Importing a Car 🇳🇮 Nicaragua as an Escape Option

[@davidlegrand2931]

Thanks!

[@ScottAlanMillerVlog]

Thank you!

[@baronteddyvonforsthoffer2567]

If you decide to bring your car to Nicaragua, make sure parts are available. I have a bmw and i have to buy everything from the U.S. and have it shipped to me.

[@ScottAlanMillerVlog]

Yes, that's a HUGE deal. Even if you buy something widely available in Nicaragua, but buy it in the US, it might have different parts. So be wary of that, too.

[@SCSC-qz7rr]

Can you make a video about what is the best way to move from the US to Nicaragua as far as moving company to use to bring your home items, appliances, etc. what is the process and how does it work. Also, when buying a house or a property there, what is the protocol? Do you hire a realtor or can you buy directly from the owner?

[@ScottAlanMillerVlog]

I've got lots on those things. Especially about realtors. but the quick answer is that you avoid realtors completely. completely!

[@MrFrodo1111]

Sounds like what I had mentioned before of driving for 6 months down Mexico to Nicaragua would be perfect if I can stay say 30 days in Nicaragua a few in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras..pick a place I want to permanently settle in drive back to USA and either sell or drive it back once I have the retirado residency

[@mikeukrainetz]

Great info and something I've looked into previously prior to purchasing property in nica. The odd thing is as a Canadian is the cost of replacement for a vehicle. We've been told similar that we should sell and purchase a vehicle when we live in Nica. The problem being a Canadian is our dollar is ridiculously inferior to the US dollar. So to purchase a new vehicle would cost us well in excess of what our paid off relatively new vehicle costs. In this instance is it more cost effective to import than buy? I service and already buy parts on my own. It may be moot since I don't think we will bring an existing vehicle by the time we relocate but is there any benefit depending on existing country of origin?

[@1stLukecifer]

Hilux 4WD pretty much a requirement in the mountains. My last trip, my guide had a 4WD small Chevy and we still had several hills we couldn’t drive up.

[@Brent-ox8lk]

If I drank and smoked I'd drink the local rum and beer, smoke the local stogies. Don't do either anymore though. lol

[@tomdesantis938]

If you become a resident you have to get a Nicaraguan license and the test is in Spanish and the test giver of the driving part is in Spanish

[@baronteddyvonforsthoffer2567]

I've lived here for 14 years. I have used my Florida license the whole time, never had a problem.

[@tomdesantis938]

A vape there is 3 times as much there I didn’t know it wasn’t allowed and they didn’t find it thank god. Because my girlfriend hates smoking I’d have to get cigars and I’d get no love lol

[@RudyC27]

What would you think about importing a 2018 Jeep Wrangler? Would it be too much attention? Would it be high fees or Taxes?

[@baronteddyvonforsthoffer2567]

No attention at all. If you get your residency, I believe you can bring things to Nicaragua once, tax free. Rules change but it's something to look into. Because taxes are ridiculous here.

[@RBeyaz-w2g]

Scott, I was in Nicaragua back in February and I had on me a Vaping cigarette and a carton of Winston. I did not have a problem at all at the Airport. Perhaps that happens whennyou have large amounts ofnthose products.

[@frankdnb1142]

Not sure if you touched on this but even if you import a vehicle that exists here it might not be the correct version to get parts. A Toyota 4Runner in the US has different parts than a 4Runner in Latin America as an example.

[@davidlegrand2931]

Scott is it safe and economical to rent a car or motorcycle while in Nicaragua?

[@GoochGooch-cc7sj]

It’s expensive to rent a car here, reasonable to rent a moto. But if you plan on staying buying a moto is a good option. Chinese bikes start new at around $800 and Japanese start at around $1400 taxes and insurance in. You can find some good used but for me I figured new was better for the $300 difference.

[@baronteddyvonforsthoffer2567]

I've rented a car for 35 dollars a day. I paid an extra 10 bucks to have them deliver it to my house.

[@SCSC-qz7rr]

Every Nicaraguan I’ve spoken to have told me it is better not to bring your car from the USA, it is better and cheaper if you buy one there from a private party.

[@ScottAlanMillerVlog]

Yes, that's my experience as well. Logically, foreign cars don't make sense anywhere unless you are a rich car collector and then "logic" doesn't apply. But from a financial and practicality perspective, a locally purchased car is always going to have an advantage.

[@jamesmcgowan5933]

1Cigarettes are cheeper in Nicaragua than duty free Canada. Problem solved. 2 you can buy weed vape in Canada so vapes i understand. 3 people need to take Nicaragua for a test drive to determine your suitability. Then worry about the little things. Question c4 travel with nica car with American drivers license. How are you going to do it?

[@ScottAlanMillerVlog]

CA4 (not C4, that's an explosive) is part of the North American drivers license system. So your US or Canadian license is just as valid here as elsewhere on the continent. You... just drive.

[@GoochGooch-cc7sj]

lol I love how the people try to justify it even after you went through it twenty different ways. People must have been waiting for the part where you tell them that bringing a car in is a great idea. Now they are looking for someone to tell them that in the comments.

[@tomdesantis938]

Americans will get sticker shock on used cars a Kia rio that was 12000 in the us in 2013 is going to cost me 7800 in 2024 it’s only worth 2500 in the us . But I need a car the only time I don’t feel safe there is in a cab . My girlfriend has been robbed of her phone and money a few time and it’s normally a cab driver.

[@ScottAlanMillerVlog]

Does she just get in cabs without using InDriver?

[@tomdesantis938]

@@ScottAlanMillerVlog some times she can’t and is forced to take what she can get she tries to use her companies personal drivers mainly. The ones that scare me the most ar the motorcycle with the box on the front I forget what they call them. I don’t worry so much for me I just don’t have much on me and my phone is older but between her I phone and her ring she is more of a target which is my fault because I spoil her lol. But I’m not living there full time to protect her. I drive a truck in the us and come 10 days at a time every one to 2 months I sent her to driving school to get her license I rent a house in San Andreas she lives in down town Managua it gets quite expensive also using a cab going back and forth 2 times a day when I’m there .

[@rickfromdenver6150]

Question: is water to homes in Managua and other cities getting rationed? I was just in Managua and they turn off the water each day? Please advise Thanks Scott

[@ScottAlanMillerVlog]

So for context... every city (and often the barrios) have their own water. So there isn't a single, generic answer. Could water be being rationed? Yes, it's possible. I know the beach is out of water. Wells are shallow right now. Managua, I have no idea as to their status. Leon is not rationing the water SUPPLY, but they always ration the water PRESSURE. The colonial plumbing can't handle the power necessary to energize the whole city at once so they cycle through in the old city areas. But the city is all torn up as a modern water system gets installed. So we don't expect that to last much longer.

[@1stLukecifer]

Buy your tobacco from the host country!