Importing Used Car Overland For Permanent Resident

[Patagone]

I have read all car import threads, but all are 5 years or older and I wondered about my specific situation and the current status:

- I can buy US-registered car (RV) this winter (the vehicle will be in Chile)
- Value/costs might be about USD $20k, though I can negotiate the papers down to less than 15k..
- I, a dutch citizen, have permanent AR residency, for just over a year and an AR wife

Some questions:
1) Is there nowadays any possibility to get a foreign car in?
2) How about the import taxes?
3) Any difference when overlanding from Chile (vs shipping to customs)
4) Is the U$15k limit still valid, applicable in my situation and where is this checked?
5) Will it make more sense to leave the car in Chile, with US plates and just get it into Argentine temporarily (can I do that?) when needed for vacation trips?

Any help/advice will be appreciated,
Cheers, P

 

[Rich One]

Suggest you drive it into argentina temporarily, may get a 6 month stay (Mercosur cars do) . If needed may apply for Argentina plates . Customs charges 50 % of the US Bluebook value, to nationalize the vehicle (This may have changed) was the case a couple of years ago

 

[Patagone]

Suggest you drive it into argentina temporarily, may get a 6 month stay (Mercosur cars do) . If needed may apply for Argentina plates . Customs charges 50 % of the US Bluebook value, to nationalize the vehicle (This may have changed) was the case a couple of years ago

Would this be www.kbb.com? What happens if the car is not listed there?

 

[Rich One]

Would this be www.kbb.com? What happens if the car is not listed there?

Read all the links on this page... You mus go to AFIP Customs office in Plaza de Mayo and speak to a Customs Agent... So many Laws and Variations on the subject.

https://www.google.com.ar/search?q=afip+internacion+vehiculo+extranjero&rlz=1C1LDJZ_enAR501AR505&oq=afip+internacion+vehiculo+extranjero&aqs=chrome.0.69i59.6071j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

And this

https://www.afip.gob.ar/genericos/guiavirtual/consultas_detalle.aspx?id=17524300

 

[Rich One]

Read all the links on this page... You mus go to AFIP Customs office in Plaza de Mayo and speak to a Customs Agent... So many Laws and Variations on the subject.

https://www.google.c...chrome&ie=UTF-8

And this

https://www.afip.gob...spx?id=17524300

Another interesting description....!

http://www.afip.gov.ar/genericos/guiavirtual/consultas_detalle.aspx?id=17542741

 

[Girino]

When we were filing papers to move here importing our stuff, we asked several times to several employees at the Argentine consulate in Milan about bringing our car with us. The answer was always "forget about it and move on". So I thought about shipping it to Uruguay and crossing the border by land. It turns out that you cannot ship used vehicles to Uruguay.
I have a friend who apparently didn't know and when I told him I was going to visit Montevideo and asked if he needed something, he snarky replied "yeah, my Mercedes sitting there somewhere!".

However, I have seen an Italian car (with an Italian plate) once. It was a modern car, to be honest. My car is not listed in the KBB and I am not sure that AFIP will really reference to KBB for cars coming from a country different than the US.

 

[Rich One]

When we were filing papers to move here importing our stuff, we asked several times to several employees at the Argentine consulate in Milan about bringing our car with us. The answer was always "forget about it and move on". So I thought about shipping it to Uruguay and crossing the border by land. It turns out that you cannot ship used vehicles to Uruguay.
I have a friend who apparently didn't know and when I told him I was going to visit Montevideo and asked if he needed something, he snarky replied "yeah, my Mercedes sitting there somewhere!".

However, I have seen an Italian car (with an Italian plate) once. It was a modern car, to be honest. My car is not listed in the KBB and I am not sure that AFIP will really reference to KBB for cars coming from a country different than the US.

Yes.. However driving a used foreign plates car into Argentina is not an Import....! its an Internacion Temporaria.
When applying for Argentina plates becomes a nationalized vehicle.

However Shipping an unaccompanied vehicle needs paperwork etc.

I attempted several times to obtain Argentine plates on a used vehicle the car was a Nissan made in Mexico..!! The cost was prohibitive so opted for driving out of the country every 6 months Uruguay is an option.

To get a definitive answer must visit AFIP offices in Plaza de Mayo, as I did several times, however each Customs inspector had a different opinion, Also Read all the links quoted before on Internar a used vehicle into Argentina.

Also a factor is How long ago the driver became a permanent resident . Maybe there is a 6 month privilege.

No need to continue receiving opinions for perhaps SIMILAR cases that happened years ago.... B)

 

[Patagone]

Thanks for the info and links. Plaza de Mayo is 1600km from here, so I will check with local Afip first. But it seems I fall outside the allowance anyway (having residency for over a year).

Still not sure how they would value a used motorhome, made in USA, but not on KBB.

Other option would be to leave it in Chile (where it will arrive in June and where I can buy it, still having US license plates) and enter it into Argentina temporarily when needed (Pucon is only a few hours away). Can a resident temporarily import a car? I heard yes, but it ranged from 3-8 months, but was also warned that if done several times per year, that Afip can confiscate it at the border. Nobody seems to be sure and would bve expensive to find out the hard way..

 

[camel]

Still not sure how they would value a used motorhome, made in USA, but not on KBB.

Just find a website that shows your motorhome, with a photo of one that is obviously the same model, and clearly shows the value of it in dollars. If such a website doesn't exist, well, you know what to do. Be sure to set the <title> of the web page to exactly what you want to search for on Google, and you can probably get it to show up on the first page of results if the <title> is specific enough. Like "1996 Winnebago Rialta motor home dollar value" or something. Then link to that page from another web site so Google can find it and start crawling it.

 

[Rich One]

Thanks for the info and links. Plaza de Mayo is 1600km from here, so I will check with local Afip first. But it seems I fall outside the allowance anyway (having residency for over a year).

Still not sure how they would value a used motorhome, made in USA, but not on KBB.

Other option would be to leave it in Chile (where it will arrive in June and where I can buy it, still having US license plates) and enter it into Argentina temporarily when needed (Pucon is only a few hours away). Can a resident temporarily import a car? I heard yes, but it ranged from 3-8 months, but was also warned that if done several times per year, that Afip can confiscate it at the border. Nobody seems to be sure and would bve expensive to find out the hard way..

Finding the vehicle value is AFIPs problem. They will guesstimate

I traveled back an forth every 6 months to Chile with a car with Chilean plates. after several years a Customs Officer at the border Cristo Libertador , went inside and printed my exits for the last years. He said you are residing in Argentina and drive to Chile for a week every year,,,! Next time I will impound the car and you will have to walk to Mendoza to see a Judge, to release the car after paying the fine....

I drove to Chile and sold the car