We're Shipping Our Car To DR

Welcome to the Grubernation Newsletter!

I share information, tactics and tips for moving abroad, living your dream and EVERYTHING in between.

In this week’s edition:

• Why We Decided to Ship our Car to Dominican Republic (And How)

• 4 Hard Fact About Getting Remote Work to Move Abroad

• Best Neighborhoods For You to Buy in Punta Cana

Join me for the Retire and Invest Real Estate Conference in Punta Cana May 2-3, 2025.

Early bird pricing is in place right now for $297/person and $497/couple (normally $495 and $795). I’ll be speaking and attending so I hope to hang out with you there!

We’re Shipping Our Car to Dominican Republic After All!

Two months ago I said we would NOT ship a car to the Dominican Republic. Now, I’m changing my mind.

Well…

My wife’s specifications for buying a car in DR changed our minds for us - and there’s a slight chance she changes her mind again 🙄 

But I think we’re set on shipping.

I’ve heard as many horror stories as I have success stories which, to me, led me to proclaiming that I will NOT ship my car!

So we started talking about buying with some very specific requirements my wife insisted on:

1. We MUST Buy New!

She does NOT trust used vehicles here. I’m a bit more trusting and believe if we buy from the right place, we would be ok.

But she has some really good points:

• Friends used cars are always in the shop

• Our first car had issues (2018 Rav-4)

• Our current car isn’t trustworthy (2012 VW)

• It’s hard to know if an odometer is rolled back or if a vehicle was previously salvaged

2. It MUST be Toyota or Honda

This one I don’t disagree with.

• Parts are easier to get

• Quality is top notch

• Service is simple

We’ve owned Honda’s for all of our nearly 16 years together as a couple.

This means we must by NEW and it must be a HONDA or TOYOTA.

I’ll throw in that I’d want a CR-V or a RAV-4. I like something higher off the ground, if only for the speed bumps!

Can you guess the cost of a new Honda or Toyota mid-sized SUV?

We’re talking in the $50,000-$60,000 range!!!! 🤯 

In the states, we own a 2020 Honda CR-V with low miles and we bought it new. Love that car!!

We could sell it today for $20,000-$25,000 and take that money (plus our cost to ship) and purchase a vehicle in the $25-35k range.

But that would have to be used. We couldn’t get the new car my wife insists on us buying.

This made us reconsider shipping.

Here’s the requirements for shipping:

• Vehicle must be no more than 5 years old

• It must be paid off with a clear title

• There are multiple charges including the 18% ITBIS, a customs tax, environmental tax and registration fees to consider

• In addition, there’s a weekly charge to hold your vehicle in customs

In total, we would need to pay around $7000 for all of the above. 

Shipping from Michigan will be another $3000-$3500 fr

Now, many taxes can be waived if you’re a Dominican Republic citizen and have owned the vehicle for one year. 

This vehicle is in my name and I’m not yet a Dominican citizen.

If only we knew!!

The reason we didn’t want to ship was the risk of the vehicle being damaged, ransacked, or simply held in customs on some red tape issue that creates more headache than it’s worth.

We’re fully aware that many have shipped cars successfully but we’re also aware of some crazy horrible costly stories - and probably an equal amount of stories on each side!

Here’s what we did to build confidence that we can get this done without issue:

1. We got a referral from a friend

Someone we know who has shipped vehicles gave us his ‘guy’ who knows what to do and what the charges will be. He’s been pretty good with explaining the process to us.

2. We are using a dealership

An expat friend’s wife is Dominican and they shipped their vehicle thru a dealership that is owned by his wife’s cousin - and they were successful.

So we have our friend that can vouch for the ‘guy’

And we have a friend that can vouch for the dealership.

Through them, we got the US based shipping company that can get it from Michigan to Miami and eventually to Santo Domingo for us to retreive.

Let’s hope this goes well.

Here’s the thing…

It’s probably going to be more than we expect

The ‘guy’ has given us pricing, but every time we hear of other charges and present them to him we get an ‘oh yeah, there’s that too’.

Super frustrating but that’s Dominican culture haha.

You have to know what to ask to get the answers and if you don’t know what to ask, there’s not a sense of responsibility to inform.

So even ‘I need to know every other possible charge from shipping to us getting the vehicle .. so is there ANYTHING else?’ is answered with ‘nope’. 

Until we say ‘oh but what about this charge?’

‘Oh yeah .. that too’

😠 😠 😠 

For us, the first price we got was in the $13,000 range which we decided we were ok with.

We got it down to $9-10k total which gives us a $3000 buffer to in terms of being within our expectations.

I think we’re probably going to learn of a few hundred in additional charges, not $3000.

