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Topic starter
Hey - I'm trying to move to STJ in October. I'm looking for information on shipping my car to STT and then the car ferry to St John.
Best places to ship from? Possibly going to drive from Seattle to Miami and try and ship from there if that's the best place.
Can you ship with a car you still owe on?
Do you need new licenses, tabs, drivers license right away? I'm not sure if I'll stay more than a season yet or not.
Any/all information would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Posted : July 22, 2016 4:03 pm
Yes, you can ship from Miami.
You have to check with the lender. Most do not allow it.
You can drive with your Washington license for a while however you'll have to transfer title, get insurance and plates. It's not like the states where you can drive with your out of state plates and insurance while you try it out. You also have to pay road tax on top of the other fees and if the car is not US built it's even more money.
If you are moving on a whim it's not a good idea. Do a PMV first then decide whether you are staying or not.
Posted : July 22, 2016 4:14 pm
The information you need is here (in the drop-down menus top of this page):
https://www.vimovingcenter.com/car/
If you're making payments on the car you'll have to ask the lender if you can move it here.
Your car will have to go through the whole clearing process on STT as described and then you can take it on the barge to St John.
If you're only staying for a few months (season) it's not worth it in my opinion.
Posted : July 22, 2016 4:17 pm
Topic starter
Ok, thank you for the information. I'll try and see what I can do as far as selling it. It's not even two years old and I have a lot I owe on it, so this might be challenging. Appreciate the help.
Posted : July 22, 2016 4:41 pm
Ok, thank you for the information. I'll try and see what I can do as far as selling it. It's not even two years old and I have a lot I owe on it, so this might be challenging. Appreciate the help.
Since you've no idea how long you'll be here, consider leaving it with family/friends until you have a better idea of whether island life will suit you. You might hate it after a few weeks!
Posted : July 22, 2016 4:45 pm
Also, if your lender allows you to remove the vehicle from the main land, you will need a statement from the lender allowing this for the shipper. Also, remember to go to your local DMV and get a copy of your driving record if you plan on switching over your drivers license, they require this at the BMV or at least on certain days they do.
mike
Posted : July 22, 2016 8:10 pm
I have to comment, becasue we are from WA state (Federal Way) and are moving to St John in just two weeks! We must keep in touch!
We thought about driving to Miami and shipping our car. The quote was $1400 I want to say? We were pretty excited to drive x-country for the first time! But in the end we decided the car is too old, and all the hotel rooms would add up on the drive, too. Plus, if our car broke down somewhere in the middle of the country, we may have missed our flight from Miami to STT. So we are going to sell our car here and buy another one on-island. The hassle of getting our old one all registered there was more than our brains could handle (I highly recommend the book they sell on this website about relocating). So we are going to rent a car for a week (from STT, so it's easy to load our million suitcases) until we are settled in (i.e. over the jet lag and sufficiently relaxed from a week of beaching it up) and then will buy a car. There seems to be no shortage of decent ones for sale.
Cora
Posted : July 23, 2016 3:07 am
Topic starter
Thanks everyone for the advice. I have decided I'm going to try and sell my car here at home the old fashion way... even though it's only a year old. It is also German so it seems like that would also rack up the fees.
Posted : July 26, 2016 7:45 pm
It would.
Good luck to you.
Posted : July 26, 2016 8:23 pm
