Huge deposit for car at Mongolian border
 

I read that since August 2016 there is a new law in Mongolia for temporary import of tourist cars (posseble also for bikes?).
From August on you have to pay a huge sum ( for our 15 year old Landcruiser it could be 12.000 US$) as deposit on the border. You should get it back when you leave the country.... if you get it back!
Reason would be the big amount of cars left illigal in Mongolia by different rallys.
Does anyone knows more about the practice of this new law since August?
Thanks for your help,
Klaas

Not for bikes in my recent experience. Riding a German registered 1985 DR600. Entered Mongolia from the North border crossing with Russia in early October 2016, left late November through that same border crossing without the motorcycle (would have been suicide to attempt it). No questions, vehicle not stamped into the passport and no deposit.

When the Mongol Rally went through, then the story was that the Western border asked for it, but at the Northern one (Khyagt-Altanbulag) people weren't asked for the deposit. But it was rather confusing time and I don't know how it progressed.

I do remember reading somewhere that getting the deposit back wasn't easy.

Even in 2013 I met people who had to pay deposit at the western border from the Altai into Mongolia.

What i think is the way:
If you do not write the exit border into the custom paper, they think that you want to leave the vehicle and they ask for the deposit.

So always write at the exit border "Altanbulag / Sukhbaatar " and they know you are leaving again.

If you write the same ( western ) border again, than they want also ask you for deposit and they know that it is hard for you to get it back and maybe you give up after some hours or a day ( and then some custom guard will take the deposit ):oops2:


But maybe there is really a new law, but I do not think so.

What really happened and also Mongolians told me, that at the time of the Mongol Rallye, they ask for deposit when they suspect a Member of the Rallye, because many of them just left the cars in UB and left.
And that is what they dont want to happen anymore...

Deposit at Mongolian border
 

Thanks so far for your information.
I still hope somebody replies who crossed the border with a car after August 2016. We are planning our trip to Cambodia through China. Crossing China in 30 days in September 2017. But leaving a big deposit at the Mongolian border will be unacceptable.
Does anybody know if the Mongolian customs accept a Carnet de Passage? That should be deposit enough for them...
Klaas

Jordan235 went in Mongolia in Okt. 2016 and he wrote there was no deposit...

I have been to Mongolia 2 times now, and I saw one guy who tried to use a Carnet and was refused, and got regular entry without any problems....

The sole intention of all Mongol Rally participants (and all banger rallies???!) is to drive one way to the destination, in this case UB and sell/abandon their vehicles.

I was told by a couple of competitors in 2012 that the Rally organisers sort out the payment of Mongolian vehicle import taxes as part of the fee to enter the event so they can be legally sold in Mongolia. When I was at the western border there was a whole load of rally cars impounded while their status was clarified. I later saw these cars either en route to or in UB.

http://www.thebrightstuff.com/summer...t%20border.jpg

PS. I was on a bike and had no problem with doing a temporary import for it.

Chris, the finish line of Mongol Rally was moved to Ulan-Ude in 2015 and the Mongolian authorities were told that there's no Mongol Rally that year. So they were quite surprised to see cars with Mongol Rally stickers show up.

I did the rally in 2015 and majority of the people leave their cars at the finish, where the organisers have sorted out the transport of all the vehicles back to Europe. But there are people who give up when they have a minor breakdown in Mongolia and abandon the car or sell it to the locals who are willing to pay quite a lot for those bangers.

The problem with banger rally participants is that they give up too easily and very few follow the "leave no man behind" principle. We were in a convoy of 4 cars. At one point the last car disappeared. We went back to see where they were, another car followed us. The fourth car we never saw again.

We were maybe 150km from Altai on the way towards Bayankhongor. The timing belt snapped on the car and we towed it all the way to UB and from there to Ulan-Ude. We nearly killed the two other cars with towing.

But it is a shame how many banger ralliers leave their cars behind. We saw many and sometimes even locals directed us to them.

Sorry for the long offtopic

Arrangements between 2012 and 2015 have obviously changed.

Good to see the MR organisers are doing their best to return the scrap metal back to Europe.

