Enter Morocco with a pick-up
 

A friend of mine is planning to go to Morocco in a Peugeot 504 pick-up. It's his second effort. Last year he was send back by the customs of Ceuta. They told him it is not allowed to enter Morocco with an vehicule wich they called a leightweight truck. The only way was to pay a bail of 5000 euro. This would have been rehanded in Dakhla, because he was planning to travel to Mauritania. This would have costed him a lot of money, because he had to change foreign currency into dirham, and afterwards - assume the customs in Dakhla would have had such a large ammount - changing dirham into his currency. Apparantly a carnet de passage seems to be no guaranty for solving the custom-problems. Who knows?

Ceuta is always a problem border to bring in pick-ups because officially they do not process "commercial vehicles". There have also been problems with vans and minibuses which have no windows, therefore they are not "camping cars".
I know a lot of people who have been turned away in Ceuta and have had no problems whatsoever in Tanger. As the price for the ferry is very similar I would suggest it as a better route.
In general if he were to fix some kind of a hard top onto the 504 he should get through. It doesn`t have to be too fancy, something out of plywood with some perspex windows should do the trick. If he fixes up the interior like a small "camper" wirth a bed etc then it should be easier, in Tanger at least.
In December I met Dutch people in Mauritania who passed the border with three Magirus dump trucks with only a canvas cover on top. All three were registered as "camper vans" in the Netherlands. They were refused in Ceuta and then went to Tanger where two of them got in. The third guy was refused because he had a crane on his dump truck and he could not give a satisfactory explanation what the crane`s function was on a "camper truck". He was let in after he produced his carnet.
I've paid a deposit at the border before and had no problems getting the money in Dakhla in the bank, the whole process is quite easy and costs including money change commission about 6-8%.
If you want more information on this or how to fix your car up you can e-mail me.

We will be taking two 101s into Morocco next month and had planned to go via Cueta. One is a full camper conversion of an ambi so presumably would not be a problem but the other is a soft top GS although fairly well converted internally. Do you think we may have problems?

Hi

I will be using the ceuta border to enter in morocco this friday with a land rover 110 pick up covered with a canvas top. Will this be a problem?? should we head tanger??

thanks

renato

Like I said there is hardly a difference in the price so I would play it safe with the 101 and go to Tanger. The 110 is a gamble, either they let you through or they don´t. If they don´t then you have to go back to Algeciras and then to Tanger so you lose something like 23,000 pesetas (don´t know Euro prices). If they let you through then fair enough, but I personally wouldn´t risk it. Let me know how you get on.

If they can see you live in your car or whatever, i think they're is no problem.
Whe had a truck arranged with a bed etc. . When you buy your ticket for the boat, say you are a tourist.