I knew that the cost of gasoline (petrol) in Serbia, like the rest of Europe, would be far higher than it is in the US. We built that extra cost into our budget, and planned to drive less than we normally would at home in the US. What we didn't count on was the hidden cost of crappy Serbian petrol quality. In the US, we got about 25 miles per gallon. The same vehicle with a tankful of Serbian petrol got fewer than 18 miles per gallon, even with similar driving speeds and conditions (ie. steady highway at ~70 miles per hour.)
In the US, 87-89 octane worked great. In Serbia, we had to switch to 95 octane. Actually I think I should put that in quotes as in "95 octane" because looking at the car's performance, the number "95" was used for marketing purposes only and bore no relation to reality. If there's such a thing as an octane inspector in the Balkans, he's clearly getting paid off.
After experimentation, my husband found a petrol station in Novi Sad with a "95 octane" Euro brand petrol that worked about as well as 89 octane US. In fact, he's planning on gassing up from there from now on. It's a long drive from our house in Sombor, which has plenty of petrol stations of its own, but you get so much more mileage from the Novi Sad petrol that it's worth it.
For what it's worth, my husband says he had the same problems with Croatian petrol as well. There goes my budget.
Showing posts with label Cars in the Balkans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cars in the Balkans. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
At Long Last! Our Car is Floating Across the Atlantic to Rijeka Croatia
Dropped off our car at DAS Global Services's New Jersey location about 10 days ago, and now she's all packed up in a shipping container in the bowels of a giant ocean-going vessel. Next stop Rijeka!
After my past experiences trying to ship a car to the Balkans using an el cheapo shipper, I was relieved to see DAS's warehouse is in a well-lit, high-security, nicer area of the port district. In fact it's just behind a giant Wal-Mart. Our customer rep Sergei came running downstairs to meet us and help with final paperwork when we arrived. Then another staffer came out to personally inspect the car with us, carefully noting any and all dings on a form we co-signed so we won't blame them for pre-existing problems when the car gets to the other side of the ocean. Two days after we got home, a third customer service rep contacted us via email to let us know about final shipping dates and tracking contacts.
So, far the experience has been throughly friendly and professional. My favorite part -- the big sign in DAS's lobby covered with 23 different countries' flags and the headline "Those who work here are all Americans. This is where we came from!"
It was one of those moments when you're proud to be an American, looking at the original home country flags of your fellow-citizens. From Russia to Peru and so many places in between.
After my past experiences trying to ship a car to the Balkans using an el cheapo shipper, I was relieved to see DAS's warehouse is in a well-lit, high-security, nicer area of the port district. In fact it's just behind a giant Wal-Mart. Our customer rep Sergei came running downstairs to meet us and help with final paperwork when we arrived. Then another staffer came out to personally inspect the car with us, carefully noting any and all dings on a form we co-signed so we won't blame them for pre-existing problems when the car gets to the other side of the ocean. Two days after we got home, a third customer service rep contacted us via email to let us know about final shipping dates and tracking contacts.
So, far the experience has been throughly friendly and professional. My favorite part -- the big sign in DAS's lobby covered with 23 different countries' flags and the headline "Those who work here are all Americans. This is where we came from!"
It was one of those moments when you're proud to be an American, looking at the original home country flags of your fellow-citizens. From Russia to Peru and so many places in between.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Insuring Your US Car for Serbia & Croatia: Latest Info
After several years of research and fruitless attempts, we're at long last really, honestly shipping our car from the US to the Balkans. This time I'm using one of the best shippers,not the discount idiots. Luckily, shipping prices have come down since last time I checked. Now it's $1100 RORO (roll-on, roll-off) to Bremerhaven Germany or $3100 container (no RORO avail) to Rijeka Croatia.
We're leaving our car on US plates for now. (There's a bunch of legal research and strategizing around the whole which-country-to-register-your-car-in conundrum, which I'll write about someday when I fully understand it. Suffice to say, most people moving to the Balkans who have US, Canadian or EU plates seem to try to keep those plates as long as possible, for whatever reason.)
Today I researched the whole insurance situation and here's what I found out:
1) Marine Insurance:
This covers your car as it's being transported on the ship. It's not required, but as Isabella Snow explains you really should have it. DAS Global told me their cost would be $100 for every $5,000 of car-value I wanted covered. Geico Overseas quoted me about the same price, although they did fancier calculations to get there.
2) Employment Requirement:
According to both reps I spoke with, you must be employed to get international car insurance on your US car. So, you can't be (officially) retired. However, it seems like you can be a virtual or part-time employee, or even a missionary. I don't know how official that employment has to be - can you just say you work for a particular company, or will they check?
3) No More "Green Cards" for US cars:
If your car is registered in Europe or the UK, you can buy a "green card" from your local insurance agent that allows you to travel throughout the area, merrily crossing national borders without getting different insurance for each country. Until last year, cars with American plates could do the same. However, AIU, the only company that apparently sold green cards to Americans has now ceased doing so. According to the reps I spoke with, the cries of pain from US nationals living oversea are vociferous.
4) Country-by-Country 3rd party Liability Insurance:
Since you won't have a green card, you will be required to buy 3rd party liability insurance in each country you visit. It doesn't seem like you can buy this insurance from any international company... you can only buy it from a local in-country insurance agent. If you're shipping your car to Serbia, you'll have to buy this insurance at the dock where the ship deposits your car (for me, that would be Germany or Croatia), and then again in Serbia. If, like me, you have friends and relatives you plan to drive to see in several Balkan countries, you'll probably need separate insurance for each country. Blech!
This liability insurance only covers damages to the other guy if you are in an accident. Your car and your passengers are not covered.
4) Non-Required Physical Damage & Theft Insurance:
Not legally required but strongly recommended by everyone I know. Physical damage and theft insurance covers damage to your car in case of accidents, etc. Clements International quoted me a little under $2000 per year to get this insurance on my brand new SUV. You can get an instant online quote here.
