Follow-up on the vehicle repair

This is Mike...
We received the money for the damages to our SUV from Boris Jaramillo boris_jaramillo@hotmail.com . The reimbursement went smoothly considering we were in different countries. I would have no hesitation recommending Boris for transport of a vehicle from Panama to where ever you are going. Dealing with Boris was easy and I appreciate his understanding about the damages. I give Boris the highest rating for his commitment to customer service. 

Picked up the SUV from the shop

This is Mike...
Quick Follow up on the truck repair - I picked up my SUV yesterday, after 4 days in the shop, and everything was perfect. They actually detailed my car as well, inside and out, which was a bonus for us. Great service, price and quality it is the trilogy of great business experiences. For more information regarding servicing and auto body work in Medellin please refer to the prior post on August 20th.

Looks brand new

Can't even see there was any damage before.

Both sides of my rig are back in fighting form

 

Vehicle repair and maintenance in Medellin

This is Mike...
We decided to do some needed repair and maintenance work to the 4Runner while we are here and take full advantage of the Metro de Medellin. Since we are heading to even higher mountains in the near future we also decided to re-calibrate the brakes as well in addition to the regular maintenance. For starters, I had to buy a replacement taillight at Toyota which ended up costing $223. Like any city there are a lot of dealerships but the one dealership with all the connections for older original parts is:
Tuyomotor, Av. Los Industriales Cra. 48 14-230 Medellin, telephone. 381 30 00

For servicing of the vehicle I took the truck to Hercules Goodyear. This place was highly recommended by several people at different locations in town and as I later found out even some dealerships send their vehicles here for work. The price for a complete brake job which including flushing the lines, re-calibration, cleaning, pads and 2 hours of labor was $101. The oil change, new filter, fluids and transmission inspection was $44 for a V6 engine! Here, the owner speaks English and it is a reputable shop. The contact info is: Owner, Sebastian Arriola Dugand,  CRA 50 NRO 32 211 Medellin, telephone. 321 647 8425

For the vehicle damage the body shop we are using was recommended by Sebastian. We have yet to pick up the vehicle from the body shop but the price quoted to repair the damaged sides of the rear end was reasonable at $217. A bigger issue than price is actual quality of the repair, since Sebastian takes his vehicles there I felt confident. Nobody speaks English at the body shop, here is the contact info: Owner, Henry Lopez, HLC-Chrysler, Calle 35 No. 51-36 Medellin, telephone 313 704 1515

The body shop and Goodyear are both only a 4 minute walk to metro station exhibition and a 67 cent train ride anywhere in the city.  
   

A quality shop with skilled techs is exactly what my truck needed

Catarina is the receptionist at Hercules Goodyear and was really helpful.

Sebastian is the cool owner of Hercules Goodyear. He actually hopped in my car to help me drive over the the body shop so I would not get lost on the crazy roads.

Dropping of my Black Beauty at the body shop

 

My SUV was hurt in the container

This is Mike...
The tail end of my SUV got injured in travel as the tie straps that were supplied in Panama loosened and the BMW motorcycle slammed into and rubbed the rear of my SUV. The right rear tail light cracked and does not work either. Right now I need to fix the tail light before driving deeper into the country. I am still trying to figure out what to do with the metal damage and whether or not to repair it.

Addendum - Sept 7th, I got fully reimbursed for the repair work to my SUV from Boris. Considering we are in different countries, and all that had to be done, the reimbursement was quick and efficient. I am very happy with how the process went. (see later posts for info on the repairs) 

Driver's side rear damage from the handle of the motorcycle

The harbor employee inspecting the vehicle.

The Passenger side rear had most of the damage including the busted tail light.

Aye Ca-rumba, getting it on both sides. We are going to try and fill out a claim form from Colombia in Panama. We will keep you informed as to how the repair/claim goes.

Picking up a car from Port of Cartagena

This is Mike...
I finally got the 4runner today after 18 hours of work, outside in the blaring sun and sub par air conditioning. For other travelers looking to save time and do it the correct way follow these steps to avoid wasting tons of time and lots of money in taxi rides. You should also make this a 2 day process to save stress and aggravation.
1. Before anything obtain a few copies of the bill of lading from Colon, Panama prior to going to Colombia.
2. The day before you wish to pick up the vehicle go directly to DIAN (Direccion Seccional de Aduanas de Cartagena) in Manga coordinates N10 24.555 W75 32.022 You will fill out paper work there for customs notifying them of intent to import. There are two DIAN buildings the office is located in the second building (furthest from street) in the left door. Just ask the security to direct you.
3. They will give you the DIAN form and follow their request for copies etc. Once you leave with the DIAN documents go by taxi to edificio Banco de Bogota just outside the historic walled city on the big boulevard. Go to the 7th floor in the elevator and walk the steps to the 8th floor (piso 8) to Seguro del Estado S.A. Here you will buy life insurance so you can walk into the port and automobile insurance for your vehicle. The process will take 2 to 3 hours at the minimum. Life insurance costs about 60,000 Pesos for a 5 day policy and automobile insurance costs about 120,000 pesos for a 60 day policy (both are their minimum policies). To purchase the automobile insurance you will need the DIAN document. If you don't have the DIAN document they will not sell you insurance at all. Also be prepared as nobody speaks English in the Seguro del Estado office. They will also need the cubic centimeters of your engine as well, just like in El Salvador.
Then the following day 
4. Go back to the port at Manga (Sociedad Portuaria) and go to the Servicio de Clientes after obtaining a security badge. Check in and pay the fees before 10:30 in the morning if you wish to see the vehicle that day.
5. Pay the bank fees or any other fees your shipping company may have. There is an ATM at the port but it only works some of the time. Save the stress and bring lots of PESOS as dollars and credit cards are worthless here.
6. They will schedule a time for you to return to open the container. Come back then and be prepared to  wait a long time in the hot sun or poring rain (for us we got toasted in the sun).
7. Go back to DIAN for the final release of vehicle from customs (A.C.T. form)
8. Go back to Servicio de Cliente and get final port release papers.
9. Meet up with same guy who opened your container.
10. Go to the white building and get final port departure paper work.
11. Drive out of port to freedom.
If you split this into two days the time needed for day one will be 4 hours and the time needed for day two will be 7 hours. There is no water or food in the port so be prepared.
We were there with other native Spanish speaking people and none of them moved any faster than this. My co-shipping partner and I were told so many different things that we lost a lot of time. Essentially be prepared both physically and mentally for this as it is very time consuming.