But I’ll let you know!

I had about $6000 left to pay on the car.

(I didn’t pay it off becasue we had a 0% interest rate)

To ship, it needs to be paid off.

It’s been paid, we have the title with the lienholder still on it and the lien release in hand.

We have to sign a Power of Attorney for a friend to go to the local DMV (called SOS in Michigan) and process to have a title with no lien on it.

We anticipate that taking about 2 weeks and then …

We cross our fingers and send our car across the ocean to DR!! 

4 Hard Facts About Getting Remote Work Abroad

A follower DM’d me recently looking for advice on how to get remote work and move abroad.

I looked back in the DM thread and saw advice I gave once before and asked what he did with that information.

He said nothing.

Unfortunately, he’s no alone!

Here are 3 things to know about getting remote work and moving abroad.

1. It Will Take MASSIVE Action

You need to decide how important it is for you to move to DR.

Are you willing to apply for 50 jobs? 100? 200? 500?

I’m not kidding - massive results come from massive action…PERIOD!

The gentleman above and many others that ask are looking for the ‘point and click’ solution to something.

When presented with the prospects of spending hours a week for months finding the job, they just don’t!

There are tens of thousands of people living in DR that work remotely and earn USD, CAD or Euros. 

They have jobs, started companies, run their own business and so on.

Some of them even had to learn new skills in order to get remote work.

“But I’m a security guard” is not my problem, that’s yours!

My response is learn how to manage IT processes, learn how to sell something, get good at customer service work.

Find the jobs on Indeed, Flexjobs, LinkedIn that are remote and figure out what you need to do to get that job - even if you have no skills in that industry now.

Look at the trends - what are the most frequent type of remote jobs out there?

When I bought my first investment property I called 14 banks in the small town I was buying in to get the best possible terms.  

That doesn’t make me ‘cool’ but it does speak to the level of desire I had for the outcome driving massive action to achieve it.

2. Your Degree Is Worthless

Or at least it may be.

I gave this feedback to an MBA asking about the value of it in Dominican Republic.

Eyes on the prize - you want to move to Dominican Republic and work remotely to earn USD.

Put the ego aside, and look at the degree for what it often is - a potentially unnecessary expense - and go for the job that gets you what you want. 

Even if you’re overqualified based on your education.

In no way do I intend to offend someone.

If you’re an engineer, doctor or lawyer - that degree is necessary!

But an MBA will not get you hired in my business - your saavy, reputation, instincts and expereince will. 

Compete for the job to make the move - not to feel like the degree was worth it!

3. You May Need to Lie

Before you do, let me explain…

When you apply for a remote job, they may insist that the position needs to be in the United States (or Canada, etc).

What I would do is take the job and crush it.

After a year, I’d tell them I need to move to DR and want to work on VPN abroad for a period of time and get approval.

If you’re good and there’s no IT security issues - good chance they allow it.

After your period of time expires and you decide to stay, if you’re performing and say ‘I’m going to stay in DR’, there’s a very good chance they want to keep you and allow it.

It’s more expensive for them to hire and train someone new and if you’re good, you’re worth it.

This is risky - but nothing is without risk! 

Now, if you prefer to just move to DR regardless, you COULD simply not tell them where you’ll be working remotely and login with VPN.

This has risk too since you may not be able to use their VPN system but it’s an option.

It’s not lying as much as it is omitting details…I guess 😁 

I’m not advocating for this - but I am sharing what dozens have told me.

They’ve done both - got so good they were allowed to move to DR, or just didn’t say anything!

4. You Can Travel

I do think some get very binary in their approach to remote work.

The thought is linear:

• Secure remote job

• Move to DR

• Stay in DR

If you can - great!

But there are tons of people I know that travel back to the states once a month, once a quarter, twice a year for client meetings, team outings, etc.

This is an option as well.

Just budget travel into your montly spend and voila! You’re remote from DR most of the time with some travel back to the states for work. 

One lady I know travels back whenever she needs to make an appearance. This could be on 1-2 days notice.

(Her job doesn’t know she lives abroad)

The point in all of this is to think differently. Think ‘outside the box’ and don’t try to define your move in linear terms.

Best Neighborhoods to Buy in Punta Cana

I’ve been getting questions about where to move to or buy in Punta Cana. This is a video I did a few months back that goes through ALL of it and specifies where to go based on your specific lifestyle!

It continues to be one of the more popular videos on my channel - hope you enjoy!

I’ll let you know how shipping goes - wish me luck!!

Do you need a Dominican realtor, attorney (for real estate, taxes or citizenship) or more info on the same building I’m investing in? Just click and fill out the corresopnding form and I’ll be sure you’re connected!