Importing a LC100 into South Africa

[Dark Dude]

What is the best and cheapest way of importing a oil burning LC100 for private use into South Africa?

John

 

[james-c]

Hi John
I've just imported my LC80 into Namibia about a week ago - mmmm and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.....

Cheapest way is to ship it RORO (roll on roll off) where the vehicle goes on a giant ferry. It is not secure and your likely to have stuff stolen out of it if you send it to a South African port (even the spare wheel will be stolen). I shipped mine to Walvis Bay, even with a few bits inside, and nothing was stolen - very pleased with that! The car did receive a scrape on the wheel molding though

RORO cost me £850 (speak to Mike at NMT Shipping), plus insurance 0f £300.
In Walvis Bay, I had to pay £450 clearing agent fees, port fees and permits etc.
And then VAT of 15.5% based on the Customs Value of the car (There was no import duty as I was a returning resident).

I still have to get all the licencing sorted out - but that is just a case of standing in the queue and dealing with government inefficiency...

From speaking to the shipping guys, it seems it is best to stick your car in a container if you're shipping to South Africa - then you know it is secure. And it is not that much more expensive than RORO (I think £1.5k to SA but its £2.5k to Namibia).

Cheers
James

 

[stumog]

hi john
its is going to cost you alot of money are going to live there?
if so have you had the car for 2 years ?
i was looking at inporting some cars and its going to cost alot i think they have a 100% inport tax + vat 14% on cars. unless you have had the car for 2 years and are moving to SA. you then have to keep it for another 2 years.
are you just taking down to drive back?
i am going to SA on the 19/12 so if you need any help give me a shout.
i could be proven wrong i hope so as its a good place to inport things as the cars go for so much over there.

 

[occamsrazor]

If you do ship RoRo as opposed to container, make sure to take pictures of every part of the vehicle before it ships. Know someone who bought 4x4 in UK, souped it up with nice tyres, stereo, etc then imported to Kenya. When it arrived it had crappy tyres and crappy stereo (i.e. they'd been swapped somewhere in transit). Shipping company and insurance denied everything until presented with the photos.

 

[Dark Dude]

Thanks for the advice everybody. Stumog, I've been looking around at a couple of oil burning LC100's in the Randburg area of Johannesburg and I must admit that the prices are very keen indeed. Just spotted this example in the Joburg Autotrader: http://www.autotrader.co.za/used-ca...uteng/makemodel/make/toyota/model/landcruiser

BTW: That's a touch over £13000 in our money......

 

[Marius De Kock]

The EFI is a 4.5 L petrol and you have to remember that South Africa only got the non turbo 4.2 1HZ diesel motor that we affectionately call The Donkey. It slowly gets you there very reliably.

 

[Dark Dude]

The EFI is a 4.5 L petrol and you have to remember that South Africa only got the non turbo 4.2 1HZ diesel motor that we affectionately call The Donkey. It slowly gets you there very reliably.

Marius

Unlike Jon Wildsmith, I'm no speed freak. And there must be ways of getting a little more get up and go out of the non turbo (maybe even by fitting and turbo and a intercooler). I hope to be staying in South Africa, six month each year from next year and I need wheels to get around. My budget is £15,000 all in. What I need to know is that workable?

 

[dyladams]

Marius

Unlike Jon Wildsmith, I'm no speed freak. And there must be ways of getting a little more get up and go out of the non turbo (maybe even by fitting and turbo and a intercooler). I hope to be staying in South Africa, six month each year from next year and I need wheels to get around. My budget is £15,000 all in. What I need to know is that workable?

I believe that the 105 series (solid front axil) came with either the 4500cc EFi petrol or the 1hz diesel (non turbo). However the 100 series you can get diesels in SA.

My advice is to sign up to the South African land cruiser club, that way you can get some local knowledge on the SA market including possible performance upgrades and where to go.

They also have a reasonably active classifieds section.

If you do put a turbo on the 1hz, I understand that the recommendation is to go for a low pressure unit and fit an EGT.

 

[stumog]

there is alot of landcruisers out there i really would look in one out there. if you want i can have a look and speak to a few people when i get out just give me a list of things you want and we can go from there. i am taking an 80series petrol up though mozambique on a small ish trip but other than that i have time to look a a few cars. i do know my way around a vehicle so you dont have to worry about that.not sure about the specs of what comes with a solid from axle. on the inport thing if you are only there 6 months of the year could you inport it to namiba and store it there when you are not in SA. they have much better inport tax. i will be based in pretroia north and away from the 19th - 11th jan. that 100 is only about 20 mins drive from where i am? i dont think you would get as much for your money if you inport as if you were to buy over there. if you had a car you really wanted then the heart would take over.

 

[Matt Wright]

Hi guys

I have imported 3 vehicles in to SA and it is absolutely not the big deal it is often made out to be. Here are 3 real life working examples without any of the ohmygoshit'ssocomplicated stuff..

I paid R13500 total import duties/VAT on the first '94 80 series using a carnet de passage to get the value.
R7500 on a '99 90 series this week and R3500!!! on another 80 series this week. Both using quotes from a reputable dealer.

