Chile Forum

One of our favorite subjects

We use to think the customs agents where some sort of scam, but once you have been around the block over and over and over again you come to realize that a good customs agent is worth his weight in gold. The problem is that if they are any good at navigating the bureaucratic mess at customs (e.g. have experience, contacts, friends, so on), chances are they are not going to touch a shipment that is under a million dollars. So, finding a good one that will handle small shipments is the name of the game. Not just any knuckle draggier out of the phone book will work, if you are doing anything even kind of complicated.

That said, the real problems are customs themselves. For the most part however, if you are just going to pay your taxes and do a straight import with no special paperwork such as special tax zone exemption, bringing in a new car, or claiming a temporary residency exemption, then things tend to move fairly smooth. Once you start drifting out of that standard import box, things start getting complicated and a good customs agent is important.

One word of warning, if you are planning on picking your stuff up, have something else to do that week in the area also. Because nothing is coming out of customs on some sort of exact schedule. It can be plus or minus a few days. If you are standing around the port waiting for it to happen, bring a good book. Something like War and Piece.

Shipping companies we have found for our clients inside the country we have to handle ourselves. The customs agents have tried, and sometimes they come through, but more often it ends up being a logistical mess. Mostly because they don't handle that sort of thing all that much. Best to hire a separate company to move your stuff from the port to your house. There are million moving companies in Chile that will handle that sort of thing, or you can just hire a truck to pick it up and drop it off.

Whatever you do, DO NOT BELIEVE THE SHIPPING COMPANIES OUTSIDE OF CHILE!!!!! They know nothing about what goes on once your stuff hits the docks in Chile. There is essentially no way they could know. The secretaries at the shipping companies around the World will tell you what they read in their little shipping book for Chile, but have no idea about the real customs mess here. Most any decent company will get your stuff to Chile, but it is really up to you to handle getting it out of customs by overseeing the agents, internal shipping, paying the fees, duties, and so on. Having your paperwork ready for any tax exemptions, and being ready to chase papers at moments notice if customs is in a foul mood and asking for something out of the blue.