Import or buy local: the numbers almost nobody compares
The auction price is not the price of the car. What goes into the sum, and when buying here wins.
The usual comparison goes "it is Q 90,000 in the US and Q 140,000 here". That subtraction is neither the profit nor the saving: it is the visible part of a longer calculation.
What gets added to the auction price
- Auction fees and paperwork: the final figure you pay is not the one on the screen.
- Inland transport in the US: from the yard to the port.
- Ocean freight: depends on the port and the size of the vehicle.
- Customs: duty, tax and the broker's fee. The exact percentage depends on the tariff classification of the unit, which is why it is calculated case by case and not with a blanket rule.
- Ground transport in Guatemala and plates.
- Repairs, if the car arrives damaged.
Add that up and the "Q 90,000" stops looking like the number you started with. It is not a trick: nobody publishes the whole sum.
When importing wins
When the auction price sits clearly below the local market and the damage is cosmetic. That is when the margin pays for the process.
Also when you want something that is not here: a specific trim, a manual gearbox, equipment that never reached the country.
When buying local wins
- When you need the car this week. Importing takes weeks, not days.
- When the damage is structural. The repair eats the saving and leaves a history.
- When the unit is rare. Hard-to-find parts turn a good price into a three-month problem.
- When the local price is already sane. That happens more often than the groups admit.
The question that settles it
Not "how much do I save", but "what does the car cost me landed, running, with paperwork, and how long do I wait".
That number gets compared against what is available here today. Everything else is conversation.
Every unit in the catalogue shows the final price. If the number does not work for you, it is not hidden in the fine print: it is not there.