White Hat Import DR calculates, within your website, how much it costs to import a vehicle to the Dominican Republic. The visitor selects make, model, year and country —or pastes the chassis number— and sees the full breakdown in pesos: tax, ITBIS, first license plate and CO2 tax.
It was born from a problem that repeats throughout the industry. The first question of any dealership client is How much does it cost me to bring this car?, and the honest answer —it depends on the value assigned by Customs— it serves no one. The seller ended up doing calculations by hand, in a spreadsheet, client by client.
Where do the numbers come from
From the official reference values table of the General Directorate of Customs, imported into a custom table within WordPress: 17,376 vehicles from 35 brands, seven body types and twenty countries of origin. It is not our estimate nor an approximate percentage: it is the same value that Customs uses for its calculation.
If the visitor prefers not to search for their vehicle in the dropdowns, they can paste the VIN. The plugin parses it against the public NHTSA API —the United States road safety agency— and retrieves make, model, year and body type. It also brings the open recalls for that model, information that the buyer is interested in and that they almost never receive.
The formula is calculated on the server
It seems like a technical detail and it is the most important decision of the plugin. If the calculation were done in the browser, anyone could open the developer tools, change the result and show it to someone else as if it were official. Here the browser only sends what the visitor chose; the percentages and the total live on the server, where no one outside touches them.
The percentages are also not hard‑coded in the code: they are configured from the panel, just like the dollar rate. When a rate changes —and they do— it is updated in a settings screen, without calling the programmer.
The assistant that doesn't make up numbers
The plugin optionally includes a chat that answers questions about importation. The interesting part is how artificial intelligence is used there: the model only drafts the explanation. The numbers that appear in that explanation are always the ones returned by the server's calculator, never the ones the model comes up with. That's the difference between a useful assistant and one that sounds convincing while being wrong.
It works with providers that have a free tier, so it adds no cost per query. And if no key is configured, the chat continues responding with the already calculated data instead of going silent.
What it doesn’t do
It is not a procedure: it does not submit anything to Customs nor reserve anything. It is an informed estimate, very close to the real one, but the final settlement is issued by Customs with the file in hand. It also does not cover motorcycles or heavy vehicles: the table it uses is for cars, pickups, jeeps, vans, minibuses, minivans and station wagons.
And when the emission data for a specific model is missing, the CO2 tax is estimated at most and it is shown on screen. We prefer the figure to scare more rather than less: an estimate that falls short is worse than a prudent one.
How it is delivered and what it includes
Everything we publish here originated from a real commission, and this is how it continues to be delivered: installed, documented, and with the code in the name of the payer. Maintenance —updates with prior backup, security review, and a margin of hours for small changes— is contracted separately.
You can see the rest of the pieces at our catalog of themes and plugins, or tell us what your site needs: the initial diagnosis is free and from there it turns out whether something custom is worthwhile or adapting what already exists.
Preguntas frecuentes
Are the prices it gives final?
It is an estimate calculated with
What about vehicles that come from the United States?
The DR-CAFTA free trade agreement exempts customs duties on vehicles manufactured in the United States. The plugin detects it by the VIN —those that start with 1, 3, 4, 5 or 7— and sets that line to zero, explaining why.
Do you need to pay for artificial intelligence?
No. The chat works with providers that have a free tier, and without any configured key it responds the same using the data the server has already calculated.
Can it be used for another country?
The values table and taxes are Dominican. Adapting it to another country means changing the table and the formula, Write to us and we’ll see it.
In how many languages is it available?
In nine languages: Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Hindi, Chinese, and Japanese. Everything the visitor sees is translated, including the names of each tax.
