Where in the world can a tourist register a Toyota HZJ76?
 

Hi folks

I've been overlanding with a 20 year old Prado for four years. Maintenance of the front end is too costly and time consuming and I've decided that I want a Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ76 for the toughness, the four doors and the rigid front axle.

I'm a citizen of Switzerland, but I don't have a residence anywhere. I'm in Ethiopia, going next to Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Oman and Iran.

In which country could a tourist, that is a non-resident, register a HZJ76? Import duties and VAT should be low or reasonable. License document and license plates should be non-expiring and replaceable without personally traveling to the respective country. Preferably I'd buy the car in the same country but I could RoRo it from one of those European dealers that usually sell to NGOs.

It's tricky because the HZJ76 is unavailable in all the 1st world countries and the remaining developing world countries tend to have high import duty and more difficult bureaucracy. I don't want the V8 76 series because it's expensive and I don't wanna own two cylinder heads :).

I consider left hand drive or right hand drive. I'm planning another long South American tour but I'm also trying to get a residence permit for Namibia.

In Namibia, they stopped importing the HZJ76 in 2014 in favor of the VDJ76. I could buy a used one there but in Namibia you officially need a residence permit to register a car. I don't have knowledge about south Africa but I read that registering cars is a major hassle.

I get the impression that it could be done in Australia but the HZJ76 there would be 10 years or older but I would prefer a new one. EDIT: I just remembered that Australia never had the HZJ76.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks
Rob

Did you inform yourself about paraguay?

I know that they import a lot used cars from chile, brazil and other south american states.
But i don´t know how it works if you are not a resident.

Not sure of the technicalities, but they are very common here in Australia.

And I know tourists buy and sell cars all the time.

RHD is not ideal if you are going to the Americas. Two countries in central America refuse them entry and there are occasional simmerings about Chile refusing entry under certain conditions.

I don't know about Switzerland because it's not in th EU, but I know these can be made EU compliant (I think it just involves fitting a removable DPF). There is a company in holland importing them

These are listed as for sale outside EU only, but it might be worth a chat to see if they can get them compliant. Soon it won't be possible because all new cars will be required to have traction control :thumbdown:
https://www.pktrucks.com/stock/view/...x-4x4-SUV-new/

I'm about 90 percent sure that the 76s in Australia are all V8.

Carsales.mobi, presumably a major car sales site, does not list the HZJ76 as a model choice.

Other than that, I agree that Australia is near paradise if a RHD car is desired.

A few answers and thoughts:
The export cars cost 33'000 USD but the EU cars I've seen are 61'000. I'll probably never drive it in the EU.

One traveler mentioned to me having seen overlander cars with Nicaraguan license plates driving in the USA.

The Namibian pre 2014 spec for the HZJ76 is sweet. Dual diff lockers, ABS, alarm all stock.

I have an offer for a new LHD from Djibouti, but I'm investigating the registration isuue.

It's hard for me to decide between RHD and LHD because I need both and because I can't plan my life too far in advance.

I believe there are HZJ7 offered in Switzerland but the price is oppressive. Switzerland is basically 4x4 hell because parts and accessories are either unavailable (must be imported) or twice as expensive as elsewhere.

It's shocking that Chile might refuse RHD, I didn't know it yet. I've crossed into Chile many times before so it's my most important country along with Argentina.

I've asked pktrucks and a few other brokers about registering their cars. Essentially they say that they don't know because they sell to NGOs and corporations.

I haven't asked them about Euro compliance because it seems not the right approach for me and you can find EU compiant HZJ76s ready to go.

I´d try my luck in South Africa, if already on that continent. Some people´s trip end there, so they want to get rid of the car and the market for 4x4s is generally pretty competitive. Have a look at gumtree.co.za. LHDs are not that rare and pretty cheap f they end up there, as they are not easily to be registered in SA. Also no need for a Carnet for the best part of southern Africa. Anyway, I only see 4.5D V8s listed in SA.*

In Belgium you can find new 4.2D for about 30k€, in south of Germany there is a specialist, equipping LCs for RTW trips and also upgrading them for EURO5 emission spec for around 50k€. They are both offering on mobile.de. A EURO5 Toyo could be registered in your home country swizerland, I guess.

*A few years ago, registering in South Africa as a tourist was pretty straight forward. You´ll be asked for an address, as they need to know, where to send the speed tickets to, but I didn´t need a proof of residence permit. The address of your guest house will do. Passport, 2 b/w pp photos and some cash.
Make sure it´s legally road worthy and the latest tax sticker in the windscreen is still valid. You´d pay for all recently not payed road tax of that vehicle, before you could register it. Don't ask, why I know….

Good Luck

Thanks for all the help but please feel free to post more!

Progress is slow on my end. These two links about import regulations could be useful:

Japan Used Cars Import Regulations | Japanese Used Cars, Japan Car Exporters, Import Japan Used Cars

http://www.trade.gov/td/otm/assets/a...R2015Final.pdf

I need more time researching before I can post anything meaningful to the thread.

I'm not finished yet. I now have a new RHD HZJ79 that I bought and registered in Namibia for 42500 USD equivalent. I started with RHD in anticipation of relocating to Namibia. This one is a single cab pickup with the 4.2 straight six diesel. I didn't find a nice used HZJ76 and the new 76 in Namibia are only V8.

I'm happy with the pickup and an added aluminum canopy.

I was hoping to be able to come up with a reversible LHD conversion because I have planned about 4 years of touring in LHD countries. It's not feasible.

I'm now looking for an additional LHD HZJ79. You can never have too many Land Cruisers. The problem where to register it remains.

More findings for LHD HZJ79:
Djibouti, Nicaragua: import tariff ok, non-resident registration impossible.
Ghana: import tariff OK, non-resident registration possible. I can't get a visa for Ghana for lack of proof of residence!
Paraguay: import tariff too high.
Benin: import tariff too high, non-resident registration possible.
South Africa, Australia: can't register a LHD.
Europe: emissions conversion costly, non-resident registration impossible.
Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea: non-resident registration impossible.

I'm about to investigate Andorra and The Gambia for non-resident registration.

Reminder to myself: I'll also need a carnet.

https://www.pktrucks.com/stock/?swoo...=toyota&page=1

These guys in the Netherlands have a good selection of LHD Toyota's and lots of nice MAN, Mercedes and Iveco trucks!

Good luck with the search :)

did you check nigeria?

non residential registration is possible...

How about service from these company....

Alabama Auto Title Services - Auto Title - Bonded Title - Surety Bonds - Tax Registration

Update: It took me extremely long to find out that I can register a LHD HZJ79 (that's the single cab Land Cruiser with the old style 4.2 liter inline six diesel) in Botswana, as a tourist, that is without having to fabricate a proof or residence or even a residence permit.

I ordered a new LHD HZJ 79 from Belgium which cost 35'000 USD (all amounts equivalent local currency and approximate) including RoRo shipping to Durban. I paid 10500 USD for Botswana import duty and VAT. To get the car out of the port and registered in Botswana, it took three different agents who charged a total of 6000 USD. Total for the base car 51'500 USD.

So I'm OK, thanks for the help.

THANKS for the update! Best of luck on your travels