That some of the participants are a bunch of lightweights, a few of whom don't check on their travel companions is sadly not a surprise. There's a minority in the bike travel fraternity too :-( Karma will come and bite them in the ar$e when they're least expecting it :nono:

Ditto, apologies for the :offtopic: nature of this post.

So I've sent an enquiry to the Mongolian Customs office and got a reply with a pdf document titled "Advice for foreign passengers travelling with own vehicles".

I just finished reading the two page document and this is the only thing it says about the deposit:

I've attached the entire document to this post as well. I sent another enquiry to the Mongolian embassy in Stockholm and will see if I get conflicting info or not.

Awesome, there's conflicting info now. The embassy in Stockholm says that you have to pay the deposit. So now it's a question of who has wrong info, the embassy or the customs. doh

I'll post an update once I manage to get some clarity into this mess.

Another question is cars and/or bikes? Sad story I was hoping I can go one way...

I would place my bets on customs. Embassies never seem to have the correct information on vehicle transport.

Answer from Mongolian Customs
 

Hello,
I became a very quick and clear answer on my question to the Mongolian customs ! (See below and the attachment as PDF).
So I think there is no problem.
Although the consul of Mongolia in the Netherlands told me I need a carnet or have to pay a deposit.....



Also I got following answer from the organisers of the Mongol Rally:

Brooke Reuter (The Adventurists)

Jan 23, 11:34 GMT
Hi Klaas,

Some teams did face having to pay an deposit at the border which they received back on exit but once we were made aware, we got in touch with the Mongolian government and they took it away so only the first few were affected. We haven't found any evidence nor heard that a deposit has been instated as a long term official plan by the Mongolian government.

Cheers,
Brooke

The Adventurists

+44 (0) 117 963 5513 | 14 Whitehouse Street | Bristol | BS3 4AY | UK




Answer from Mongolian customs:

-------- Foreward massage --------
Onderwerp: Re: temporary import of tourist vehicule
Datum: Mon, 23 Jan 2017 17:14:24 +0800
Van: Customs General Administration of Mongolia <icd@customs.gov.mn>
Organisatie: Customs General Administration of Mongolia
Aan: Klaas en Willi <wamky@yahoo.com>


Dear Klaas,

Please find attached the information you have requested.

Regards,

Enkhtuul

On 2017-01-19 20:10, Klaas en Willi wrote:
> Dear sirs,
> I, dutch national, am planning to travel to China with my Toyota
> Landcruiser, on the way from the Netherlands to China, I will visit
> Russia and Mongolia.
> - How are the procedures for the temporary import of my car at the border?
> - Which documents do I need?
> - Is the car just stamped in my passport and stamped out when I leave
> Mongolia?
> - Do I have to put a deposit at the border?
> - Is the international document "Carnet de Passage en Douane" recognised
> on the border?
>
> In advance thanking you for you aswer,
>
> Kind regards,
> Klaas van der Meer
>
>


--
International Cooperation Division
Customs General Administration of Mongolia

Tel: 976-11350064
Fax: 976-11350064
Email: icd@customs.gov.mn

I hope this information will clear something.
Cheers Klaas

Klaas, The Adventurists is the least reliable source of information there is.

I entered from the north in early July 2017 and left from the NW in late July and there was no deposit. The "car" was a U500 Unicat camper that even though it is 10 years old is probably worth close to US$200K.

Charlie

I presume you mean 2016.

I'm very sorry, you are right, it was last summer, July 2016.
Charlie

I'm thinking that may be because that doesn't look much like your average banger car rally participant!!

I did contact a shipping company that should deliver my bike to UB.I was told there is 15.5% deposit needed that will be sent back to my account after I leave to Russia.it is new to me! any experience on this?
and how about Russia ,and EU? (I own a Thai registered bike)

cheers guys

I d love to hear too..cheers

I got conflicting information and the embassy didn't respond to the e-mails after the initial one.

I'll get myself the visa and just go for it. Worst case scenario is that I'll waste a day at the border. If everything goes as hoped, you'll know around the middle of July.

