Excise tax?

The website is notoriously bad and unreliable, even if it does spit out an answer, it will likely not be the amount that they charge you when the car arrives. If you can call and actually talk to someone (would be a small miracle) then that would probably be more accurate. When I shipped my 2003 Subaru Outback with 175k miles 2 1/2 years ago, they valued the car at $10k (laughable, the top value in the blue book for this car in excellent condition with much fewer miles would have been about $7k) and they charged me $2,500 excise tax. I had been expecting less than $2000 given the age and condition of the vehicle but, it seems like they are fairly arbitrary in assessing value and tend to be generous in their assessments in order to charge more tax. This is just the first of many, many experiences you'll have like this as you try to set up your life here, so I hope you have packed a lot of patience Bienvenido!

It's funny cause in the states I'm very impatient and get frustrated over stupid people and stupid stuff or what in my opinion is stupid stuff but when I'm in PR seems like everything is good even the waits, maybe. ;o)

Hi Bear,

Like kubla mentioned, patience is a must in dealing with day-to-day life here.  Through casual observation, I've noticed that things (on average) can take 2-3 times longer than what is typical in the US.  No big deal really, just an observation.  Last week I waited for nearly 45 minutes to pick up my dry cleaning with only one person in front of me.  There's not much you can do in these situations - you just have to roll with it.

If youre normally used to getting a bunch of things done in a day, plan on a couple of days, especially dealing with utility companies.  Getting internet/cable/electric hook-ups can take a while in some cases.  We've lucked out, but friends of ours had waited six weeks to get their cable/internet hooked up.  Appointments of any kind here are interesting.  When we called to have cable installed, they didn't give a date or time - they just showed up one day.  We weren't home, but luckily enough they came back later in the afternoon. 

I'll typically have mi Kindle with me while out-and-about, and use the waiting time to catch up on my reading!  Best of luck with your relocation!

Well thank you.. the older I get the more I'm like f*** it, it takes as long as it takes. Nothing a good stiff bushwacker from Calypso Cafe can't handle. ;o)

Having lived and travelled in many countries, I've come to appreciate how rare it is to be able to rely on anything or anyone who isn't family or a very close friend. Efficiency and timeliness are rare qualities in cultures. I can only think of the US (with some major exceptions), the UK, Canada, Austria and Germany falling into this category. (Gary - as you know, I've visited the Netherlands several times and greatly enjoy the country, but I don't know it well enough to pass judgment in this area - your thoughts here are appreciated.) Even Switzerland, where I know the Swiss German and Swiss French cantons pretty well due to my work, isn't particularly timely. They're efficient but they take a long time in being efficient, if you know what I mean.

It's much more common to live in a place where inefficiency and unreliability reign supreme. So it is in PR especially, and the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America, and in Spain, France, the Czech Republic, and even in Ireland (although to a lesser extent).

I cannot speak to Asia, the Middle East or Africa but I can guess.