I've been holding off writing the story of shipping our car to Georgia, but now that it is done, I'll review the process here for all of you who have been asking. Oh, boy!!
It started when we realized before we left the States that we would have to arrange some kind of personal transportation once we got to Georgia. Julie's work is just far enough outside of town that public transport options were not going to be satisfactory. The school she works for assists the teachers in buying and licensing their vehicles, so we could have gone that route. But, no... we decided, with a little advice from daughter and son-in-law, that shipping one of our cars from the States was the way to go.
We chose to ship our 2002 Mazda Protege. It is a very plain, no frills model, but was in pretty good shape, fully paid for, and unlikely to sell for very much if we were to try to unload it before we left. After looking around a bit on our own for shipping companies, we were steered by a friend of our (Georgian) son-in-law to a company in New Jersey that does this as their main occupation. They consolidate the car shipments, three to a container, and send them every week from NJ to Poti, the Georgian port on the Black Sea. Since the cars are in containers, you also are allowed to load personal property in the vehicle, so we figured that we could get a lot of our stuff to Georgia this way, instead of paying $200 per suitcase for excess baggage on the airline.
It was clear we were hooked up with the right company when we first called them to inquire and the guy that answered the phone didn't speak English (only Russian or Georgian). He did find an English speaking lady in the warehouse who came to the phone and was very helpful. We decided to give them a try.
It started when we realized before we left the States that we would have to arrange some kind of personal transportation once we got to Georgia. Julie's work is just far enough outside of town that public transport options were not going to be satisfactory. The school she works for assists the teachers in buying and licensing their vehicles, so we could have gone that route. But, no... we decided, with a little advice from daughter and son-in-law, that shipping one of our cars from the States was the way to go.
We chose to ship our 2002 Mazda Protege. It is a very plain, no frills model, but was in pretty good shape, fully paid for, and unlikely to sell for very much if we were to try to unload it before we left. After looking around a bit on our own for shipping companies, we were steered by a friend of our (Georgian) son-in-law to a company in New Jersey that does this as their main occupation. They consolidate the car shipments, three to a container, and send them every week from NJ to Poti, the Georgian port on the Black Sea. Since the cars are in containers, you also are allowed to load personal property in the vehicle, so we figured that we could get a lot of our stuff to Georgia this way, instead of paying $200 per suitcase for excess baggage on the airline.
It was clear we were hooked up with the right company when we first called them to inquire and the guy that answered the phone didn't speak English (only Russian or Georgian). He did find an English speaking lady in the warehouse who came to the phone and was very helpful. We decided to give them a try.
We filled the trunk, back seat, and front passenger space completely with the miscellaneous crap we couldn't bear to part with, or which we thought might be useful later on. At this point we were neither mindful of keeping a proper inventory of the items packed in the car, nor worried that we might have to pay all over again for our personal property when the Georgian customs officers got a look at what we were sending. Ok, we should have known better, but you will see that it all worked out in the end.
Our car full of stuff... ready to go!
Dropping the car in Avenel, New Jersey on July 11th, we paid $890 and began to track our car's progress on the web site. It sailed on July 16, arrived in Antwerp on July 29th and the container was unloaded there to be sent on to Istanbul on a different vessel. It was unloaded again in Turkey on August 11th, the same day we arrived in Tbilisi. It got to Poti on the 22nd, and was finally unloaded and the container opened on the 27th of August.
Follow the progress of your container.
A few days before the final opening of the container, I was contacted by the Tbilisi office of the shipping company and told when the car would be available. We had been advised in the States that we should be present when the container was opened, but this would have entailed finding a Georgian speaker to help us, transportation to Poti (260 km west of Tbilisi), and the associated costs for time, food, gas, etc. That seemed an overwhelming challenge at the time, so I chickened out and went with plan "B" which was presented to me by the director of the shipping company here. He had a friend who would go get the car and deliver it to me at my apartment for only 270 GEL, or about $160. Sounded like a good deal, and so... easy.
I paid a 75 GEL ($45) port fee and the 270 GEL requested for the delivery service, and crossed my fingers. It was then that I briefed the shipping company director and his friend about the used personal property that filled every available nook and cranny of the car. They looked a bit shocked, and somewhat unsure about what was going to happen at customs in the port. The car would be no problem they assured me, but worst case would be if they had to unpack, inventory, and pay duty on our stuff. I knew that the process would be nearly impossible, if only because once they unpacked everything it would be unlikely that they could get it back into the car again. I was worried, but had no choice except to wait for word from Poti.
The call came the next day. The car was released, but the customs clearance was not completed. Choice number one: engage an expediter who would prepare the inventory and clear our goods through customs, duty amount unknown. This was the proper procedure. Choice number two: a little bit hazy on the details, but something about a "back door" and "no receipt" if I would OK an amount of 520 GEL or $310, maybe, just maybe, something else could be done. What do you think I chose?
The next day the car arrived at my apartment, as promised, with the contents all untouched and complete. I quietly passed over the cash, and everyone went home happy. The car shipping cost was very reasonable, and the shipper performed fully to my satisfaction. In addition, for the supplemental payment equal to only one and one half excess baggage suitcases, we got a car full of goodies to stock our new apartment.
As it turned out, this was the easy part. The challenge began when we tried to get the car licensed and the import duties paid for the vehicle itself. The temporary landing permit and the transit plates needed to be converted to a proper registration. That story will make up part two of this narrative.
No comments:
Post a Comment