Importing cars to Vanuatu / Espritu Santo

Hello Uncle Baldrick,

I kindly invite you to check out our Business directory to check out a company that could help you. The link will take you directly to the related company.

Regards

Kenjee

Thanks for the reply Kenjee and I'll check out the link however I was looking for some people who have experienced the importing of a vehicle process. I guess it's a bit like trip advisor, it's better to check out the reviews on business before diving in with someone that could prove to do be a destroyer of our dreams.

HI, I hope someone will post here soon.  I'll share info as I get it but look forward to hearing from others. I am currently researching importing a vehicle from Canada to Port Vila.
I gathered this from fr8 logistics of Vanuatu.
The Vanuatu Customs administration's tax base is CIF. CIF stands for Cost of goods, Insurance cost covering the goods and Freight cost of transporting the goods.
The total CIF value in foreign currency must be converted into Vatu currency and multiplied by the duty rate applicable on the goods to find the amount of customs duty payable. The duty amount is then added to the value of goods in vatu to arrive at the Vat tax base. The total amount of the duty and value of the goods is then multiplied by 12.5% Vat rate to find the amount of Vat payable. The duty and Vat amounts are then added together to find the total duty plus Vat payable on the goods.

There is a multiplier effect of the duty and taxes.  Duty is charged on top of shipping and tax is charged on top of shipping and on top of duty paid on shipping.    This amounts to a large importation levy. 

A resident does not have to pay this duty or vat and thus for a resident it seems worth it to import a vehicle that you already own. 

A 20 foot shipping container would cost roughly $6000 us to ship from Vancouver Canada to Port Vila via Australia or New Zealand.  (I got a quote of $5600 a 20 foot container  in 2007).    I suppose it would be higher now.

My truck - a Ford F150 is a few inches too long to fit into the 20 foot container however....
more to come

Hey Vanuatubound, thanks for the posting. We're heading to Espiritu Santo on the 25th Nov and are now looking into a vehicle from China as the cost to import is cheaper ($1650 for our small car). From what I can decipher it's better to import once we've become citizens and with other ventures in our lives this might be a little way off as we slowly move to the island. Its seems to us that once you're a citizen you have 9 months to get your vehicle to the Island without paying duty. Can someone let us know if this is right?..... looking forward to meeting locals on Santo.