Best method to drive Egypt to South Africa?
 

Hi All,

Basically I'm wondering what the best method is to get a car to drive from Egypt to South Africa. We've been looking at many options, the easiest of which is to buy a car in the UK, drive it to Palermo, Ferry to Tunis, Drive across Libya to Egypt then down though Sudan etc. The chances of returning the car to the UK are very small, so we would look to either:
1. Sell it to someone in SA and pay the import tax ourselves on their behalf (did this in Mongolia previously) - meaning I've fulfilled the Carnet requirements and will get my deposit returned.
2. Have the car 'stolen' - I'm sure leaving the keys in the door overnight in Cape Town it wouldn't last too long and report to police...again Carnet fulfilled.
3. Sell to a someone who is happy to take on the carnet and extend it with RAC if necessary, then it becomes their problem upon expiry.
4. Freighting the car back to the UK from Cape Town or Johannesburg...the only problem with that is I'm an Aussie and don't intend to go back to the UK after the trip.

Now the problems here are:
1. Crossing into Libya and from Libya to Egypt - although someone just broke the record driving from London to Cape Town the same way it must be doable.
2. The hassle of the Carnet.

I looked at possibly buying a car in South Africa and driving up to Egypt instead, but it looks like it might even be more difficult to get into Egypt and looks like I would 'really' have to return the vehicle to South Africa if I did that.

It's a 4+ month trip, so renting is out.

We're talking 3-4 cheap vehicles (most likely early 2000 Subaru Outbacks or Foresters likely) - drove to Mongolia from London in a Smart Car (across Kazakhstan among other places), so like a challenge!!!

Anyhow, any suggestions or alternatives I haven't thought of would be appreciated, or if I'm on the money with the easiest way to go let me know!!

Cheers
Will

Importing to SA
 

Hi Will

I think you can already skip point 1 from your list. Importing cars to SA is not easy. Cars are not allowed to be older than 5 years and have to be right hand driver (ok for UK car). And from what I learned it's not an easy task to do if you are not a car dealer...

Greets

Claudio

Hi Claudio,

Do you have a URL to the information about the 5 year limitation? I'm aware of the RHD limitation, but my understanding that the taxes and duties for car importation were:

* Customs duty = 36% (motor cars more than 20 years old are subject to 20% customs duty)
* Ad valorem customs duty (based on a sliding scale depending on the value of the vehicle, with a minimum of 0.75% and a maximum of 20%)
* Value-added tax (VAT) = 14%

This would suggest that even cars older than 20 years can be imported? The forms are always going to be a bit tricky, but we're only looking at buying a 1500-2000 pound vehicles, so even if we had to fork out 70% of that again, and then got our Carnet deposit back it would be well worth it.

Cheers
Will

Hi Will

reading through following articles it is clear to me that you can forget importing a used car to SA:

Used motor vehicles

...:: International Trade Administration Commission Of South Africa ::...

Greets

Claudio

Wow thanks Claudio. Okay, so that one is definitely out. I have to say it's bizarre that even with what is essentially a 70% tariff they don't allow importation of cars...oh well.

Looks like the best way to get rid of it is to destroy it officially:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...yType=document

Bit of mucking around but I'm sure it can't take more than a week or so!!

I don't think it's bizarre. The point is that they have a huge car industry in South Africa which wants to be protected. Secondly they don't want to see all the rubbish from Europe and other countries flooding their roads like in other African countries.
It's the same in Switzerland, even tough we don't have a car industry.
And travelers like you and me are just a very small number, so who wants to change something cause of that?

Greets

Claudio

its possable to enter zim on a TIP....you might find that intreasting

I've moved this thread to sub-Sahara on the Hubb because much of the discussion was turning out to be about SA and imports. Do feel free to fire up the topic on the Saharan Forum for issues relating to Libya and Egypt....

Hi Willk

When are you thinking of traveling??
I am doing a trip from South Africa around April/May 2014 traveling up towards Egypt/Algiers/Morocco with a Europe crossing in mind.

In the planning stages at the moment and thinking about which vehicle to use.
I have a 2006 Nissan Hardbody 2.4 and a 1996 Landrover Defender. Right now it seems like the Landrover is the better option although I do plan to take some music equipment along as well(earning while on the road).

Please feel free to give me a shout if you feel like its worth discussing something regards a vehicle swap...could work in both our favours.
Obviously I will do the groundwork here to make sure it's all ligit etc.

Happy Travels.

Do you want to drive my Defender back to South Africa?
 

Hey Wiilk.

I wouldn't normally suggest this, but with the Smart Car on your CV, you're the perfect candidate.:funmeteryes:

I have a South African Registered 1996 300Tdi Defender, fully kitted out with everything you need, including clothing, if you're about 6ft and size 36 waist!

The car has a name: NAIJA, because I bought it in Nigeria from the South African Embassy being bullet proof, with 107,000 km on the clock!

It's a very long story and I'm currently writing a book about it, the cover and my 'missions' are attached, but in a nutshell:

2008/9: I rode my '83 Tenere from Cape Town to Lagos.
2010: I purchased Naija and drove it and the Tenere back to Cape Town.
2010/11: I drove to Morocco, rolling Naija in Benin.
2011/12: I drove around West Africa for 9 months then made it to France.
2013: I drove to Ukraine.

It's currently in Bucharest, ROMANIA in an underground car park with about 180,000 km on the clock.

There's no Carnet, so you would have to pay a massive deposit in Egypt, but you'd get it back upon exit.

You mention 3 - 4 vehicles, how many of you are confirmed for this 4+ month adventure?

If it helps, I did get 12 people into Naija for a night out on the town in Bucharest a few months ago, and one of them was the tallest bloke I've ever laid my eyes on - 6'11"

A possible route would be through Bulgaria, Turkey, then ferry to Haifa from Iskenderun. Another would be through Serbia, the Balkans, ferry to Italy then ferry to Tunisia/Libya...

Let me know if you're keen, I might want to join you for part of the way...

Dave