That includes an add-on of 25% for "duty coverage" (you can get up to 100% duty coverage). If your car is stolen or totalled in a country outside your own, that country will charge you duty on it because it's not leaving. Officially it's staying and is suddenly considered an "import." In Egypt that duty can be 200% of the value of the car. I don't know what it is in the Balkans... yet.
The good news is, this insurance will cover my car in every country I take it to except for US, Canada and American Territories. I can drive to Belgrade, Zagreb or Timbuktu worry-free.
The bad news is, your car is only covered for its replacement value in the country "of its specs". A US car would have US specs. If your car is stolen or totalled in the Balkans, you'll only get the US bluebook replacement value for it. NOT the Balkan replacement value. The latter is often at least 50% higher than the US sticker price. Ouch.
5) Geico vs Clements:
I'm a happy US Geico customer so I called them first. It was very disappointing. Their International office is only open during continental European business hours - which means if you call after 11am US East Coast time, you missed them. The rep spoke fine English (he sounded like he was in India actually), but he was pretty clueless and easy to fluster with basic questions. He kept on insisting I would probably have to register my car in Croatia to drive it there, which is incorrect. He said Geico would only sell me "access liability" but couldn't explain what that was aside from reading out loud a snippet of gobbledygook from his manual.
Next I called Clements. They maintain US office hours as well as international office hours. Matt Willinger, the rep I spoke with, really bowled me over with his expertise and willingness to explain things in detail. Although Clements does not offer marine coverage (he said just to buy it from my shipper), their other coverage sounds great. So, I guess we'll be going with them for the Damage policy and supplementing with (required) local Balkan liability policies which we'll buy over there.
6) Your input??
If you've dealt with insuring a foreign-plated car in the Balkans, please post your comments below. Thanks very much.
We're leaving our car on US plates for now. (There's a bunch of legal research and strategizing around the whole which-country-to-register-your-car-in conundrum, which I'll write about someday when I fully understand it. Suffice to say, most people moving to the Balkans who have US, Canadian or EU plates seem to try to keep those plates as long as possible, for whatever reason.)
Today I researched the whole insurance situation and here's what I found out:
1) Marine Insurance:
This covers your car as it's being transported on the ship. It's not required, but as Isabella Snow explains you really should have it. DAS Global told me their cost would be $100 for every $5,000 of car-value I wanted covered. Geico Overseas quoted me about the same price, although they did fancier calculations to get there.
2) Employment Requirement:
According to both reps I spoke with, you must be employed to get international car insurance on your US car. So, you can't be (officially) retired. However, it seems like you can be a virtual or part-time employee, or even a missionary. I don't know how official that employment has to be - can you just say you work for a particular company, or will they check?
3) No More "Green Cards" for US cars:
If your car is registered in Europe or the UK, you can buy a "green card" from your local insurance agent that allows you to travel throughout the area, merrily crossing national borders without getting different insurance for each country. Until last year, cars with American plates could do the same. However, AIU, the only company that apparently sold green cards to Americans has now ceased doing so. According to the reps I spoke with, the cries of pain from US nationals living oversea are vociferous.
4) Country-by-Country 3rd party Liability Insurance:
Since you won't have a green card, you will be required to buy 3rd party liability insurance in each country you visit. It doesn't seem like you can buy this insurance from any international company... you can only buy it from a local in-country insurance agent. If you're shipping your car to Serbia, you'll have to buy this insurance at the dock where the ship deposits your car (for me, that would be Germany or Croatia), and then again in Serbia. If, like me, you have friends and relatives you plan to drive to see in several Balkan countries, you'll probably need separate insurance for each country. Blech!
This liability insurance only covers damages to the other guy if you are in an accident. Your car and your passengers are not covered.
4) Non-Required Physical Damage & Theft Insurance:
Not legally required but strongly recommended by everyone I know. Physical damage and theft insurance covers damage to your car in case of accidents, etc. Clements International quoted me a little under $2000 per year to get this insurance on my brand new SUV. You can get an instant online quote here.
That includes an add-on of 25% for "duty coverage" (you can get up to 100% duty coverage). If your car is stolen or totalled in a country outside your own, that country will charge you duty on it because it's not leaving. Officially it's staying and is suddenly considered an "import." In Egypt that duty can be 200% of the value of the car. I don't know what it is in the Balkans... yet.
The good news is, this insurance will cover my car in every country I take it to except for US, Canada and American Territories. I can drive to Belgrade, Zagreb or Timbuktu worry-free.
The bad news is, your car is only covered for its replacement value in the country "of its specs". A US car would have US specs. If your car is stolen or totalled in the Balkans, you'll only get the US bluebook replacement value for it. NOT the Balkan replacement value. The latter is often at least 50% higher than the US sticker price. Ouch.
5) Geico vs Clements:
I'm a happy US Geico customer so I called them first. It was very disappointing. Their International office is only open during continental European business hours - which means if you call after 11am US East Coast time, you missed them. The rep spoke fine English (he sounded like he was in India actually), but he was pretty clueless and easy to fluster with basic questions. He kept on insisting I would probably have to register my car in Croatia to drive it there, which is incorrect. He said Geico would only sell me "access liability" but couldn't explain what that was aside from reading out loud a snippet of gobbledygook from his manual.
Next I called Clements. They maintain US office hours as well as international office hours. Matt Willinger, the rep I spoke with, really bowled me over with his expertise and willingness to explain things in detail. Although Clements does not offer marine coverage (he said just to buy it from my shipper), their other coverage sounds great. So, I guess we'll be going with them for the Damage policy and supplementing with (required) local Balkan liability policies which we'll buy over there.
6) Your input??
