Moving Your Car Overseas? Things to Keep in Mind Shipping Car from UAE

No Matter which car one owns, more often than not when one is planning to move abroad, it becomes challenging to leave the most precious of your possessions, a car behind. But to most of the people, the whole export process seems like a nightmare. Well, it’s not! We are going to discuss almost all the necessary details related to exporting your car from UAE, so you can be aware of all the pros and cons and can easily take the car with you if you choose to.

Things you need to consider first to Ship your Car from UAE 

To ship the car from the UAE, one of the most important things is to ascertain its eligibility in the target country. The requirements may vary from one country to another according to their custom laws.  The Shipping Process of a car requires a lot of research and thorough knowledge. It is a condition that the car must be owned for a year. Some of the things to keep in mind before deciding on to ship your car are as follows:

i) Rules for Right and Left Hand Cars

All countries have their own set of specifications and requirements that must be followed so the car to be shipped can be legally registered there. Because there are many such countries where you cannot ship a left-hand drive vehicle.

That is why, before thinking to export, you need to make sure that the car you are shipping to a specific country is acceptable by the authorities there and is suitable for that country. For example, as the cars in India and South Africa are right-handed steers, the left-hand cars cannot be shipped there.

Not just this there are other adjustments that need to be made in order to avoid any inconvenience. For instance, a person discussing the car he shipped to the UK said that the Range rover there had to show miles instead of km and the direction of the lights too needed to be corrected. These things in that car could be adjusted digitally but the adjustment cannot be easily done in the cars with older models or the vintage cars so it is not wise to decide on shipping them.

ii) Import Taxes and Duties

The knowledge about the customs, duties, and tax and document requirements of the target countries is a must for shipping the car. Sometimes, the shipping may cost a lot of money, more than the price of the car or with a less margin with the price of the car in the other country. The import taxes and duties in some countries like India, Pakistan etc. are so high that it is better to just buy a new car in that country than to ship your own as it may cost as higher,  

One surprising fact is that most of the people don’t even know that shipping your car to Europe costs no tax or duties at all only if you yourself are moving there. Otherwise, the tax is applied. The table will tell the figures for some countries:

One major financial leverage is available for the people moving their cars for shorter stays. As those who plan to stay in another country for less than a year, do not have to pay any import taxes and duties at all.

The car can be shipped with ATA CARNET or Carnet De Passage to almost 75 countries which means that you will return to the UAE within a year from one of the countries in the list so you’re Duty, VAT and registration fee is exempted.

iii) Exhaust Emission Levels in Europe

As we have discussed earlier, there are certain rules of every country that need to be followed in order to ship a car to that country. The cars usually need to go through a process to confirm eligibility. One of the determining factors for a car to be acceptable in the EU is the acceptable level of exhaust emissions. According to researchers, most of the cars have older models of engines and may have safety issues as many cars only have one airbag. On this basis, the vehicles are rejected.

iv) Different Law According to Every Country

According to analysts, shipping a car to a non-GCC country is a more complicated process than that of when shipping within the GCC. One of the issues may involve the availability of spare parts.

“GCC cars are built to suit a super-hot climate and so if engine cooling, filtration, and air-conditioning systems need to be updated, parts may not be available or will have to be ordered.”  

Moreover, in some countries including the ones in the EU, you can only sell your car after twelve months after its arrival in that country. Moreover, one of the big benefits of exporting the car to Europe is that the resale value there is approximately £10,000 higher than if sold in the UAE.

V) Age of car

Somes times importing countries bar certain vehicles from being imported into their country due to their age of the Vehicle, for example, Shipping Cars to Kazakstan you cannot ship cars older than 2018.

UAE Procedures for Shipping a Car

One of the foremost requirements for shipping a car from UAE is to have a valid passport and a UAE visa. Moreover, to ship the car, it is crucial to prepare all the documents. Along with the passport-sized photos, usually, the documents include the following things:

Passports
The passport copies of both the exporter and the receiver are essential.

Authorized visa of the UAE
In case the person who wants to export is not a citizen but a tourist.

Authorized visa of the destination country
The authorized visa of the country you are shipping the car to will also be needed unless you are a citizen of that country.

Address
The detailed destination address along with two working contact number details and a working email address is required to be submitted.

Export Certificate
Once all the documents required are submitted, with AED 90 payment, one would be able to get this final document of the ‘Export Certificate’ which will simply permit you to export your car.

Export Insurance Certificate:
In case the customer wants to request the temporary export plates.
As the policies for different countries vary, for a clear understanding, some of the countries’ rules are discussed below.

Car Shipping From Dubai to Europe

The document requirements are almost the same as discussed above for shipping the car from Dubai to Europe including:

1. Export certificate
2. Copies of driving license, identity cards and email, contact number and postal addresses.
3. Copies of recipient’s passport, contact number, and address
4. For tourists, the trip ticket or carnet book and original registration card of the vehicle is required

Car inspection is necessary before shipping and any extra or personal accessories must be carefully detached. Moreover, it is advisable to take photos of all the sides of the car before shipping. The other important thing to note is that there is no leakage in the fuel pipes and there is enough fuel in the tank to park the car in the containers. For safety, purposes make sure the car is locked and the windows are up to the maximum.

Car Shipping From Dubai to the UK

To get the approval to ship the car, the documents needed are the same that are required for shipping them to Europe. There are some documents that need to be shown in the UK to let the car enter the state including Original title, Certificate of origin, Bill of landing and Document receipts.

One of the unique features is that there is no one method to export cars to the UK. You can either ship your cars through Dedicated Containers (a bit expensive with the option to customize your own container) or Consolidated Containers (economical) or you can also choose RORO Carriers which are specially designed for shipping vehicles.

One of the other things to take care of is that in the UK, to register cars that are less than 10 years old have to undergo the IVA test which is done to make sure that the car is fit and acceptable in the UK.

The average cost for shipping a car from Dubai to the UK is 7000 to 15000 AED with 0-15% duties depending on if the vehicle was manufactured inside or outside of Europe. The VAT value also varies with the age of the vehicle and time of the ownership.

Car Shipping From Dubai to the USA

To export the cars to the USA, the obligatory documents are similar to that of Europe except that there are some standards set by the government of the USA to determine the eligibility criteria for the car to enter the country. So to ship the car to the US, you need to make sure that it fulfills all the criteria.

Moreover, you will have to get a quote for the particular destination you want your car to be exported to. The cost differs for different states of the USA. That’s why it is necessary to get a quote according to the destination port. The average cost of shipping cars from Dubai to the USA is from 9,500 AED to 26,000 AED and 2.5% duty also has to be paid.

Options to Ship Car From UAE

The process can be a little tricky. Not just the whole operation of handling, packing and crating needs to be handled carefully. The final step involves the choice of the medium of transportation i.e. whether you want to ship it through a fleet of carriers on-road or through sea containers or through RORO services or by air. What really influences the finances is determined by the country you are shipping your car to. Many logistics companies offer the option to ship the car along with the household items.