Importing a car

T

Takumi86

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Hi Guys

I'm a massive fan of pre 90's Japanese performance cars.
Been following pages such as JDM auction watch, and Australian import pages even been keeping an eye on those funky imports that find their way into Namibia.

Have my sights set on a 1988 MZ20 Soarer (7M GTE)
Wanting to find out if anyone has previous experience with importing a car?
Taxes, paperwork etc.
 
Lol, would love one of those, heard whispers of one driving around here in CPT. Pity they're cult cars so ridiculously over priced. Guess i'll have to settle for the 3lt turbo tho:D
 
Duties on importing a car is 100%
So if a car costs R50000 you pay R100000
 
You can legally drive Namibian registered car here.

Just need go back there once a year or something in that line.

It will hard and expensive to get it registered here.
 
So i'm guessing to have the Namibian car registered here will incur the same 100% duties?
 
Duties are the least of your worries. You can't just import a second hand car. This explains the process: http://www.gov.za/services/import/importing-second-hand-or-used-vehicle

You can only import a second-hand vehicle into South Africa if you have been granted a permit to do so.

The importation of used vehicles is restricted to protect the local motor vehicle manufacturing industry. Permits are only issued under specifically defined circumstances.

Mainly returning South African nationals and immigrants who have permanent residence are permitted to bring vehicles registered in their names into the country.

Other cars that may be imported include racing cars, vintage passenger vehicles, specially designed vehicles and inherited vehicles.
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@Colin62 Thanks for the info. Seems like its going to be quite a headache getting the car over here and registered.
Also if it conforms to the ''defined circumstances''.

Guess its going to be best to wait it out and save up for that AE86
 
When I moved to SA in 1999 I had a VW Microbus, to register it here I had to get police clearance from NAM and then pay 14% VAT, had to prove the value so I went to a 2nd hand car dealer and they gave me a evaluation letter. The Jap imported cars have to be registered in NAM for at least 5 years before you can register them in SA.
 
Work through Botswana. A friend of mine who collects cars gets some really sweet cars that side. OK, they have property there so that helps, and they need to keep the car that side for a period of time before they can bring it in but they have managed to score some really sweet cars. They usually buy from Audi from a dealer in Gaborone but have occasionally bought Japanese imports at rock bottom prices.
 
Rouxenator said:
Work through Botswana. A friend of mine who collects cars gets some really sweet cars that side. OK, they have property there so that helps, and they need to keep the car that side for a period of time before they can bring it in but they have managed to score some really sweet cars. They usually buy from Audi from a dealer in Gaborone but have occasionally bought Japanese imports at rock bottom prices.
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that is the key, unless you know and trust someone on the other side, it will be extremely difficult to import a complete used car while still in the country.
 
Rouxenator said:
Work through Botswana. .
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Think it would be best to have the car imported to Botswana or NAM, and have it then registered here? or attempt to have it ported directly here?
Say for instance the car is imported from Japan to NAM then to SA. Wouldn't that mean the car would have to be registered and cleared twice? Once in Nam/Bot then again in SA?
 
Takumi86 said:
Think it would be best to have the car imported to Botswana or NAM, and have it then registered here? or attempt to have it ported directly here?
Say for instance the car is imported from Japan to NAM then to SA. Wouldn't that mean the car would have to be registered and cleared twice? Once in Nam/Bot then again in SA?
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no he means import the car from Botswana since the car is probably already available there
 
AndyC said:
Some usable details would be nice, dealer name or something!
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It varies as there are many used car dealers and they import from Japan to Botswana. Two important things you need to consider :
1) You'll have to buy cash - they don't do finance.
2) Few cars have a service history - many cars in Japan are bought new, driven for a few years and never serviced then sold to an exporter.
saturnz said:
no he means import the car from Botswana since the car is probably already available there
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Correct.
 
saturnz said:
no he means import the car from Botswana since the car is probably already available there
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And you would still need to own the car for a period of time in Botswana as far as I understand. 2 years I think.
 
Rouxenator said:
1) You'll have to buy cash - they don't do finance.
2) Few cars have a service history
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Basically the ideal situation. As with the age of the car, and the cars i'm looking at have probably had difficult lives, the idea would be to rebuild from the ground up as a weekend car.
I"m really interested in finding out what Botswana has to offer. Is there perhaps any websites you know of?
 
ToxicBunny said:
And you would still need to own the car for a period of time in Botswana as far as I understand. 2 years I think.
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Yes - that is also another catch to consider.
Takumi86 said:
Basically the ideal situation. As with the age of the car, and the cars i'm looking at have probably had difficult lives, the idea would be to rebuild from the ground up as a weekend car.
I"m really interested in finding out what Botswana has to offer. Is there perhaps any websites you know of?
Click to expand...
I found quite a few doing a google search, but I'll ask my buddy where they usually buy from in Botswana. Actually taking him along this afternoon to have a look at a car I'm keen on buying so I'll ask him about it then.
 
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