Looking for a vehicle for a family moving to Haiti

Some good friends of ours are moving to Haiti and they need a vehicle. They need something durable, that can carry their family of 5 and that runs on diesel, preferably an SUV or small/mid pickup so they can also haul things around when needed. They'd love a Hilux or land rover or something like that, but would be happy with anything except a Mercedes (it would likely make them a target). I know it's a long shot but I thought I'd post something here to see if anything turned up.

 

the diesel taco was sadly never made

 

Are there vehicles for sale in Haiti? Do they have connections there they could enlist in searching? Thinking it would avoid the cost of shipping it over, import duties..

 

Plenty of diesel Toyota trucks and all sorts of other small diesel everywhere else in the world.

 

Diesels in TX:

https://austin.craigslist.org/cto/d/austin-4x-psd-e350-hightop-campervan/7484626107.html

https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/d/houston-1993-toyota-land-cruiser/7476709030.html

 

They've weighed all of the pros and cons of buying here & shipping vs buying in Haiti, and they are looking in Haiti, and on Craigslist, Facebook etc. I just thought I'd post here in case someone here know of something. Helping them explore all possible options.

 

Years ago I used to work in a music store in the Pro Audio department. We used to get guys from Haiti, Belize, and some country in Africa (a bad one) that would buy 30-50 grand worth of audio equipment (pro level concert gear) and take it back to their country. This was heavy gear (amplifiers, speakers, racks, cabling, processing gear, etc..) and when I would question them about the cost of shipping those so far away, they would always say that it's far, far cheaper to come to the U.S., buy the items here, and then ship and pay customs fees than to buy gear in their home countries.

 

When we sold our `03 Camry, it was bought by an African guy who was going to ship it back to Africa and resell it there.

 

My coworker ships vehicles to his house in Nigeria. He says its definitely cheaper there to repair, but buying new parts sometimes is harder. Then again, he ships Mercedes and BMW back home, so maybe he's choosing the wrong brands. He has a 4runner that Ive been helping to get driveable, that I think is going next. Im sure he will be able to find plenty of parts for it there. He also says they just have bad roads, but no safety inspections or smog.

 

I work in an industrial area of San Francisco, and the avenue in front of my office is all roadside car shipping operations to Guatemala. They stack trucks on trucks on trucks, towing another 2 vehicles behind it. When the commercial diesel vehicles can no longer be operated in CA due to emissions laws, a lot of them go straight to Central America.