If you've dealt with insuring a foreign-plated car in the Balkans, please post your comments below. Thanks very much.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Should You Ship Your Car from the US to Serbia? Or Should You Buy a Car in Serbia?
As I blogged last month, we just bought a new, higher mileage SUV using America's Cash for Clunkers program with the main idea of shipping it to Serbia as soon as the state sends us our title paperwork (which takes months here, arrgh.) I've tried to ship cars in the past (never yet actually made it), but since a reader emailed me a "ship from the US vs buy in Serbia" question I thought I'd outline the factors we've considered in our decision-making process.
1. Can you afford to buy a car outright?
Buying a car in the US is vastly less expensive than buying it in Europe. But, if you're going to take your US car to Serbia, you can't be leasing it (leases usually prohibit you from taking the car outside of North America). You may not be able to take a car you're financing (buying on credit) outside North America either. You have to own title clear and outright.
That's to stop people from buying lots of new cars in the US and then flipping them in other countries where cars are far more expensive (pretty much everywhere on the planet).
If you have European plates, you can drive your car as a tourist to Serbia. But, once you've been there for a year or two the police will require that you get local plates. For local plates, you'll have to register it locally, and pay taxes on it.
2. Can you afford the taxes & insurance?
If you register your car in Serbia, you'll have to pay import taxes or duties. Each returning citizen is allowed to bring one car duty-free with them. You then are required to own the car for a certain number of years before selling it -- that's to stop you flipping it for a fast buck.
Annual car taxes in Serbia vary depending on the engine of the car. If you're driving a car with a smaller engine, it's cheaper. If you're driving a revved up SUV or truck, it's far more expensive. We chose the base model RAV4 due to this, the sport model would have been more in taxes.
Insurance isn't cheaper than the US, except for one thing. In the US most people insure for "comprehensive coverage", whereas in Serbia almost no one does. They pick the cheaper version. Your US coverage will not carry over to Serbia, you'll have to buy specific insurance. If your car is being delivered to a port in Croatia, Germany or other country, you'll also need insurance for that country for the time in which you drive the car from that country to Serbia, for which you will be GOUGED. It's a rip off, but it is what it is.
3. Do you strongly prefer automatic transmission?
Car dealers across Europe don't tend to stock automatics. You'll have to pay extra and probably wait for delivery. If you want to buy an automatic used, good luck. I've seen them, but it's not a big selection.
4. How many miles per gallon does your vehicle get?
Gasoline prices are, and always will be, more than double in Europe. Filling that tank becomes painful. Diesel, which is artificially high in the US as a form of tax on the shipping industry, is more economical than gas in Europe. So, diesel models are really popular over there. You can also have a Serbian garage switch you from a gas to a propane-burning engine. It's much cheaper and the investment may be $1000-2000 at most for the engine work. However, you'll obviously never take the car outside of areas with lots of propane stations ever again.
5. How much do you want to spend on the car itself?
Cars are often 50-100% more expensive in Serbia than in the US. Yes, that extends to used cars as well. I was shocked at the high sticker prices for used cars there. You'll see a lot of German-made cars on the roads because so many Serbs have relatives in Germany and Serbs trust German engineering, but they paid nearly double what you would have for the same model back home. Increasingly you'll see some Japanese cars, dealerships are springing up. But Japanese cars have higher import fees in many European countries to protect European cars, so there's an added cost there too.
6. Do you want to impress people or do business in Serbia?
People really judge you by the car you drive. (In Croatia this is more extreme, people really, really, really judge you by the car you drive.) I've been stunned by the snap judgments Serbs have made about me based on my car. (I drive a VW Passat which a Serb acquaintance told me is an "uneducated shopkeeper's car.")
If you plan on doing business in Serbia -- or Croatia -- an uber-fancy car such as a Maybach, a Jaguar, etc., will give you a type of instant credibility and respect that otherwise could take year to achieve. I think this is insanely stupid, but, again, it is what it is.
The nice thing is, it's OK if it's a slightly older model. Brand matters more than age. People will be far more wildly impressed by a used 2004 Bentley than a brand new, more common BMW that cost the same amount. So, if you want to impress people with your car, go for a flashy brand. In fact, if that's your goal, I'd make sure a native vetted choices before I bought.
7. Maintenance considerations
Garages are cheaper. In the US, a typical Audi dealership will charge over $100 an hour for basic maintenance fees. Serb labor is a lot cheaper, although parts probably won't be.
Parts for US-brand cars sold in the US will be tough. (As you may know, US brands like Ford have a completely different model line in Europe, so just because Ford Europe exists doesn't mean you can get new brakes for your F150.) If you bring over an American or Japanese pick-up truck, in particular, you'll be hard put to get parts quickly if at all. Practically no one drives a pick-up in Serbia. If it's a recent model Japanese sedan or SUV, you should be OK. And European-maker parts are no problem.
1. Can you afford to buy a car outright?
Buying a car in the US is vastly less expensive than buying it in Europe. But, if you're going to take your US car to Serbia, you can't be leasing it (leases usually prohibit you from taking the car outside of North America). You may not be able to take a car you're financing (buying on credit) outside North America either. You have to own title clear and outright.
That's to stop people from buying lots of new cars in the US and then flipping them in other countries where cars are far more expensive (pretty much everywhere on the planet).
If you have European plates, you can drive your car as a tourist to Serbia. But, once you've been there for a year or two the police will require that you get local plates. For local plates, you'll have to register it locally, and pay taxes on it.
2. Can you afford the taxes & insurance?
If you register your car in Serbia, you'll have to pay import taxes or duties. Each returning citizen is allowed to bring one car duty-free with them. You then are required to own the car for a certain number of years before selling it -- that's to stop you flipping it for a fast buck.
Annual car taxes in Serbia vary depending on the engine of the car. If you're driving a car with a smaller engine, it's cheaper. If you're driving a revved up SUV or truck, it's far more expensive. We chose the base model RAV4 due to this, the sport model would have been more in taxes.