The main build in Sociedad Portuaria where Servicio de Cliente and where you obtain the security for this building.

Main exit from the port as you walk toward the access gate.

You need to stop in this office to get access in to the physical port. You need to present bill of lading/release of vehicle form (depending on the stage of the access) and passport for clearance.

They will give you a hard hat and vest at some point.

You will be directed to go to a white building to get the final release papers

    

Container to Cartagena - all locked up and ready to go

This is Mike...
Well, I just got back from loading the 4Runner in the container at the harbor. All in all everything went smoothly and super quick. For me though, accuracy is more important than speed because we don't want to have any issues in Colombia. Thankfully Boris Jaramillo  boris_jaramillo@hotmail.com was awesome at getting us going so fast and accurately. When the DIJ (Dirección de Investigación Judicial) in Colon gets their computers up and running he will be able to do same day loading. The DIJ office in Colon only works sporadically so it is still best to get the DIJ certificate from the Panama City office.
   Using an agent for shipping is recommended for first timers like us and I can see why. Simply finding the offices alone would take so much time also navigating through the mountains of paperwork would be too challenging. As it stands right now the vehicle will arrive in Cartagena on Monday afternoon and available for pick up on Tuesday morning. Since the US dollar is strong right now the shipping will actually come in cheaper than we thought. Yeah!

Driving through a pretty rough part of Colon to get to the port

Colon is a very important hub for Panama's economy. It is surprising that it has been neglected so much and left to decay in such a way.

Driving here was like high stakes bumper cars. Notice how the vehicles are all over the place. Intersections were a mess in every way and in order to get anywhere you just had to push forward.

Parking in front of the container felt great and finally feels like we are moving forward.

This is Ronald Van Zeist, whom we are splitting the container with to save money. He is from Holland and has been on the road for 6 months as well.

Now this is one heck of a creative way to protect the scalp from getting sunburned in the hot tropical sun. Looks can be deceiving though as this gentleman, with the 15 gallon trash bag on his head, owns one of the larger shipping operations in Panama. He also happens to be Boris' father and is showing Boris the family business from the ground up. He was a great guy and we laughed so much that our sides hurt. I was laughing at his fashionable sun protection and he was laughing at my dumb laugh. We were perfect for each other. 

Some are living in homes that should be condemned but have little choice when money is scarce

Even an ugly port town can have a beautiful sunrise. Our view from the Radisson Hotel.

   

Colon, Panama

This is Elise. We started out at the Pacific Ocean this morning and now we on the Atlantic in Colon getting ready to ship the car tomorrow.  Colon is as ugly, dirty and poor as everyone said it is and quite a contrast from the area of Panama City we were in this afternoon.  The Radisson is nice though.  I feel safe here at the hotel and the girls and I will stay here while Mike puts the 4Runner in a shipping container tomorrow.  The whole process seems to be going much quicker and easier than I thought. We spent most of the day in Panama City getting paperwork for the car to be shipped.  We ate at a Ruby Tuesday in a beautiful, gigantic mall.  Panama City looks just like the U.S.
   We are flying to Cartagena from Panama City on Friday.  The car should be there by Monday.  We don't need a car in Cartagena anyway.  Mostly we are going to walk around the historical district.
We enjoyed meeting other travelers today while were all getting our vehicles inspected.  Some of the people have been all over South America and they say it is beautiful and much better than Central America.  There was a French couple that had traveled up and down the continents several times.  There is a Dutch man traveling on a motorcycle through the US, CA, and now we are sharing a container with him to South America.  It's amazing how much some people have traveled.

San Blas Ferry

This is Elise.  We were all packed up and ready to go to Colon to catch the ferry today until we got the email saying the ferry was canceled. Quick geography lesson: Central American(Panama) is connected to South America by land but there is no road that goes through the Darien Gap. (a swampy, no man's land filled with drug runners and FARC guerrillas) The only way for us for get our car to South America is by boat.  Apparently Colombia doesn't want to give the ferry permission to land there.  We had been assured by the captain that the ferry was definitely running August 4. Now it is not.  This ferry is like an urban myth, impossible to pin down.  On again, off again, for years.  We have been scrambling all day to find ways to ship the 4Runner, cancel hotel reservations, and find out when we have to leave here.  There are some silver linings to our rainy day.  The ferry has already refunded our $900 deposit, we hadn't paid for our hotel in Colon yet, airline tickets to Cartagena seem to be a constant price so we won't get dinged for buying last minute, and we don't have anyplace we HAVE to be.  I was really ready to leave this area as we have spent almost a month here and I don't find it the most interesting place we have seen.  I don't have anything bad to say about Panama, I just don't feel a connection here.  It doesn't "sing to my soul".
Hopefully, we will be able to ship the car this week.  We just have a lot of new logistics to work through.  Also, hopefully, the hotel in Cartagena will be cool about our no cancellation, no modification, hotel rate and let us change the dates instead of trying to charge us the full 4 nights even though we won't be able to be there.