Buying a car

I would love to get the contact for the car buying service. I will be buying a car later this month for the first time in the DR.

Message sent

Hey! I want to buy a car in DR, but I'm not sure if I can insure it on a tourist visa (120 days). We want to travel for all Caribbean, so resting visia shouldn't be a problem for us, but what about insurance? I also read that is some problem with driving license because is valid only 30 days. If we are extending visa our driving license is also valid?

I know that a lot of tourists don't care about it, but we want to do everything legally. Respecting law is important for us.

Yes , you can insure it

License is valid for 90 days - not 30

Extension of stay to 120 doesn't change the 90 day license rule

The Dominican Republic tourism website says 30 days

[i]https://www.godominicanrepublic.com/es/faq-items/es-valida-mi-licencia-de-conducir-en-republica-dominicana/

IS MY DRIVER'S LICENSE VALID IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC?
HOME / FAQ / IS MY DRIVER'S LICENSE VALID IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC?

Yes, it is valid, but only for the duration of your legal stay, that is, up to 30 days or the term of your visa.[/i]

My vehicle insurance policy says it is valid for a driver with a valid driving license and as stated above a foreigner can drive for a maximum 90 days on a recognised foreign license after arriving in the country. Cannot find anything about legality of the person insured affecting cover in my document small print..

I would have thought damage to an insured vehicle would be covered rather like property insurance, but when it comes to third party damage and injury and the driver does not have legal status he may be in breach of numerous laws and cover is not valid. Anyhow as above we are being told 30 days for those arriving as tourists.

Simple solution is to extend ones stay legally online to 120 days total and drive for 90 days fully covered.

There is so much controversy over this.  Even lawyers cannot agree - so you take your chances after 30 days

Okey, I see that is quite unclear and didn't clarify. Why 90 not 120? Are there two different rules that are mutually exclusive?

…up to 30 days or the term of your visa

If my visa ended after 120 days, why only  30 or 90?

Does Mike also help with insurance? If not, who can I message?

Insurance won't help resolve this. They likely don't know either.  Until there is an accident it's all grey area. Even lawyers will argue over this. 

Insurance is good as long as you are legal. 

Work visa makes you legal as long as you have it.

Tourist visa is 30 days.  Extensions may or may not be legal as they are administrative work arounds.

Residency makes you legal. 

So the grey area - drive while not legal are you insured???  Some argue yes some argue no.  Take your chances.  Get stopped by cops and normally a propina resolves it. Get in an accident and it may be another story.

90 days validity of accepted foreign driving licenses is defined in the original mobility  law and carries into the recent transportation law.

The 30 days relates to validity of ones insurance. This is the part that is debated albeit MITUR says 30 days.

Legal status is the key.

Residing in any country worldwide without a legal status is a risk in relation to numerous matters. DR now has a government which acts daily as though laws must be respected independent of politics.

My personal experiences over recent months when I get stopped by police is that they now ask for license, insurance and car documents and check them by telephone. Gone are days asking for a tip. I get stopped most times I travel to the capital, Bonao and Cotui with so many roadblocks these days.

Just to add, I used to drive on my UK driving license aware of the 90 day rule because at that time I was visiting the islands regularly.

I ignored getting my Dominican license until an architect friend who did the same got involved in an accident involving personal injury to a third party in La Romana and got locked up pending investigations. The fact he was a foreigner driving on a foreign license complicated his case and without good company lawyers demonstrating his compliance with the 90 day rule he would have been incarcerated for a long time.

Everything appears good until an accident involving locals being injured happens.

Getting involved in a serious accident without valid cover could be very rough imo.

Today I have been down to Santo Domingo to finalize the deal on a car Mike Logan alias Cruffman found for me - or rather for my wife.

I have had contact with Mike for a number of years through social media but today was the first time we have met in person.

He is a gentleman and handles this hobby turned venture helping expats find cars in DR with politeness, communication and honesty all the way through the process.

He arranged to deliver the vehicle back to my home in the campo and it is now here and will now arrrange transfer of matricula.

From my earlier experiences with cars here in DR I know it has an extensive minefield of hazards to negotiate to find something good and complete the deal. It is not like back home where there is plenty of choice and you can trust dealers or sellers and secure a purchase only to find your chosen car has been given to another buyer before you had chance to conclude the deal. You need to be selective in what you want and Mike will offer opinions and do his damn best to find that vehicle and guide you well away from questionable and suspect vehicles. His network of contacts works to your benefit.

He has my highest recommendation.

Good to hear!  I had a very similar experience with him.

thanks for the very charitable assessment of my services. it was a joy meeting lennoxnev and his charming wife, and  triumphing over the auto market this time..  enjoy it in the best of health...

Hi . I am selling a Hyundai Accent 2012. Only owner. 46000 kilometers.
Please text me if you are still interested ***

Mercedes

You will need to take a classified listing please.  We dont allow  posting of personal contact info

@Mmr986 can you send me his info.......my nane is stan ***

Please do not post personal contact info. It's against community rules.

Planner,

Do you know if cruffman is still active in this forum?

Yes I think he is.

Thank you!

YOU are a suoerb moderator by the way!!

FYI, we  we bought/are buying our condo in Punta Cana.

Well thank you, I do my best to make this a safe, informative place!

@cruffman

Sir, I was trying to respond back to the email you sent me  but for some reason it didn't go thru about purchasing a vehicle in the DR for my family

hi there.....shoot me a whatsapp number and i will call you

hello cruffman,  my number is 4***

good morning...got the number....will call you this evening....have a great day

@cruffman    Cruffman  i can call you as well.  do you have any pictures that you can send to my email address?   ***

@cruffman

***

David

@dldoakes

Hello,

To share your contact details, click on any member's photo and select the "send a message" option.

It is not safe to post your personal contact details on a public forum.

Thank you

Bhavna