I’ve got conflicting information also. I have e-mailed the embassy in Sofia, they answered back that they don’t know and gave me the e-mail of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact them. Well, I did but they never answered back. We plan to do the same, get our visa and just go, we plan to cross from the western border. I was wondering, in case they ask for the deposit in the western border, if we can cross without it from the main Ulan-Ude Ulan-Bator border. I read somewhere that they don’t ask for deposit there. Also, does anybody know if a Carnet would help?

Deposit
 

For your information about the deposit. I e-mailed Mongolian Customs and got the same reply with the pdf as fnormet. I asked for clarification about the necessity of a Carnet and a clear answer about the deposit for car that enters for tourist purposes, as I thought the pdf document was not a 100% clear. The answer was that: “Carnet is not necessary. No tax is required for customs within the specified time frame. When leaving the car in Mongolia, it has to be stored with a bonded warehouse. You will have to pay warehouse fee. It can vary depending on the warehouse operator. More details have to be obtained from the warehouse of your selection. If you leave your car for good or sell it on the local market, you will have to pay customs duties, VAT and excise duty. If the car is damaged or broken, you will have to ship it back.” I think this is clear enough, no deposit asked. And I think Customs is more reliable than any Embassy.

Ibelieve there is difference when u ship or enter the border ON the bike.
2 shipping companies quoted me the same 15.5% deposit via bank that will (?) return to your account after u leave(?)

Maybe you could ship the bike in Russia near the border and then drive it to Mongolia? I have never heard of any custom/deposit problems in Russia. That is if you have a Russian visa.

u are correct .Russia do not need deposit ,but my destination is Europe and possibily further so I will get ATA carnet and speed up the process everywhere.I am tryinto ship the bike directly to UB,which saves me lots of kms .and I start in Mongolia where i want to ride preferably bier

No deposit required for Mongolia
 

Hello everybody,
I am now in Mongolia. I entred a week ago over the Northern border. The customs did not ask for any deposit! They wanted a carnet, but after some discussion they let me through without, they gave me the TIP (Temporary Import Paper).
Other travellers I met here in Mongolia crossed the same and other borders and where also not asked for a deposit and mostly not for the carnet.
So my question on this forum is now defenitly aswered: NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED FOR MONGOLIA.
Thanks to all for you help,
Klaas

Hi Klaas,

What did you do with your bike in Mongolia? Did you sell it or leave it there? Do you know if that is possible?

Kind regards,

Guus Akkermans
Ps going for a motorcycle trip to Mongolia this summer

Does anyone have the latest status?

I'm currently traveling to Mongolia by motorbike and want to ship it back to Europe from UB.

Loxx pan Europa can do this.

Go tho Riverpoint Guesthouse ( there is Rene Poeschko, who was the founder of Oasis ) and they will help you sending it back.

Riverpoint is 20km East of UB at the End of Gaachurt at the Tuul river

Thanks for that Klaus! Did you ship it back to Germany from there? Have you got a rough indication of the costs?

I am am motorcycle rider. I dont ship, I ride.

but I know from others.

Price you can ask at the company mentioned.

I am motorcycle rider too, but I have limited time, so I shipped my bike around the world a few times.

You can also contact Sambor at ADVFACTORY as he has a shipping planned for this summer. Price is on the website.

Hello
Any news about deposit?
Has anyone been forced to pay a deposit?
Do customs officials ask about Carnet CpD?

Best regards
L.

Did you read this tread ?

Yes, klausmong1, of course I have read. The thread implies that until last year, no one would have to pay (except for the company transporting motorcycles).

But it's Asia, right? Something could have changed in the meantime, it's worth asking. Is this not a forum for this?

And I ask because, when trying to get a visa to Mongolia, I got this document with the requirements for a person who wants to enter Mongolia with his own car:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZL-...WKYU297ez/view

It just says that if the documents dont fill the requirement, you need a deposit.

And the requirement ist your passport and Motorcycle ( or car ) papers of the owner ( and if you are not the owner you need extra papers )

I have done Mongolia 4 times now, including 2018 and never had to pay a deposit.

I only know the deposit for Mongolian rallye members when it endet in Mongolia, since years it is Ulan Ude ( because of the reason that people leave their cars there )