European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 4, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday March 4, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9 putting the brakes on car shipping fees by Bob Hoyer staff writer shipping a car Home by commercial Carrier can put an unexpected Dent in savings. Telephone food and hotel Bills often Are run up by service members tracking Down cars at . Ports of entry. Late pickup of cars tacks on storage charges. Such expenses can come As a Jolt to people who already have paid $650 to $850 to ship their cars commercially. Only one charge is required at the port of entry a terminal or wharfage fee that varies from $15 to $91, depending on the port. Optional charges include fees for the Transfer of documents which May Cost $30 to $35, and customs Clear Ance which might Cost $50. Service members can avoid the last two charges if they have a valid stateside address where their documents May be sent from Europe and if they allow enough time in their schedule to Clear customs at the port. Shipping officials say most extra expenses such As hotel Bills and food can be avoided by preventive action on the part of car owners. They urge owners to make sure their paper work is in order and to understand All provisions of shipping contracts. For years i be been hearing the complaints of return ing service members said Frank x. Teague . Cus Toms inspector in Wilmington Del. They run up hotel and food Bills while waiting to pick up their cars. They Are billed $40 or $50 by com Mercial agents to Clear customs but . Customs does not charge to Clear  Teague recommends that car owners consign their cars to themselves have documents forwarded to them selves in a timely manner and avoid involvement with customs brokerage firms. A problem of Many service members is the late arrival of the Bill of lading the document needed to gain release of a car. An owner must have an original copy of the Bill of lading which is mailed Only after the car is aboard ship. . Ports of entry charge varying fees to release cars being shipped from overseas. They also provide free storage for different lengths of time. Port wharfage number of fees free Days new York Newark $30 5 Baltimore $31.75 5 Portsmouth Norfolk a. $47.65 10 Charleston . $22 7 Wilmington . $15 10 Wilmington Del. $50 7 Jacksonville Fla. $53.05 7 Houston $68.75 los Angeles $66.50 to $91 7 san Francisco $66.50 to $83 7 Portland Ore. $55 to $75 30 Vancouver . $62 7 transport officials advise checking with the shipping line or port agent to make sure the car is in port before making the trip to get the car. And when the trip is made it is important to get to port Early enough to Complete the pickup in one Day. Free storage time for most ports is seven Days or less. When shipping a car commercially from Germany the owner s first step is to select a shipping firm. Mili tary transportation offices usually keep a list of Avail Able shippers but they do not make recommendations. Trans car on contract with the army and air Force Exchange service at 22 Sites and . Harms in Bre men ship the largest volume of cars from Germany. Officials of both firms advise customers to become familiar with All conditions of the shipping contract. Ernst Grossmann trans car president says the Maxi mum charge for the Transfer of documents should be stated on the contract. Most of his customers use agents to ease the Transfer of documents he said. This costs $30 to $35, but it assures that the Bill of lading will be sent to the agent and thus arrive in a timely manner and it gives the customer a Point of Contact. Many agents also offer full service to include customs clearance. We re not recommending this. This May Cost an additional $50." Herb Bohling a Darmstadt sales representative for Brauns & co., a Bremerhaven shipper says owners Are compelled to use agents if they do not pay for shipping in Advance. About 50 percent of his customers prepay. Frankly i Don t like using an agent for doing very Little work Bohling said. If an individual has a valid address in the ., i Don t think an agent is  Helga Pietsch chief of the Auto Export division at harms said owners should be sure to get a copy of the unloading report because it will be needed if the car is damaged. A variety of Marine insurance policies is available from shipping firms. The most popular insurance at Brauns is a $100 deductible policy which costs $150 for a $10,000 car. Dod owners of cars conforming to . Standards need to Complete a customs form 3299, a department of transportation form hs7 and an environmental Protection Agency form 3520. All required import forms Are available at ports of entry. Importers of nonconforming cars must Complete the same three forms plus customs form 7501. They also must Bond the car pending its conversion to . Stan Dards and must present a Bill of Sale. Economy minded owners can save Money by picking up and Clearing cars themselves but in All instances they must pay port of entry or wharfage fees which vary from port to port. Owners who wish to save time and sidestep bureaucratic red tape can do so for a fee. It s possible to have conforming cars or those with . Specifications delivered to air terminals for pickup. The Tab for picking up a car at Newark Clearing it through customs and delivering it to new York Juk air port is $148, plus the new York port entry fee of $30. Similar service is available at other major air terminals. % missing document can Drain your finances by Bob Hoyer staff writer an army couple transferring to the states from Ger Many ran up More than $1,000 in expenses because they did not have a Bill of lading to pick up their