Insurance isn't cheaper than the US, except for one thing. In the US most people insure for "comprehensive coverage", whereas in Serbia almost no one does. They pick the cheaper version. Your US coverage will not carry over to Serbia, you'll have to buy specific insurance. If your car is being delivered to a port in Croatia, Germany or other country, you'll also need insurance for that country for the time in which you drive the car from that country to Serbia, for which you will be GOUGED. It's a rip off, but it is what it is.
3. Do you strongly prefer automatic transmission?
Car dealers across Europe don't tend to stock automatics. You'll have to pay extra and probably wait for delivery. If you want to buy an automatic used, good luck. I've seen them, but it's not a big selection.
4. How many miles per gallon does your vehicle get?
Gasoline prices are, and always will be, more than double in Europe. Filling that tank becomes painful. Diesel, which is artificially high in the US as a form of tax on the shipping industry, is more economical than gas in Europe. So, diesel models are really popular over there. You can also have a Serbian garage switch you from a gas to a propane-burning engine. It's much cheaper and the investment may be $1000-2000 at most for the engine work. However, you'll obviously never take the car outside of areas with lots of propane stations ever again.
5. How much do you want to spend on the car itself?
Cars are often 50-100% more expensive in Serbia than in the US. Yes, that extends to used cars as well. I was shocked at the high sticker prices for used cars there. You'll see a lot of German-made cars on the roads because so many Serbs have relatives in Germany and Serbs trust German engineering, but they paid nearly double what you would have for the same model back home. Increasingly you'll see some Japanese cars, dealerships are springing up. But Japanese cars have higher import fees in many European countries to protect European cars, so there's an added cost there too.
6. Do you want to impress people or do business in Serbia?
People really judge you by the car you drive. (In Croatia this is more extreme, people really, really, really judge you by the car you drive.) I've been stunned by the snap judgments Serbs have made about me based on my car. (I drive a VW Passat which a Serb acquaintance told me is an "uneducated shopkeeper's car.")
If you plan on doing business in Serbia -- or Croatia -- an uber-fancy car such as a Maybach, a Jaguar, etc., will give you a type of instant credibility and respect that otherwise could take year to achieve. I think this is insanely stupid, but, again, it is what it is.
The nice thing is, it's OK if it's a slightly older model. Brand matters more than age. People will be far more wildly impressed by a used 2004 Bentley than a brand new, more common BMW that cost the same amount. So, if you want to impress people with your car, go for a flashy brand. In fact, if that's your goal, I'd make sure a native vetted choices before I bought.
7. Maintenance considerations
Garages are cheaper. In the US, a typical Audi dealership will charge over $100 an hour for basic maintenance fees. Serb labor is a lot cheaper, although parts probably won't be.
Parts for US-brand cars sold in the US will be tough. (As you may know, US brands like Ford have a completely different model line in Europe, so just because Ford Europe exists doesn't mean you can get new brakes for your F150.) If you bring over an American or Japanese pick-up truck, in particular, you'll be hard put to get parts quickly if at all. Practically no one drives a pick-up in Serbia. If it's a recent model Japanese sedan or SUV, you should be OK. And European-maker parts are no problem.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Mister, You Ain't No Serb
So, I'm driving back from lunch in Abiquiu New Mexico today, and the other drivers are making me CRAZY. It's a rural hilly area, but the roads are US western-style wide, as straight as possible, and exceptionally well-kept. This means everyone wants to drive far faster than the posted speed limit of 55-60 MPH. Well, ok. Fine. Go for the gusto.
But I won't. Because I'm in this horrible whale of a rental. It seats 8 (in Serbia that would be 12, in Nepal it would be more like 20.) The rental place told me it was this or a Hummer, and I'd rather look like a soccer mom than an asshole. In an effort to conserve gas, juggle my camera while driving in beautiful Georgia O'Keefe country, and not roll over on moderately sharp curves, I'm going precisely the speed limit.
Which means there's this long line of locals driving behind me who are clearly going Nuts Stuck Behind the Soccer Mom Tourist. Occasionally I do the good girl thing and pull over to the side of the road to let everyone blast past me. But, you know, after awhile it just gets tiresome.
Why won't anybody pass me?! They'll ride up to my back bumper and stare at me real hard so my neck gets itchy, but by god, nobody will pass even when given acres of perfectly legal opportunity.
That's when I realize I've been married to a Serb for too long. Only a Serb would think a microsecond of space with oncoming traffic an eyelash away is plenty of room for passing one, two, maybe even three cars. Serbs pass like bats out of hell. Serbs are the gods of passing. But then a lot more of them die in traffic accidents than Americans do.
Well, hey.
But I won't. Because I'm in this horrible whale of a rental. It seats 8 (in Serbia that would be 12, in Nepal it would be more like 20.) The rental place told me it was this or a Hummer, and I'd rather look like a soccer mom than an asshole. In an effort to conserve gas, juggle my camera while driving in beautiful Georgia O'Keefe country, and not roll over on moderately sharp curves, I'm going precisely the speed limit.
Which means there's this long line of locals driving behind me who are clearly going Nuts Stuck Behind the Soccer Mom Tourist. Occasionally I do the good girl thing and pull over to the side of the road to let everyone blast past me. But, you know, after awhile it just gets tiresome.
Why won't anybody pass me?! They'll ride up to my back bumper and stare at me real hard so my neck gets itchy, but by god, nobody will pass even when given acres of perfectly legal opportunity.
That's when I realize I've been married to a Serb for too long. Only a Serb would think a microsecond of space with oncoming traffic an eyelash away is plenty of room for passing one, two, maybe even three cars. Serbs pass like bats out of hell. Serbs are the gods of passing. But then a lot more of them die in traffic accidents than Americans do.
