A car in Nicaragua

I have read much about importing a vehicle and have decided to buy a new one here. My question is after getting residecy, what steps are required in purchasing a new vehicle here in Nic? I have been told that I can buy a new car here and not have to pay the import taxes, sales tax etc. Any help out there would be appreciated Dick

Karen,

My husband drove a 1995 Dodge Caravan from New York to Nicaragua a year ago. We bought it for $2200 a week before he left for the trip. In this state it takes Dept. of Motor Vehicle about 2 months to send out the new title, so I called Mexican and Nicaraguan customs to make sure that only the sales receipt and registration was enought to prove ownership. Everyone said fine, no problem. When he arrived at the Mexican border, they wouldn't let him drive through the country without the actual title. So we got an expedited title Fed Exed to him while he waited about a week in Texas at the border. Then when he was ready to go, he found a caravan to drive with. It is much safer that way than going alone. At Los Indios crossing you can find lots of people waiting to form a caravan. My husband also found a man who works there to help complete all paperwork to make the trip easier. Be careful with this though because there are a lot of thieves claiming they can help you. I can give you more info on this guy who is legit. His services cost us almost $200, but apparently it was worth it. As he exited the US, US customs took his plates as he told them he was exporting the vehicle. This gave him a lot of problems driving through Mexico with no plates. The police stopped him in every little town demanding money, or else they threatened to take him to jail. They always wanted $100 every time, but my husband would tell them he didn't have enough money to keep paying that much money. Apparently, if you end up fighting with the police they will take you to jail. So he finally crossed Mexico, and the rest of Central America was not much of a problem. At the border with Nicaragua, customs wanted him to leave the van there until paperwork was done. This is about 4 hours from where we actually live so it would have been a big headache. He convinced them to let him leave the van in Managua. Then he spent about 4 weeks driving around Managua taking papers here, taking papers there, getting signatures here, paying fees here, there, and everywhere. In the end, he paid $2500 to get the van, much more than the value of this van, over %100 of its value. Now we have the van there for our personal use. All the locals say it is very cool because you can't buy these there. It cost us a lot of money. I guess for the over $5000 we paid to buy and import the van, we could have bought a pretty nice vehicle in Managua minus all the hassle of driving it down there! Let me know if I can answer any more questions!