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Hello!
This is me weighing my options....and I'd love a little advice.
My choices- ship my Suburban or sell it and buy a Jeep or something on island.
I have a new, very reliable 4WD 2017 Suburban with only 30k miles on it. It's not paid off, however I have USAA and I've already verified that banking, payments, shipping and insurance will be super easy with them. (they deal with it all the time with military families) Banking, payments, and insurance won't change at all and they'll issue a right to ship 30 days out and whatever else the shipping company needs. So getting it there will be fine.
Now I just need to decide if it's a good or bad idea.
I guess my questions are- the newer suburbans are narrow bodied, but will they fit well on the island roads? When we're there for a week in March, we probably won't be rolling around the back roads very much, so I was just curious about how it would handle. I know it's a big vehicle and I would hate to get stuck in unsafe situations on narrow roads off the main roads.
I figured it would be good to have a bigger vehicle in case we need to haul furniture or whatever. The extra space has come in handy for us more times than we can count. We also have 2 medium sized dogs and a 5 year old with a car seat so a Carolla would look like a clown car.
The Google says it gets 16 miles to the gallon but in reality I get between 19-21 depending on hwy vs. city driving. My commute is 20ish minutes one way and I fill up every week and a half depending on what we do on the weekends. I've checked traffic on STT throughout the day and it looks like there's a lot of sitting still. When idling, it auto shifts down from 8 cylinders to 4 which also saves on gas.
I am worried about the tires. They are 24" tires and about $900 to replace stateside. I just got them replaced a couple of months ago. They are Pirelli's but I honestly don't care about brands. Just round and durable. lol
Also- I've paid $11k into it and also added a few cosmetic things to it, so I could probably make a few bucks on it selling it stateside but nothing that would set the world on fire. At worst, it would probably be a wash.
Any advice? I'm sure there's something that I'm not thinking about or don't know.
I do love my car very much, but I would give it up in a heartbeat for a chance to fulfill my 10 year dream of living in the USVI. Thanks so much!
Posted : February 19, 2020 2:43 pm
I have a Yukon and wouldn't trade it for a Jeep. I never have a problem parking it and it glides over the crappy roads like I'm on a cloud. I don't really know or care what fuel costs so fuel economy is not an issue either. Bring your Suburban and enjoy it! You'll be glad you did.
Posted : February 20, 2020 8:01 am
40isthebetter20 reacted
Topic starter
Thank you so much for the input!
Truthfully- that wasn't what I was expecting to hear so that's pretty welcome news. 🙂
Between my husband and I working we won't really have to care much about the cost of gas either. I really didn't want to have to cut the size of my vehicle down by half if I didn't have to... so yay! It's also nice having a large vehicle so you can help out friends and neighbors.
Thanks again!
Posted : February 20, 2020 2:40 pm
A Suburban will be no different problem than any other of the full size SUV's that pretty much dominate the roads here.
Gas costs and mileage are rarely a concern that you have any real control over. If you like the car and it can come even with a loan/lien on it Bring It.
Posted : February 20, 2020 3:24 pm
Topic starter
I have figured that it will probably cost about $4k (which is the high side- lower is closer to $3k) to get it there- assuming the post in the moving section that breaks down shipping costs for vehicles is accurate.
I figure bringing something reliable (even with payments on it) might be worth more than sinking $4k into an island beater that will have ongoing issues. Now to convince my husband... ?
From what I hear, finding good mechanics is difficult....
Thank you!! 🙂
Posted : February 20, 2020 4:18 pm
I’m in the camp of, if you love your vehicle and can afford it, bring it to the island. If you don’t you’ll likely have regrets for years. As a husband, for 31 years.....so far, I live by the motto of “Happy Wife, Happy Life”.
Posted : February 20, 2020 8:06 pm
40isthebetter20 reacted
yep about 4k with shipping and the other fees. But yes, better to have a piece of mind than worrying about a vehicle everyday.
Posted : February 20, 2020 8:50 pm
Yup, I'm estimating about 4K to ship my truck and get it all registered and on the road. Not including insurance.
Posted : February 21, 2020 2:42 am
It *will* be hit, more than once... so make sure you are okay with that aspect as well. Not in a, "everyone stops and trades information and gets repairs done by insurance" kind of way either. More of a, "guy took my mirror off cause he was on the wrong side of the road and just drove off," or, "got out of the grocery to find a 36 inch long crease down the side of both doors."
Posted : February 21, 2020 11:16 am
Yes -- if you have a valuable car OR really just get very upset about scrapes, scratches, dents or broken lenses these islands are going to frustrate you beyond an acceptable level.
I once turned down a USCG officer selling a "perfect" used car - told him it was not worth paying a premium for 'perfection" on the island -- saw it a week later with a seriously damaged bumper.
Posted : February 21, 2020 12:13 pm
But surprisingly I see quite a number of late model Mercedes on STX anyway and most in good condition. Maybe they just get fixed.
Posted : February 22, 2020 12:33 am
Topic starter
So after doing the math, my husband's F150 will be about $3k and mine will be about $4k.
I'm thinking that 2 nice, reliable, well maintained vehicles shipped over for around $7-8k will be less than us trying to buy 2 decent island cars and crossing our fingers for the best. Even if they get a dent or two... ?
I have looked through almost all of the ads on FB for people selling cars and anything decent is going for about the same cost as the shipping.
Thank you all for the help! ?
Posted : February 24, 2020 2:51 pm
