Shipping a Car from Costa Rica

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Shipping a Car from Costa Rica

All cars that are transported to the US from Costa Rica are shipped either from Puerto Limón or Puerto Caldera, a city on the country’s Pacific Coast. The former port is used for all shipments to the US East Coast, while Puerto Caldera is used for shipments to the West Coast. Depending on your preference, your car will be shipped to the US either in a container ship or on a car deck on a Roll-On/Roll-Off (RoRo) ship. The average cost to ship a car from Costa Rica to the US is between $650 and $750.

Import Requirements

Upon arrival at a US port, your car will need to pass through US customs inspection. For this, you will require the original title of your vehicle, its foreign registration, the original bill of sale and the bill of lading from your shipping company. Before you can import a car from Costa Rica, it will need to pass a set of strict safety and emissions tests.

Rules for Non-Conforming Vehicles

Vehicles designed for use in America will have a label that says the car meets US requirements relating to issues such as safety harnesses, air bags, headlights and front and rear bumpers. You can import a car from Costa Rica even if it does not meet these requirements. However, you will need to bring your car into compliance with US safety requirements within 45 days of your arrival.

Emissions Requirements

When you ship a car from Costa Rica it will also be subject to intensive emissions testing, which sometimes can take up to 14 hours to complete. If your car fails the emissions test, you will have 45 days to bring the vehicle into compliance. In the interim, you will be required to deposit a bond equal to 150 percent of the value of your car. If you fail to bring your car into compliance within 45 days, you will forfeit that bond.

Things to Know When Importing a Car to the United States

Here are a few other things you need to know when importing a car to the US from another country.

• You will need to pay a customs duty of 2.5 percent of the value of your car if you plan to bring in your car permanently.
• If your car fails safety or emissions tests, you will be required to work with a Registered Importer (RI) to bring your car into compliance.
• Before shipping your car, make sure to wash the undercarriage thoroughly and to clean out the interior of the vehicle.

Shipping a car from Costa Rica can appear daunting at first, but, if you take the effort to understand US customs and safety regulations, you will discover that it is a fairly straightforward task.