Bring Car to Cuba via ferry

#17..... So is the regular, leaded, and the Especial, unleaded, and higher octane ?

Ha, ha, ha..... ship the car to Cuba in a container...... swap out the brand new motor and tranny and put in a cuban junk yard engine for the shipment back. Voila, new car parts in Cuba.
Could you ever have fun gaming that system!!!

It is not totally inconceivable to ship in a reasonably new car, swap VIN numbers, and then later export some old junker if you choose brands and models. My late ex- girlfriend had a mid 80's VW beetle that was titled as a '59. I was so excited when she told me she got a 1959 VW beetle in exchange for her '52 Ford convertible POS (that some poor Canadian paid for). But when I saw it, it was clearly not a '59 beetle even though that is what the registration said. I am sure some previous owner managed to slip that mid 80's VW into the country and change registrations for an old '59 that probably had been destroyed. Or, maybe someone shipped that '59 back out never realizing that someday it would be worth much more than a later one.

Not something i would plan on working out while in Cuba with my imported car. This would all have to be arranged before a car leaves your country.

re 19 - my point is that the 8 month permission to import a vehicle could only apply to a Canadian, as other tourists would have to leave after 2 months.

re 20 - several sources say that Cuba does not use leaded petrol. Regular is unleaded, I am sure - that works fine in modern cars. There was a poorer grade, too - I forget what that was called. I only recall that once in Manzanillo, there was no especial nor regular, so I had to use the lower grade to get to Las Tunas.

Met a guy at Marina Hemmingway in 2000 who owned a 46 ft trawler converted for living in and he regularly
imported a Honda Goldwing which he was able to unload from the boat...I believe that was before the Canadians
could stay 6 months. I was in Isla de la Juventud in 2000 when I had to renew my visa after 1 month.....while I was in the office, they pulled out a document and told me the rules had been changed and I could stay a total of 6 months, 3 plus 3. I always thought it had to do with Fidel attending Pierre Trudeau's funeral in Canada, and all the things Rosa listed.

The 3 + 3 for Canadians goes back to at least 1997, when I first went.

It may have had something to do with Trudeau but, like many grand government plans, it actually had to do with attracting Canadian snowbirds. They even had a clinic in Tarara that accepted Quebec health insurance. They tried to negotiate with OHIP, but nothing ever came of it.

The 3 + 3 stayed.

Because of some interesting circumstances surrounding my first visit to immigration in Havana in 2000 to
renew my visa, I remember well the where and the when of the event. I did get it renewed for one month on or around Dec 5th 2000 and I was there from Canada with a Canadian passport. That winter I made my first trip to Isla de la Juventud and decided to spend the next winter there, so, in December, 2001, I went to immigration in Nueva Gerona to renew and was told there and then that the 3 plus 3 was in effect, for Canadians only.
As for implementing this rule to attract Canadian snowbirds, good idea but I don't think it worked too good. Canadian snowbirds want their cars, the gated mobile home or condo parks plus golf courses. In Cuba its all-inclusives and short stays of usually less than a month. Why doesn't Cuba extend the 3 plus 3 to europeans.
Italy and Spain I think are in the top 5 of numbers of tourists to Cuba.

And what about Brits ?
I don't think that Europeans have the equivalent to the snowbird idea - perhaps because the winters aren't as bad.

Over 500,000 Quebecers spend their winters in Florida. A sizeable population..

#26... It's possible i have my year wrong but i doubt it. I was spending 4-5 weeks each trip in the late 90's and never got an extension to my visa.

I do recall leaving Cuba, once, and they said I overstated. I mentioned i was Canadian and all was well.

Your money's safe in Florida and you only have to worry about market fluctuations.