Well, hey.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Argh! Shipping Car to Croatia Part III
Why ship a US car to Europe? Simple - cars have always been insanely more expensive in Europe than the US. My US town's property tax department estimates my four-year old Passat is worth about US$6000. In Croatia or Serbia, that same car would be worth possibly as much as 10,000 Euros! Another example: a new BMW SUV that costs $60k at a US dealer would cost us 60k Euros in Croatia... that's a 56% increase.
If you live in a particular town in Europe, you don't absolutely need a car the way you do in most US towns. But, we have American habits (my bad) plus relatives and friends to visit who are scattered widely throughout the former Yugoslavia (my husband's fault.)
As you may recall, I tried shipping my car earlier this year, got burned, but finally got her back. So this time I was determined to find the most reputable and experienced shipper I could, and not be taken in by Google Ads or friendly Web sites. I doublechecked the Better Business Bureau records of each shipper, and doublechecked whether the company was just a broker or also an actual shipper. I also tried to find out how many cars each shipped, some only ship a few dozen, some ship thousands. Lastly, I emailed and phoned my final candidates to see how well they'd reply to both modes of communication. Nothing's worse than not being able to reach a human when you're panicking!
My results boiled down to three favorites: All Auto Shipping are remarkably knowledgeable and honest about shipping realities, but they don't ship to Croatia, just Germany. Rinkens are partnered with one of the largest UK auto shippers and boast decades of experience. DAS Auto are perhaps the largest international auto shippers based in the US (aside from government contractors) and have great customer service.
Four kinds of bad news:
1. Due to rising oil prices, shipping costs have gone up an average of $300 per car to all the ports I was quoted on since January.
2. Croatia is incredibly expensive to ship to. "It's not popular, so it costs more," one rep told me. Bremerhaven Germany is the cheapest port, currently at about $1,250 for an RORO (roll on roll off) vehicle. Italy and Spain are pricier in the low $2000s. Croatia is INSANE at $3850!
Partly it's because it seems no one ships RORO to Croatia currently, so you're paying for a 20 foot container. Unfortunately you're often not allowed to put anything else in the container, or the car, except for a car.
3. Ships are way overbooked. "It started in March when the dollar got so weak," one agent told me. "People are shipping way more cars to Europe than normally." In fact, DAS' Los Angeles shipments have been so overwhelmed that they stopped accepting new shipments seven weeks ago. They hope to have a few spots by early-mid-fall. You can still get a spot on some ships in New York/New Jersey ports luckily. However, you can't book ahead anymore. Your place is not assured until the car arrives at their offices in the port.
4. US Customs' spotchecks can slow delivery dates by as much as a month. I thought customs were focused on the security of goods coming into the US. Apparently though, our taxpayer dollars are also being spent on investigating shipments leaving US ports. Every single car going out mjust be inspected by US customs. They're looking for everything from stolen cars to possible bombs. The inspection can take anywhere from a few hours to three-four weeks... per car! The latter is for cars that are randomly pulled for spot checks, so nothing you can do besides crossing your fingers will help.
However, all the more reason to have your paperwork in perfect order for the car, including an original copy of the title and copies of your passport. (The latter is a new requirement.)
Tonight I foresee a math fiesta as my husband attempts to calculate the best port to send to. He'll have to figure out insurance costs, port hotel costs, flights, and gas/petrol back to where-ever we end up going next on our fall Serbia-Croatia trip. I'm glad I married a Serb because that kind of math would crush me like a bug. Genetically though, I think he's programmed to enjoy it.
If you live in a particular town in Europe, you don't absolutely need a car the way you do in most US towns. But, we have American habits (my bad) plus relatives and friends to visit who are scattered widely throughout the former Yugoslavia (my husband's fault.)
As you may recall, I tried shipping my car earlier this year, got burned, but finally got her back. So this time I was determined to find the most reputable and experienced shipper I could, and not be taken in by Google Ads or friendly Web sites. I doublechecked the Better Business Bureau records of each shipper, and doublechecked whether the company was just a broker or also an actual shipper. I also tried to find out how many cars each shipped, some only ship a few dozen, some ship thousands. Lastly, I emailed and phoned my final candidates to see how well they'd reply to both modes of communication. Nothing's worse than not being able to reach a human when you're panicking!
My results boiled down to three favorites: All Auto Shipping are remarkably knowledgeable and honest about shipping realities, but they don't ship to Croatia, just Germany. Rinkens are partnered with one of the largest UK auto shippers and boast decades of experience. DAS Auto are perhaps the largest international auto shippers based in the US (aside from government contractors) and have great customer service.
Four kinds of bad news:
1. Due to rising oil prices, shipping costs have gone up an average of $300 per car to all the ports I was quoted on since January.
2. Croatia is incredibly expensive to ship to. "It's not popular, so it costs more," one rep told me. Bremerhaven Germany is the cheapest port, currently at about $1,250 for an RORO (roll on roll off) vehicle. Italy and Spain are pricier in the low $2000s. Croatia is INSANE at $3850!
Partly it's because it seems no one ships RORO to Croatia currently, so you're paying for a 20 foot container. Unfortunately you're often not allowed to put anything else in the container, or the car, except for a car.
3. Ships are way overbooked. "It started in March when the dollar got so weak," one agent told me. "People are shipping way more cars to Europe than normally." In fact, DAS' Los Angeles shipments have been so overwhelmed that they stopped accepting new shipments seven weeks ago. They hope to have a few spots by early-mid-fall. You can still get a spot on some ships in New York/New Jersey ports luckily. However, you can't book ahead anymore. Your place is not assured until the car arrives at their offices in the port.
