We are going to try and do a couple articles on owning a car in Dominican Republic and more specifically Santiago. Like in most places the there are certain expenses to owning a car. We are going to talk about some of those expenses and some differences you might see. Here is a list of items we want to cover, in no particular order.
One thing that a person should keep in mind when they are thinking about a car is the type and make of vehicle. As you stand on the streets here and watch the cars go by you just might come to the conclusion that Toyota and Honda seem to own the streets. Now a person can just about find any brand of automobile on the roads, but one must also think about repair time. Whether this is from old age and breaking down or someone else using your back bumper to save wear and tear on their brakes, there will come a time when you will need to have your car looked at. This just might be where planning comes into the picture and saves you some headaches. As a general rule, it is much easier, quicker and cheaper to find parts for the Toyotas and Hondas. There are more on the road. Also the mechanics are more familiar with these cars. Now saying that I have seen Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes, Audi and Volvos just to name a few. I have seen makes that I never heard of until I lived here. I still see a couple Datsuns running around. What I do not see many of, are American cars. You will see the Ford and Chevy SUVs and pickups, but you will see very few passenger cars. I know when I lived in Santo Domingo I seen a couple models that Chevy was selling there, but I did not see very many on the roads. So when it comes time, you might want to think about repair time.
Another factor to thing about is what country or market was the car made for. A car made for the US market has the steering wheel on the left hand side of the car right from factory. A car made for the Japanese or British market the steering wheel on the right hand side of the car from factory, and is converted before imported here. 95% of these conversions go without a hitch however, there is a chance that it was not converted properly. One thing that you will find is that cars made for the US market will also tend to have all the electric gadgets and cost a bit more.
The last question we will think about today will be the car or SUV question. Now like most places SUVs do tend to carry a certain status with them. But there might be more reasons to own one besides the “look at me” reason. The roads here tend to be less developed. SUVs even the smaller ones tend to have a higher clearance and stronger suspension. So these are good points. SUVs tend to go through gas quicker and this is a bad point as gas is expensive here. When people were complaining about $4 a gallon gas last year, our prices topped $6 a gallon. Another option is one of the smaller SUVs like the RAV4. And in most places this might be a very good choice. When I lived in Santo Domingo I never had problems navigating the roads or worries about an under powered car. But while I was living there, I did not get out of the city much. Living in the Santiago area brings other things to the table. Santiago sits in the Cibao valley so we are a bit higher than the capital. But we are also at the foot of the mountains going to the North Coast. I used to have to run up the side of one of these mountains fairly regularly, the small SUV I was using at the time had a few problems with power to the wheels and running the air conditioner at the same time. Maybe you will need at least a 6 cylinder. Look at the road conditions where you plan on living and traveling. What will better serve your needs? Will a car do the job and maybe the occasionally rental of an SUV?
To close out this section, I just want you to know that I drive a Honda civic. For the most part it has taken me where I have needed to go with few deters. I find that I can navigate some of the side streets easier than the SUVs, but I have heard the dreaded scratching noise of my bottom dragging the ground. As a whole, you will find more cars on the roads than SUVs maybe by a 4 to 1 margin if not more.
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