Dear Mike:

Thank you for posting this information on the web. It made the whole project much less overwhelming.

I used Crowley and dropped my car off in Jacksonville. One nice thing about Crowley was that they allow you to ship the car "collect," so you can pay with a credit card when the car gets to San Juan.

Picking the car up was somewhat confusing because of all the different counters you have to go to. First, my car hadn't been appraised yet, so I had to get an appraiser to come out to the lot with me and check the car out. With the appraisal, I went to the Hacienda office and dropped the papers off. They asked me for my driverґs license, social security card and car title. After about 30 minutes, they called my name and told me how much I owed. My car is a 1983 Porsche 944, so I wasnґt too sure whether they would charge me the minimum of $750, but they did. They also added on an $8.25 tire recycling fee and an ACAA insurance fee of $37.92, for a total of $789.17

Then I had to go to the ColecturМa to pay the money in cash and get my receipts. They do take money orders, but who had time for that... With the receipts, I went back to the Hacienda counter where I was told that I would have to get the vehicle inspected in order to register it. Next, I had to go to the Crowley payment counter to pay for the shipping of my vehicle.

Finally, I went to the Crowley office where I signed a form acknowledging receipt of my vehicle and went to get it. Before taking the car out of the lot, they take a photo of you and your driverґs license. By that time, it was past noon, so I decided to leave the registration ordeal for the next day.

As you indicated on the Web page, the registration process was a real pain in the neck. I started at around 9:00 AM with the vehicle inspection and was able to get everything done, license plate in hand, by about 2:30 PM.

I started out at around 9:00 looking for a service station to inspect the vehicle. Found one, and they required my US registration to perform the inspection. The car passed and I paid $11.

Then I went to the Centro de Servicio al Conductor division of Obras PЗblicas at the branch in Carolina, right off the 65th Infantry road. They asked me for everything you said, but they also wanted photocopies of my driver's license AND my social security card. I handed them: the $10 stamp, car title, most recent stateside registration certificate, driver's license, social security card, ACAA receipt, import tax receipt, and vehicle inspection certificate. They asked me to sit down and after about 30 minutes, they called my name. They told me how much I owed -another $150,- and that to pay for the registration, I had to drive up the road to the Carolina Centro Gubernamental, and then go back to their office and drop the papers off again to be processed.

I went to the Centro Gubernamental to pay and when I finally made it back it was around noon, so the employees were taking off for lunch. They asked me to come back at 1:00. I did, but it turned out that that was when they were STARTING to do my registration, so they asked me to come back at 2:00.

I did, and by that time, everything was finally ready and I walked out the door with my Puerto Rico car title, new license plate and sticker.

I didn't enjoy the experience in the least, but I want to thank you for your Web page which made the whole process less aggravating because I went in with my eyes open. Thanks a lot!

XXXX X. XXXXXX Condado, Puerto Rico