careful here as your chance of getting a lemon can be high.

You need to find a Dominican mechanic locally - pay him 50 -75$ to come with you and check out the vehicles. If you skip this part I promise you; you'll get screwed by paying a few thousand more; something that doesn't work 6 months down the road.

There is also a guy on the North coast around where you are that has the mechanical experience and charges a fee ( he's American I believe ) he asks your budget and gets you a functioning vehicle and I think? I cant verify offers some kind of x-month warranty on that

i do not want to get into an argument with TDRR about the used car business, but Moca is probably the worst place to buy a used car. Santiago is decent, but overpriced. Santo Domingo, the capital, is leaps and bounds above either Moca and Santiago.

T.DRRR

That 'guy' on the north coast might be Cruffman..... he's quite well known

He goes by other names but here it's Cruffman

I agree.  Our expert, Cruffman, has been doing this for years and knows the good and not good dealers!

thanks for the generous remarks, planner and WW....

It's all true.  Anyone who wants to, can go it alone! Absolutely.  Your fee is very very reasonable and saves a lot of time and hassle.

@cruffman La vega would be the only other place I could say someone could find something ? I found most of the places I visited overpriced though i.e 2003 L200 manual Diesel 500k. Not arguing with you, you know your stuff.

You find the capital cheaper? I honestly have not looked there because it's quite far from POP. Initially I went to look at private sales and to be honest it was just such a headache with wasted time, papers, surprises etc. that I started looking more at agencies just to mitigate any stess there.

But for the OP just use this guy ^ cheaper in the long run and from what I have heard smooth and what we're use to in North America.

Cruffman, I'm curious - do you offer financing with your clients as well? like can you explain a bit about your services we're aware that you offer a service where you essentially will try your best to pick a vehicle for your clients and run diagnostic equipment and leverage your connections here in the DR but are you selling these via private sale or can you/able to? get financing as well?

@cruffman Can you explain a bit about Moca as well please? - I'm just curious why you say that... the market here is crazy and there seems to be a lot of variances

Cruffman sources and verifies vehicles. He takes into consideration what you are looking for as well as your budget and does his best to find you a good vehicle. He is not a reseller, does not offer financing and works for no dealers!

@ppauley if you can buy and ship a car do so. Vehicles are over priced in the DR. My hubby and I live in the sosua area and wanted to change our suv and we decided not to.

I didn't find importing my own car any cheaper unless it comes with your residency, then you get a discount on entry.

Rule of thumb is to add 50% otherwise

@WillieWeb I would guess freight cost and tarrif and ITBIS make it cost prohibitive What value did you declare? what were the freight and taxes if you do not mind sharing

DGII has a site where you can put in the vehicle and the value and they will tell you the costs.

Remember this cannot just be made up. They will compare to local values and charge you accordingly!

My vehicle had gone up in value in the last 18 months! All vehicles are more expensive right now. Importers are paying more to purchase vehicles new or used and that is reflected in the market!

LT

my car came in my container when moving here.... $4,300 (20FT) in 2208/9

Aduana decides the car's value.... nothing to do with your cost

I have a post on this 'back in the day'.... with Lambada

Tax coming in was about $2,000....the incoming resident's rate....again, Aduana decision

And that was some years ago, some things have changed.  In some ways Aduanas is actually more efficient and not so much in other ways.

Hi Cruffman - My wife and I are Canadian and bought a Villa in Encuentro - near Caberete - which my daughter and son in law live in year-round and we spend a few winter months in.  Given the insane cost of car rentals, we'd like to buy a car for use those times we're in the DR - nothing too upscale - just something reliable we can use to get around in ~ 3 months a year.  You seem to be the go-to guy for this - so would appreciate you reaching out if you can help.  We'll be arriving Nov 25 / 22.

@ppauley if you’re interested we are selling a Nissan Xtrail 2015/16.  We’re in Las Terrenas.

Just wanted to give a shout out to Cruffman. Gave him a budget and a few preferences and he did all the leg work and located a nice clean vehicle in Santo Domingo. (I might add that he steered me away from another good looking vehicle that had 300.000 more miles than the odometer indicated.) Organized the contract and looked after obtaining the Matricula. All in all a pretty easy transaction. Thank you Mike!

it was a pleasure...enjoy it in the best of health...blessings

@WillieWeb can i buy a car on credit, like here in the states?

Yes, but the rates aren't too low.........+/- 10%... or higher

As an expat with NO credit here you will be looking at much higher rates.