The first 80 we drove from London so no shipping Saved on that but plenty fuel to get here lol
Shipping cost £4400 for a 60 foot container that housed both the 90 and the one 80 which were shipped 1.5 months ago. I didn't take the insurance based on cost benefit analysis and speaking to the shipping guys (now friends and I've shipped more goods with them since. 100% trustworthy). That's obviously a personal choice. It only covers you if the container falls overboard - what really are the chances? Typically insurance is 3% of the overall shipping cost + the value of the contents.
The £4400 was ALL inclusive for shipping and clearing. No other fees apart from the customs stuff. Contents are free / no customs - done this twice now..

As was mentioned earlier in the post there is a shipping charge and a clearing charge. My strong advice is get that combined. We were charged DOUBLE what we were quoted the first time we shipped stuff. Grrr... Do not use Dorey Bonner!!!

If you research and know the process beforehand it's a very straight forward process. I think it gets messy very quickly when you deviate from the norm
Any questions please ask..

PS, did I mention how happy I am to have both my trucks here! *GRIN*

 

[Dark Dude]

there is alot of landcruisers out there i really would look in one out there. if you want i can have a look and speak to a few people when i get out just give me a list of things you want and we can go from there. i am taking an 80series petrol up though mozambique on a small ish trip but other than that i have time to look a a few cars. i do know my way around a vehicle so you dont have to worry about that.not sure about the specs of what comes with a solid from axle. on the inport thing if you are only there 6 months of the year could you inport it to namiba and store it there when you are not in SA. they have much better inport tax. i will be based in pretroia north and away from the 19th - 11th jan. that 100 is only about 20 mins drive from where i am? i dont think you would get as much for your money if you inport as if you were to buy over there. if you had a car you really wanted then the heart would take over.

Stumog

We have to make a plan and meet up (maybe for a drink and a braai). Give us a call on 081 867 4318. Hopefully should be free most of next week ( e-toll road block not permitting). Basically what I'm after is the car that I found in Pretoria but a diesel one. I've got plenty of time to source the right vehicle and I not going to rush into buying. Alas I must admit, that I've seen some tasty nice versions of the LC100 cruising the hi-ways and bi-ways of Greater Gauteug.

 

[stumog]

dark dude would be up for meeting up where abouts are you living? i am only really going to be able to do anything during the days.

matt
please can you give me the details of how you managed to inport your sruisers for such a good price? not sure how to do this.

 

[Dark Dude]

Stumog

I'm staying with my parents at Kew, Joburg, if that helps! Got family in Randburg too!

John

 

[Dark Dude]

Hi guys

I have imported 3 vehicles in to SA and it is absolutely not the big deal it is often made out to be. Here are 3 real life working examples without any of the ohmygoshit'ssocomplicated stuff..

I paid R13500 total import duties/VAT on the first '94 80 series using a carnet de passage to get the value.
R7500 on a '99 90 series this week and R3500!!! on another 80 series this week. Both using quotes from a reputable dealer.

The first 80 we drove from London so no shipping Saved on that but plenty fuel to get here lol
Shipping cost £4400 for a 60 foot container that housed both the 90 and the one 80 which were shipped 1.5 months ago. I didn't take the insurance based on cost benefit analysis and speaking to the shipping guys (now friends and I've shipped more goods with them since. 100% trustworthy). That's obviously a personal choice. It only covers you if the container falls overboard - what really are the chances? Typically insurance is 3% of the overall shipping cost + the value of the contents.
The £4400 was ALL inclusive for shipping and clearing. No other fees apart from the customs stuff. Contents are free / no customs - done this twice now..

As was mentioned earlier in the post there is a shipping charge and a clearing charge. My strong advice is get that combined. We were charged DOUBLE what we were quoted the first time we shipped stuff. Grrr... Do not use Dorey Bonner!!!

If you research and know the process beforehand it's a very straight forward process. I think it gets messy very quickly when you deviate from the norm
Any questions please ask..

PS, did I mention how happy I am to have both my trucks here! *GRIN*

Matt

I'm really, really happy that I started this thread. Like others have already expressed, I too would like to hear more about your Fool's Guide of Importing Land Cruisers in South Africa. So you've already got my number, when you're free give me a call and we'll have a chat.

John

 

[Matt Wright]

I wrote 4 pages of detail but the page crashed when I tried uploading a photo at the end, will retype it soon as I get time..

 

[SpinDrift]

When writing long posts, the safest I find is to write it up in notepad or the like and then to copy and paste it.

 

[Dark Dude]

Would it be cheaper to "Prepare" a LC100 in South Africa or the UK? And does anyone know of a cheaper (home built South African) alternatives to the TJM T3 or T5 front and rear bumpers?

John

 

[stumog]

i think it would be cheaper in SA as there parts do seem lots cheaper. i went to LA sport show which i was very shocked at. 1- it just looked like a workshop then you go out the back and they have about a 2 acre track set up all but in the center of pretroia. then they did a demo of rock crawling and the welding on the roll cages was sooooo bad it looked like they hadnt used any gas to Mig it all together some were even cracked.
they seemed to do lots of really nice things alot cheaper than you can get over here try them.
i think this is the shop really good the have a braai area and a bar you would get away with that in the uk. beers and 4x4 what mix.
this is there address

385 Voortrekkersweg
Capital Park
Pretoria

not long now 2 days and then flying.

 

[stumog]

question do some of the SA spec hundreds have solid front axels ? do you get uk 100 with solid fronts all the ones i have seen are ifs.
found this seemed really good value http://www.autotrader.co.za/used-ca...24c86/makemodel/make/toyota/model/landcruiser
dark dude do

 

[Ben]

100's with live front axles are 105 series.

Unfortunately never sold in the UK.