4. US Customs' spotchecks can slow delivery dates by as much as a month. I thought customs were focused on the security of goods coming into the US. Apparently though, our taxpayer dollars are also being spent on investigating shipments leaving US ports. Every single car going out mjust be inspected by US customs. They're looking for everything from stolen cars to possible bombs. The inspection can take anywhere from a few hours to three-four weeks... per car! The latter is for cars that are randomly pulled for spot checks, so nothing you can do besides crossing your fingers will help.
However, all the more reason to have your paperwork in perfect order for the car, including an original copy of the title and copies of your passport. (The latter is a new requirement.)
Tonight I foresee a math fiesta as my husband attempts to calculate the best port to send to. He'll have to figure out insurance costs, port hotel costs, flights, and gas/petrol back to where-ever we end up going next on our fall Serbia-Croatia trip. I'm glad I married a Serb because that kind of math would crush me like a bug. Genetically though, I think he's programmed to enjoy it.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Reunited & It Feels So Good! Found My Car in New Jersey
Yeah! As I write this I can look out my home office window at my car. She is dusty, the tires are a little soft, and I haven't gotten the wax pencil marking that says "Rijeka" on her windshield all the way off yet. But she is here and safe again, and that is all that matters.
The US-based shipping agent we used, ShipOverseas.com, had pretty much given up after his calls and emails weren't returned by the Balkan-owned shippers he'd contracted with, Demars International. I am nothing if not tenacious, so with help from my husband and step-daughter, we started a revolving phone calling campaign. Every few minutes we'd call one of the Demars numbers, get hung up on, or put on hold forever and then hung up on, or just not picked up. Then we'd start again with another one of the four phones we own between us. (If you alternate phone numbers, you're more likely to get answered.)
It took three days of phone calls, some digging in Google, and help from kind strangers (I convinced a guy who worked in an unrelated warehouse in New Jersey, near where I'd heard Demars had leased a parking lot, to walk around outside and look for my car), but at last we found her.
The small parking lot was packed with at least 50 cars that have been waiting to be shipped to various Balkan ports since Jan-early Feb of this year. If you're reading this and you own any type of Volkswagon, Austin, Corvette, Mercedes, or a Ford SUV that you think is being shipped to the Balkans, well the chances are it's sitting in Elizabeth New Jersey for the unforeseen future. It's not indoors and the security is laughable - the ancient chain link fence is missing entire sections. All the cars' titles and other paperwork is in their glove compartments. Anyone could walk off with your vehicle. It's just dumb luck no thief has figured this out yet.
The guys in the warehouse next door had the keys in an unlabled, jumbled mess in a black plastic bucket Demars had given them. "Go fishing!" one of them gaily said. "You want to take the 2007 Mercedes? I don't care, here's the key." We tried three Volkswagon keys until we found the one that matched my car.
"Lady, can you tell me why car owners trust these people?" the warehouse manager asked me. "I can't imagine just handing over my car with the signed title and keys to some strangers who do business like this." "I think it's a Balkan thing," I said. "They are all from the same small countries and when they get over here to America maybe they trust each other more than they ought to."
The US-based shipping agent we used, ShipOverseas.com, had pretty much given up after his calls and emails weren't returned by the Balkan-owned shippers he'd contracted with, Demars International. I am nothing if not tenacious, so with help from my husband and step-daughter, we started a revolving phone calling campaign. Every few minutes we'd call one of the Demars numbers, get hung up on, or put on hold forever and then hung up on, or just not picked up. Then we'd start again with another one of the four phones we own between us. (If you alternate phone numbers, you're more likely to get answered.)
It took three days of phone calls, some digging in Google, and help from kind strangers (I convinced a guy who worked in an unrelated warehouse in New Jersey, near where I'd heard Demars had leased a parking lot, to walk around outside and look for my car), but at last we found her.
The small parking lot was packed with at least 50 cars that have been waiting to be shipped to various Balkan ports since Jan-early Feb of this year. If you're reading this and you own any type of Volkswagon, Austin, Corvette, Mercedes, or a Ford SUV that you think is being shipped to the Balkans, well the chances are it's sitting in Elizabeth New Jersey for the unforeseen future. It's not indoors and the security is laughable - the ancient chain link fence is missing entire sections. All the cars' titles and other paperwork is in their glove compartments. Anyone could walk off with your vehicle. It's just dumb luck no thief has figured this out yet.
The guys in the warehouse next door had the keys in an unlabled, jumbled mess in a black plastic bucket Demars had given them. "Go fishing!" one of them gaily said. "You want to take the 2007 Mercedes? I don't care, here's the key." We tried three Volkswagon keys until we found the one that matched my car.
"Lady, can you tell me why car owners trust these people?" the warehouse manager asked me. "I can't imagine just handing over my car with the signed title and keys to some strangers who do business like this." "I think it's a Balkan thing," I said. "They are all from the same small countries and when they get over here to America maybe they trust each other more than they ought to."
Monday, March 17, 2008
My Car Lost; Feared Stolen by Balkan Shipping Company
Dang! Cars are insanely expensive in Europe so we decided to ship my US car to a Croatian port and then drive it to our home in Sombor Serbia. After surfing the Web and getting quotes for RORO (roll on, roll off) services, I picked ShipOverseas because they were at the median price and answered emails more quickly and politely than others.
Thing is, in the US when you hire a shipping company to send your stuff overseas, they don't do it themselves. They are "freight forwarders" and subcontract the actual job to shippers. As an individual apparently you can't deal with the shipper directly.
As directed, my step-son drove my car down to a warehouse in New Jersey in early February. It was "totally sketchy" with a lot of cars with parts taken off sitting around. He was concerned but I said, "No problem, ShipOverseas have been in business since 1983, they know what they are doing. Warehouses are always weird places."
I was an idiot. Or rather, ShipOverseas were idiots. When we never got the email announcing our car had departed, nor the email announcing our car was arriving, we began to worry. I just got off the phone with the guys at ShipOverseas and they are worried too. Turns out they entrusted our car as well as six other ones to a shipper they'd never done business with before. Now nobody at the shipper's offices, from the president on down are answering calls or emails.