car from the Newark . When we shipped the car Home we never were told we would need a Bill of lading to pick it up Nedra Garrett said from her Home in Ocean . When Garrett and her husband sgt. Conyers Gar rett lived in Stuttgart they contracted with a Karlsruhe firm to ship their Toyota to Newark. The garretts say they incurred extra costs of $1,000 in Long distance Telephone Calls hotel Bills and round trip plane tickets while waiting for port authorities to release their car. Juergen Hahn who Heads the Karlsruhe firm bearing his name has rejected the garretts claim for reimbursement of the extra expenses. Hahn said the Bill of lading was delayed in the mail. He also questions the necessity of the garretts trip to Georgia but Nedra Garrett said it got so expensive staying in the hotel that we bought plane tickets to our Home in  Connie Baroff who handled the garretts contract for Hahn said she mailed on consecutive Days copies of the original Bill of lading to the sergeant s new duty station in fort Monmouth . I m sure i told the garretts they would need an original Bill of lading to pick up their car she said. We can t help the delay in the  Baroff said she received a Call on a thursday from the garretts when they were unable to pick up their car because they did not have the Bill of lading. I got in touch with Wallenius lines the company shipping the Carbut their agent in Bremerhaven would not Issue a telex release of the car until he had a copy of the original Bill of lading on his desk Baroff said. I mailed the third and last original copy of the Bill of lading three originals Are issued at the time the car is shipped to Bremerhaven but the company did not receive it until monday or tuesday and Only at that time was the car  problems with the Bill of lading Are not uncommon. An original copy of the Bill of lading is needed to pick up a car. But this cannot be mailed to the car owner until the vehicle is aboard ship. If there is a postal delay the ship May arrive in port ahead of the mail. Some shipping firms refuse to mail a Bill of lading to an owner s new military address. Mail sent to a member s new duty station very often does t get there until it s too late said Ernst Gross Mann president of trans car in Kelterbach Germany. Hahn said the garretts complaint was his first from an american customer in More than two years of Busi Ness. We shipped 280 cars for americans last year with out a major problem Hahn said. Baby Sitters told of social Security tax liability by Chris Estes staff writer Darmstadt Germany Legal officials say registered Home child care provid ers should Check with their local tax assist Ance officer if they have not been paying 11.8 percent social Security taxes. Usa eur and Safe officials said the tax applies to baby Sitters who provide regular child care services and Are registered with the military Community. Jerry Shiles attorney adviser in the 21st support come Legal office said Home child care providers must pay social Security taxes because they Are a business. John Simmons chief of the Legal assist Ance division in the Usa eur Legal of fice said that in 1983 questions came up about paying taxes that have led to the current situation. The questions started coming up from the people who Honcho the child care pro Gram about three years ago he said. An army Community services official said the army regulation spurring the registration of child care providers took effect in late 1983. While foreign earned income up to $80,000 is excluded from taxation if the earner has lived overseas for a year social Security taxes Are not waived Shiles said. Simmons said the social Security rate is High because child care providers Are self employed and must pay social Security As both employer and employee. He said employees generally pay More than 4 percent and employers pay More than 7 percent. One child care provider in Germany who requested anonymity said the social Secu Rity tax could put her out of business. She has been providing Home child care since june but found out about the social Security taxes Only at the end of february in classes that had been made mandatory for baby Sitters. I think a lot of people Are either going to quit or be dishonest she said. It takes a lot of bookkeeping an awful lot of Book keeping. In my Case i m going to have to Start keeping receipts from everything every time i go to the grocery  she said she uses at least a third of what she makes to buy educational supplies toys and needed care items for the children she cares for. That does t include food for the children to eat. I resent it because my interest is in the kids she said. I m not Cut out to be a bookkeeper. I can t keep my own household books straight. This was advertised As a tax free Job and that s a lot of the reason a lot of us went into  Simmons said Home child care providers should go to their local tax assistance offi cer for help. He said if the tax assistance officer cannot help the provider should go to the local Legal office. Avoiding the taxes May Cost More in the Long run Shiles said. The internal Revenue service can charge interest on unpaid taxes including social Security payments. He said interest rates charged on unpaid taxes have fluctuated Between 9 percent and 15 percent in the past few years and the irs also can charge a late payment penalty of up to 25 percent. Criminal charges or negligence penalties also can be assessed if the irs decides an earner did not pay taxes wilfully or out of negligence he said. Shiles said child care providers gain from paying social Security taxes. They re being taxed but they Are also getting credits for social Security retire ment he said