SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

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SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by Merlin »

Eben Sticky please...

Regulations...

Anyone with the time to copy and post...


"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, and oversteer, the rear.
Hp is how fast you hit the wall, and Torque is how far you take the wall with you."
sled wrote:well obviously the UK is wrong.
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Post by Ryss »

The only link I have found to date that relates to your question is:

Application for a permit to import a second-hand or used vehicle
http://www.services.gov.za/en-ZA/Importusedvehicle.htm
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Post by Merlin »

Nope, hehe, I was posting for reference for the rest of us.

I don't need the info for myself...not now atleast. ;)

Thanks, N.
"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, and oversteer, the rear.
Hp is how fast you hit the wall, and Torque is how far you take the wall with you."
sled wrote:well obviously the UK is wrong.
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by PhantomPhondler »

question:

I am from a foreigner but a perm SA resident .

does this mean I can import a car tax free or am I missing something? can anyone explain?

as per link above

Motor Vehicles imported by natural persons on change of Permanent Residence to South Africa

1. Rebate of Duties

In terms of item 407.04 of Schedule number 4 to the Customs and Excise Act –

• Immigrants, and
• South African residents who originally emigrated from the Republic obtained permanent residents status abroad, and thereafter return,

being natural persons, may after obtaining permanent residence in South Africa/return to South Africa permanently, import ONE MOTOR VEHICLE PER FAMILY under full rebate of customs duties for his/her own personal use, provided that the vehicle so imported was the personal property of the importer, and was owned and used by him/her for a period of not less than 12 months prior to the Importer's departure for the South Africa.

South African Residents, please note that unless you comply with all three elements, i.e:

01. you originally emigrated from the South Africa;
02. you obtained permanent residents' status abroad; and
03. you again return to the South Africa permanently,

you do not qualify for the rebate of duty.

Note:

- Should the vehicle have been owned and used for a period of less than twelve months prior to departure, the amount of duty rebated will be reduced pro-rata, according to the number of days less than 12 months.

- If the vehicle is second-hand, an application for an import permit must be made, prior to shipment of the vehicle to South Africa, to:

The Director of Import and Export Control
Private Bag X192
Pretoria
etc etc
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by eben »

Thats right.... but you must have owned the car abroad BEFORE you got permanent residence in SA.
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by Dutch_Diver »

PP, Were you a SA Resident, left SA and then returned here? or have you moved to SA and then gained residency?
If yes to the first question then when you returned you could have imported your personal cars as Eben mentioned. If you just decide to move to SA from another country (like me) then you have to pay the tax or have a carnegie.
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by Wentzel69 »

If u inport, make sure its not lefthand drive' all vehicles brought into the country (lhd) after 1998 are not permitted to be used on SA roads
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by Nigel A. Skeet »

Wentzel69 wrote:If u inport, make sure its not lefthand drive' all vehicles brought into the country (lhd) after 1998 are not permitted to be used on SA roads
We don't have that restriction in Great Britain! :)

Second-hand, left-hand drive vehicles are still being imported from Europe & North America. Even the newly manufactured, Brazilian built, left-hand drive VW Type 2s (air-cooled, VW 1600 Type 1 style engine, with Bosch Digifant fuel-injection and catalytic converter, until December 2005) are still being legitimately imported.

http://www.danburymotorcaravans.com/ind ... &Itemid=19

http://www.see360.co.uk/t2rio/java/ACBF ... A14413.htm

http://www.see360.co.uk/t2diamond/java/ ... EDC515.htm

Of course being close neighbours to mainland Europe, there are quite a lot of left-hand drive vehicles, travelling to and fro; some of which come from the farthest reaches of the continent.
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by dubbdack »

Hello! I am new to the forum and thought I could try to hijack this thread!

My wife (SA citizen) and I are thinking about moving to SA and I am trying to find out if it is possible (at a reasonable cost) to bring a late RHD aircooled 911 (surely a 911 is ACWV related... 8) )from the UK where we currently live as a returning citizen. If it is, I am not sure what happens once its here as I dont know anything about the local market (I am Swedish - dont ask me to sing an ABBA song) so hopefully someone here will be able to help:

1. Is there a market for these cars once resale is allowed (2 years on) or are buyers shying away from imported cars?

2. Will SA insurance companies accept imports and are the premiums excessively high?

3. Will expensive cars (ie Porsches) be treated differently by customs even if you qualify for a full tax rebate? Not sure if "something" would happen if you brought in a Porsche purchased in the UK at fraction of the local market value.

4. I have heard that there is only a requirement to have owned the cars for 6 months prior to import to avoid import tax, but here http://www.ritztrade.com/south-africa-c ... ations.php (under 1. Rebate of Duties, Note) is says 12 months to qualify for no tax. Does anyone know if its 12 or 6 months and what the tax rate is that is pro-rated if 12 months can not be qualified.

I tried this link but couldnt get it to work http://www.services.gov.za/en-ZA/Importusedvehicle.htm
Any links, tips or comments are welcome!

Regards
Joe
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by JamesD »

Hi Dubback

To answer question 1, http://www.autotrader.co.za should give you the answer :wink: if you are worried then see how much you can sell your car for and then buy a new one here?

Question 2, Well, Some insurance companies dont want to insure imported cars, (Even though Lotus is not "imported" and has several dealerships here :evil: ). But most insurance companies wont have a problem, they ask what make, year, vin and engine number then all is fine. There are plenty of 911's here, i dont see any insurance issues, they all come from the same place originally anyway.

Q3 i cant answer, should not be any different from any other imported car.
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by Chris »

Welcome dubbdack.

I'm not sure about the amount of time that you have to have had the car for,think it's 12 months.But I can tell you that there is a market for RHD Porsches,especially 911's,imported or otherwise.

All Porsches here are imported anyway,so I don't think it will be a problem at all getting a buyer once you are in the country.

Why would you want to sell it anyway?
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by dubbdack »

Hi Chris thanks for your reply. I dont necessary want to sell it but buying a 911 would be a massive investment for me (once in a lifetime thing, dont understand how people in SA can afford the local price levels), so I just want to make sure that there would be a market for it if I had to sell it. It just sounds too good to be true to buy at UK prices, import with no duty, and then sell at the local price level!

When you say that all Porsches are imported anyway - would not buyers distinguish between a car that was originally registered in SA (SA spec) and a car that has been originally registered and used overseas, such as the UK or Japan? It might be more difficult to track the history of the car, some standard equipment might be different etc.

Regards
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by dubbdack »

Hi James. Sounds reassuring about the insurance. In SA, do you agree a valuation amount with the insurer and that is one factor that your premium is based on? Or do you just insure the make/model/year and they use their own market valuation should the car be stolen/written off?

Regards,
Joe
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by 69bug »

dubbdack,welcome. I dont think anyone here gives a :bn: if a 911 was first registered here, in England, or any where else! 911 is 911 in any language! Just bring it
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Re: SOUTH AFRICAN IMPORT REGULATIONS...

Post by Chris »

All the 911 were built in Germany,so I doubt that the spec levels are diferent from any other country.

Don't be fooled,there are a LOT of 911's in SA and lots of people buying them.Small wonder then that SA has the largest dealership in the world currently.
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