There they are, a bunch of little buildings resembling shacks all sited together. Inside these are the brokers. What’s a broker here at the western border in Belize? I was about to pick one and find out. Which one though??
I sat there in my car trying decide. Should it be one with air conditioning and a fancy sign? Should I look at a humble building? So, I chose the humblest one there figuring the person would be hungriest and thus more motivated to do whatever brokers do. The person’s name is Darrell.
The process of getting my car assessed in order to pay the duty tax, environmental tax and sales tax seemed like it should be straightforward. It wasn’t.
I met the broker, Darrell, then he sent me to Carlos and to the large building to start the assessment process. Carols took me to the first assessor. She busied herself with stuff, went out and looked at my car, went back in and finished up her assessment. The assessment was higher than what I had paid for the car. It was $15,000, I paid $13,900. She then sent me to the next assessor. The one messed with more figures, seemed to check stuff on his computer and came up with a bit lower assessment. Ok but still too high it seemed to me. He sent me to the third assessor upstairs. The third assessor got the price back to a reasonable number.
The Carlos took me back to the broker. The broker confirmed that my price for the car was outrageously high. I had to pay $5,300 US which is $10,600 Belize Dollars. OUCH!
Except the ATM machine was broken at Customs. Darrell went with me to the bank in town, the bank folks said the amount was too much for their ATM machines. Darrell advised I go to San Ignacio and see a teller inside one of the banks then come back tomorrow.
This process took at least three hours and I wasn’t done since I had to come back with cash to pay.
Luckily, I had a new source for getting cash thanks to a new contact provided that very morning. I call him, he came to the house and left with my blank US bank check while I held $12,000 Belize dollars.
Then I got sick. No not Covid, no not Omicron, just Montezuma’s revenge. It flattened me for two full days. Each day, I called Darrell, my broker, to let him know. Then the weekend came and this process doesn't work on weekends. I returned today, Monday, January 23, 2022 to finalize my debt and contribute to the National Financial security of my new home country, Belize. Except all this money was still too much for Customs to handle, so I was to the bank in Benque, to pay there. Back to town, find the bank, pay and wait for the bank to process which took at least forty minutes. Then back to my broker who then handled the rest of the procedure with Customs while I waited, another hour. Thus, I donated $5000US to Belize today. (I have a year to figure out how to make this a tax deduction!) This is steep but perhaps this is one of the prices to pay to live in paradise?
One more step though to make my car fully legal, find the Traffic Department and register the car now that I have the proper Customs documentation. That sounds easy; however, the one streets without signs keep me uncertain and anxious as I try to drive them.
Comments