Expert: Juan Carlos Valencia - 10/28/2008

Question
Hi there,

Is there any possible way to carry my car from Panama into Colombia?

We will be driving a car from San Diego to Santiago and the Darien Gap seems to be blocking our road.....

Thanks a bunch for helping me out!

Greetings from Holland,

Olaf Harleman

Answer
Dear Olaf,

this is the most frequent question posed here, so browse past answers for full details.

Basically:

the Darien gap is a wonderful rainforest. There's no road to cross it and lots of people (myself included) hope that the area will be kept as it is in all its natural beauty. The colombian government and greedy timber companies are pushing to build a road but it will be too expensive and an ecological disaster.

So the options could be:

1-Selling the car in Panama, flying to Colombia and buying a new one there.

2-Making arrangements to transport your car from Panama city (or Colon)to Cartagena (or Tolu or Turbo). I dont have information about shipping services in Panama, nor about prices but I think there is no current regular service. Dont try to do it through the pacific (the pacific coast in Colombia is not very safe these days)

I hope that this helps

Regards

JC