Day 38 Assignment

Your assignment today is to research the import and duty benefits of the residency option you’re considering for the country where you’re thinking you’d like to reinvent your life. Many residency programs allow you to import household goods and personal possessions into the country with you duty-free. In some cases, it’s a one-time exemption; in others, you can import your belongings in series and still qualify for the tax savings.

Some programs allow you to bring a car, a boat, even, sometimes, an airplane into the country with you without paying the import duty. This can be an important savings, as the customs cost of bringing a vehicle across an international border can be great.

Spend some time today also considering the question of a vehicle in the context of the place where you’re thinking of relocating: Could you get by without a car? If so, do.

If not, will your residency status allow you to bring a car into the country with you duty-free? If so, would your car be an appropriate vehicle there?

If you won’t have to pay import duty… if you think your vehicle would be appropriate for the climate and the terrain… and if you can assure yourself that it’s not such an uncommon make or model that repairs and maintenance will be a challenge where you’re headed… then investigate the cost of shipping. The international shipping site we recommended to you yesterday in the context of sending household and personal goods from one country to another is also the best source of information on shipping a car internationally. Again, that site is www.intlmovers.com. Go there to find out what it’d cost to get your car from where it is now to where you’re thinking you’d like to be living instead.

Then go online to research the cost of buying a new or used car locally in that place. Go to Google and search for “buying a car in Country Name.”

Try the search in English and also in Spanish or French or Italian or Portuguese depending on your destination.

All things considered, again, our bottom-line advice on this is to go car-free if at all possible. If not, buy a car when you get where you’re going. There’s really no advantage to bringing one with you.

Your Move-to-Europe Coaches,

Kathleen Peddicord and Lief Simon