"What country are the shippers from?" I asked. "Well they have offices in the US," said my rep. "No, what country are they actually headquartered in?" "They have a really really great Web site and wonderful references," my rep said. "What country are they from?!" "They ship all over Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia. They are local experts there, that's why we chose them," the rep replied.
"Oh no!" I said. "You're doing business with a company from the Balkans? We're screwed. If I had known you did business with those people I would never have given my car to you." "Don't worry," the rep said soothingly, "if there's any trouble we will register a complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission and they will launch an investigation." "Yeah, and sometime in 2009 we'll find out my car is gone forever and we're screwed."
I don't want to be undiplomatic. But here's the factual truth. Every single businessperson I've met in the Balkans has earnestly told me, "Don't do business in the Balkans." At first in my peppy naive American way I'd chirp back, "Oh come on, it can't be That Bad." Then they'd look at me like a screw in my head was loose.
By the time a close connection who was a top exec at the bank of Serbia told me this February, "Don't ever put more than a few thousand dollars into any bank here, it's not safe," I nodded my head calmly. Of course. I'd be screwed. I wouldn't make that mistake.
(Note: The golden exception to this rule are small, entrepreneur-owned companies where you know the owner personally and/or they used to be ex-pats so they've had a lot of Western business experience. Even then, watch their charactor, do they want to get rich quick? Are they a wheeler dealer type? Or are they an earnest, slightly geeky small businessperson with a passion for the business they are in? Only do business with the latter.)
Unfortunately, the ShipOverseas people don't have Balkan business experience. "We never have problems with shippers to Finland or Russia," the rep told me like this should make the Balkans OK. After awhile I just wished him good afternoon and ended the conversation. I've accepted the fact that my car is gone, almost certainly for good. I guess the grieving process now begins.
Thing is, in the US when you hire a shipping company to send your stuff overseas, they don't do it themselves. They are "freight forwarders" and subcontract the actual job to shippers. As an individual apparently you can't deal with the shipper directly.
As directed, my step-son drove my car down to a warehouse in New Jersey in early February. It was "totally sketchy" with a lot of cars with parts taken off sitting around. He was concerned but I said, "No problem, ShipOverseas have been in business since 1983, they know what they are doing. Warehouses are always weird places."
I was an idiot. Or rather, ShipOverseas were idiots. When we never got the email announcing our car had departed, nor the email announcing our car was arriving, we began to worry. I just got off the phone with the guys at ShipOverseas and they are worried too. Turns out they entrusted our car as well as six other ones to a shipper they'd never done business with before. Now nobody at the shipper's offices, from the president on down are answering calls or emails.
"What country are the shippers from?" I asked. "Well they have offices in the US," said my rep. "No, what country are they actually headquartered in?" "They have a really really great Web site and wonderful references," my rep said. "What country are they from?!" "They ship all over Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia. They are local experts there, that's why we chose them," the rep replied.
"Oh no!" I said. "You're doing business with a company from the Balkans? We're screwed. If I had known you did business with those people I would never have given my car to you." "Don't worry," the rep said soothingly, "if there's any trouble we will register a complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission and they will launch an investigation." "Yeah, and sometime in 2009 we'll find out my car is gone forever and we're screwed."
I don't want to be undiplomatic. But here's the factual truth. Every single businessperson I've met in the Balkans has earnestly told me, "Don't do business in the Balkans." At first in my peppy naive American way I'd chirp back, "Oh come on, it can't be That Bad." Then they'd look at me like a screw in my head was loose.
By the time a close connection who was a top exec at the bank of Serbia told me this February, "Don't ever put more than a few thousand dollars into any bank here, it's not safe," I nodded my head calmly. Of course. I'd be screwed. I wouldn't make that mistake.
(Note: The golden exception to this rule are small, entrepreneur-owned companies where you know the owner personally and/or they used to be ex-pats so they've had a lot of Western business experience. Even then, watch their charactor, do they want to get rich quick? Are they a wheeler dealer type? Or are they an earnest, slightly geeky small businessperson with a passion for the business they are in? Only do business with the latter.)
Unfortunately, the ShipOverseas people don't have Balkan business experience. "We never have problems with shippers to Finland or Russia," the rep told me like this should make the Balkans OK. After awhile I just wished him good afternoon and ended the conversation. I've accepted the fact that my car is gone, almost certainly for good. I guess the grieving process now begins.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Pull Into a Serb Auto Gas Station & You'll Find...
Propane. For cars. You want gasoline you better get yourself to a place where they sell petrol.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Gas is $7 a Gallon in Croatia
In every town and city we visit the streets are jammed with cars - mostly fairly new ones. Parking is next to impossible even though this is the off season when tourists have all but deserted Zadar and most of the Dalmatian coastline. We continually see student drivers on the streets in very prominently marked vehicles...sometimes these are typical teens but sometimes they are teens parents or even grandparents driving for the first time.
However, when you drive from town to town... for example, 40 minutes from Zadar to Starigrad for a refreshing hike up in Paklinica National Park after a long day of sweating over an Internet Cafe keyboard, there is no one on the roads between towns. A few busloads of German pensioners on cheap off-season tours, a few trucks of produce bound for mega stores, a handful of expensive cars with EU plates, and that is it. We drive alone on highways for sometimes miles.
When at dusk we saw two backpack laden kids hitchhiking on the main coast road to Zadar, I make my husband stop immediately. "This car is too tiny for their packs!" he exclaims, but I persist. "We may be the only car going by tonight that will pick them up and it is cold outside." He agrees we very well may be the kids only chance at a ride into town and somehow we all squeeze.
