What are the best methods of shipping engine parts from Brazil and Argentina? Please mention relative costs, shipping durations, and delivery reliability.
Best: find someone in diplomatic service, military etc. stationed there. They can use their APO to send it via USPS.
Next: find someone who works for an airline there, they can generally ship freight for lower cost or just the tax.
Panic,
I appreciate those answers, as they are helpful. Also, how about shipping by standard channels by the average citizen without inside connections?
Winter, I ship a lot of goods to Brazil to one of the big engine builders down there. We have tried every method of shipping there is to find the best solution for this. USPS has proven by far to be very reliable and economical, yet its still expensive. I recently shipped a sheetmetal intake and header there that weighted 45 lbs. combined, and the cost to send it there was $190 USD. A cylinder head will cost close to $350 USD. You can expect an additional week and a half to two weeks delay for customs and some percentage of the total value for duties to have to pay.
CNC-Dude,
How about shipping goods from Brazil to the USA?
Shipping costs and customs delays are the same coming and going. Brazil has steep duty taxes for goods entering into their country. The US is relatively cheap on duties for goods entering the borders, and I think it only is applied to goods that are "New", reconditioned or used items have a lesser duty, in some cases none. Don't qoute me on that, im sure there are exceptions. The best thing to do is to log in to the US Customs website and contact your states local office to ask more direct questions, and make sure there isn't something on a "banned list" that you are considering to buy or bring in to the country.
To clarify the question:
When shipping engine parts from Brazil and Argentina to the USA, what are the better methods available to the average citizen with no inside connections? Please mention relative costs, shipping durations, and delivery reliability.
Correios (Brazil postal service)? DHL? UPS? Others?
USPS(Postal Service), or their equivalent, is what I have found to be the best so far.