Why so little traffic between towns? Gas prices. Just because you can get the credit here for a shiny new car to nip around town ostentatiously, does not mean you have cash for gas for trips longer than a couple of miles. So all this insane car buying, driving lessons, and parking nightmares, etc., is for cars that people use for trips they could easily walk or use cheap, clean, easily available public transport for. They are as car-mad here in Croatia as they are in Serbia. It has nothing to do with need and a lot to do with status.
$7 a gallon. When I visit the US, I will never complain about the pump prices again.
However, when you drive from town to town... for example, 40 minutes from Zadar to Starigrad for a refreshing hike up in Paklinica National Park after a long day of sweating over an Internet Cafe keyboard, there is no one on the roads between towns. A few busloads of German pensioners on cheap off-season tours, a few trucks of produce bound for mega stores, a handful of expensive cars with EU plates, and that is it. We drive alone on highways for sometimes miles.
When at dusk we saw two backpack laden kids hitchhiking on the main coast road to Zadar, I make my husband stop immediately. "This car is too tiny for their packs!" he exclaims, but I persist. "We may be the only car going by tonight that will pick them up and it is cold outside." He agrees we very well may be the kids only chance at a ride into town and somehow we all squeeze.
Why so little traffic between towns? Gas prices. Just because you can get the credit here for a shiny new car to nip around town ostentatiously, does not mean you have cash for gas for trips longer than a couple of miles. So all this insane car buying, driving lessons, and parking nightmares, etc., is for cars that people use for trips they could easily walk or use cheap, clean, easily available public transport for. They are as car-mad here in Croatia as they are in Serbia. It has nothing to do with need and a lot to do with status.
$7 a gallon. When I visit the US, I will never complain about the pump prices again.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Car Photos from Serbia - Mainly Small, Old & Deisel
This post is for my sister Molly, who emailed asking what are the cars like in Serbia? It's Europe so they are far smaller than American cars. A Mini Cooper would fit right in here and even look BIG next to many cars. (Not that there are any Mini Coopers here because they are too fancy. If you have that kind of money, you'll buy something showy and German like the 15 year old Mercedes here.)
The other two brands you almost never see are Honda and Toyota. One of our neighbors is a mechanic and he says people don't buy them because you can't get the parts easily. Toyota's got distributors in Hungary, Belgrade and Switzerland (where a lot of Serb expats live) so that may change. In the meantime, you can understand why I nearly snorted Pepsi out my nose when I saw the Aug 30th CNNMoney.com article "Drive Your Car to Death" which gave the revolutionary advice to Americans that you can actually drive the same car for 15 years. However, the article counseled, you better buy a Honda or a Toyota because they are about the only cars that can stand that kind of extreme pounding.
Yeah, and EVERY SINGLE CAR IN SERBIA.
According to our neighbor the mechanic, the average age of a car in Serbia is 12-15 years. That means at least a solid third are older. They are mostly diesel because diesel is cheaper than gas in Europe. But some people, like another of our neighbors, get creative to save even more money and run on a mixture of oil and diesel. When he drives by I swear it smells so bad it's like his car is farting really badly.
If the EU suddenly relented and allowed Serbs to move about the rest of Europe without hard-to-get visas, almost nobody would go because their cars are not remotely street legal in the rest of Europe. Even that Mercedes pictured above almost certainly wouldn't pass emissions tests. Some people say Serbs should be forced to improve emissions now, because they'll have to sooner or later so why not get it over with before we all die of the stench? Others say, take pity, the average income is fairly low here. People can't afford it yet.
Molly asked if cars here were like cars in Cuba, huge old US models. Nope. Unlike Cuba Yugoslavia (and now Serbia) had its own auto plants. (Remember Yugos? They still make them here, a lot.) Plus, before and after economic sanctions during the '90s, Serbians imported cars from both Western and Eastern Europe. But, most people didn't have big budgets. That means aside from the perhaps 5-10% of Serbs who show off with fancy upscale German models, everyone else bought teeny, tiny, cheap cars. Preferably in bright colors.
Most of these cars never made it to the US marketplace, so they look incredibly foreign to me. Often I can't identify them at all. Cars from Romania, Russia, France, etc. etc. I have never seen a large old American car here. I've also never seen a pick-up truck. Here's a few cars I have seen:
This 15-20 year old Zastova is a Serb-built car based on a design licensed from Fiat in the 1980s. After they licensed it, they never changed it, you can buy this exact model across the decades.
I'm pretty sure this is a Citron from France. There are a lot of them around here, usually far more brightly colored, often in aqua marine or vivid greens.
This is a Yugo hatchback model. The banner across the top of the windshield says this is a Racing Yugo, which made me laugh because you know, it's a Yugo.
This is a Russian Lada SUV which I think is the cutest thing on the planet. It's SO adorable. However my husband says when we buy a car here we will buy a Toyota or Honda because they don't break down for years and with a Lada you are supposedly always having to fiddle with something even if it's brand new.By the way, due to European prices and Serbian import taxes, imported cars cost INSANE prices. Often double what you'd pay in the US for the same car. OK, well not exactly the same car. In the US it would be have automatic transmission and run on gas.
One last thing: No matter what Serbs are driving, or how old it is, or what time of day or night, or what neighborhood they are driving in, they all drive like BATS OUT OF HELL. People gun it all the time, screeching around corners, barreling past bikes and pedestrians without swerving, hurl the car up on the sidewalk or front lawn, leap out and .... sit down at the cafe for hours absolutely motionless except for lighting cigarettes.
One time downtown a car slowed so I could walk across the highly marked pedestrian crosswalk. I stared in amazement. It had Austrian plates. Of course. Couldn't possibly be a Serb. In the Serb mentality, my husband explains, traffic laws are not really laws so much as they are "suggestions."
The fact is Serbs really enjoy driving. A lot. As soon as most get a bit of extra cash or credit, a car is their immediate purchase. If you want to get rich here someday, be an automotive importer.
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