Bringing a car from uk to maurtius

Yon need to wait at least four years before you can sell the car.

If you need more information, please feel free to contact me; I work for a freight forwarding company.

hi fred thanks for the info I appreciate it.

According to my information, If you are a Returning Mauritian Citizen having lived abroad for more than 10 years  will be entitled for an exemption  from the Custom's Duty but you would be required to pay 15%  Value Added Tax + appropriate Registration Fee.  If you decide to leave Mauritius with your vehicle or sell your vehicle say after 3 years, you will be required to pay duty on the final year only.  The best advice I can give you is to contact  MRA direct and seek advice, as you will know where you stand in writing.   Regards. Said

I am posting the below scenario in case it could be of assistance to anyone:

" Before moving to Mauritius we lived in the UK, where the price of everything is a click away on the Internet. For example, our 2003 Citroën Xsara Picasso was valued at £2,400 (or Rs 120,000) by Parkers (http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-prices/). Relative to Mauritius, cars are cheap in Europe. Unfortunately doing research on the cost of cars in Mauritius is not such an easy exercise.

The shippers told us that exporting our car would add only £500 to the total shipping cost. Once a car arrives in Mauritius, it is valued by Customs whereupon import duties and VAT are applied to that valuation. In our case it was:
- Rs 240,000 (Customs' valuation of the car - note that it is almost twice the UK Parkers value)
Therefore, Customs duties and taxes levied were:
- Rs 132,000 (55% import duty)
- Rs 56,000 (15% of Rs 372,000, being the value plus import duty)
- Rs 54,000 (first registration and road tax)
= total of Rs 242,000 paid (vs. a car that is worth Rs 120,000 in the UK)

Then again, a small second-hand city car costs in excess of Rs 400,000 from dealers in Mauritius. Chances are that we would have ended up with one of those if we did not import ours from the UK. Alternatively, it would have taken a lot of money, time and effort to find the same type of car as the Citroën. To rent a small car costs around Rs 25,000 per month, so you also need to add that to the total cost of importation.

There are administrative issues to be aware of. Even if your clearing agent has all the paperwork in place the clearing process will only commence upon physical arrival of the car. The Mauritian authorities will then contact the origin country's authorities to ascertain that the car is not stolen. Seemingly such requests are processed quickly in the UK. Our car was released 20 days following delivery of the container although we have heard that cars originating from certain countries (including South Africa) can take substantially longer to clear. Also, the Mauritian authorities will issue you initially with a temporary licence as the permanent version can only be obtained once the car is insured. Unfortunately the temporary licence is valid for three days only and as the insurance process takes longer than this, we had to apply for a second temporary licence which meant another trip to Port Louis. In the process we also discovered that under a temporary licence you are not allowed to transport passengers (a bit tricky if you have to do the school run) or use the vehicle at all on Sundays.

Manual second-hand cars are difficult to come by in Mauritius. Pretty much all second-hand cars are imported from Japan where vehicles tend to have automatic transmissions. Ultimately the choice of cars is limited if you are looking for value for money. Double-cab trucks/bakkies incur only 10% import duty. It seems that many expat families end up with a double-cab and a little Nissan, a good barometer of value for money in Mauritius. Only ship your car over if your car if you have a special reason or a double cab. It is touch-and-go whether it is worth the money and effort to import a 'conventional' car.

Also note that cars (not trucks/bakkies) with engines larger than 1,600cc attract 100% import duty. "

We were going to ship our car's over to Mauritius 4 years ago but the costs involved were quite heavy, also one of the cars was just over 4 years old so we were not allowed to bring that in.So we sold them before we came here.

The cost of cars here are very expensive and you will see many cars dated 1995 on the roads here, people look after them and keep them running, because of the costs of a new one

I know of a shipping guy, very good in the UK who ships to Mauritius, his brother runs the other half of the Company from here - both Mauritian guys - PM me if you want his details and you can have a chat with him, he will be up to date on the formalities also

No one worries here what type of car you drive so long as it gets you from A-B

I would appreciate the contact details of the shipper you mention in your message.
Thanks

barbara torrance wrote:

I would appreciate the contact details of the shipper you mention in your message.
Thanks

Is your message to me Barbara or one of the other posters above?

It's to you Rosiewestie

barbara torrance wrote:

It's to you Rosiewestie

I will send you a PM with his name and contact details now

Thank you

Hi
I would be really grateful if you could let me have the contact details of the Mauritian shipping guys in the UK please....
Many thanks
Tony

Many thanks that's much appreciated

In short....rather don't! Customs are very obstructive and to a great extent a law unto themselves. The values they attempt to ascribe to used vehicles are laughable in international terms. They must be on some sort of commission. The bureaucracy and paperwork need determination and lots of time. Your really do not want to get into a haggle with them.

Rather see if you can find a reputable branded franchise dealer and get a used or demo vehicle from them. You will have to wait because nobody really keeps stock. Worth noting is that duties VAT etc were somewhat relaxed in the last budget on electric and hybrid vehicles so that may be worth investigating.

There is are other reasons not to drive small conventional cars. The climate and roads are hard on vehicles, parking can be a hit and miss affair and very important the general standard of driving is horrendous. Hardly a week goes by without a fatal head-on or similar. That is one reason why locals and ex-pats alike favour the practicality of twin-cab pick-ups. The safety factor as well as practicality, robustness and price.

hello, can i have the contact details plz?

So, are cars considered a luxury in Mauritius?

Hi
I would be most grateful if I could have a contact number for those Mauritian shipping guys that you mentioned in your post.
Many thanks
Tony

Anyone need help to buy and ship car from uk to mauritius inbox me
thank you

I live in Mauritius (not a citizen but on a residence permit). I am on holiday in UK and looking at the option of buying a little second hand car here and exporting, for my own use, to Mauritius. Could you please advise me as to costs and procedures and any conditions I need to be aware of. Thanks in advance. Laura

fred1205 wrote:

Yon need to wait at least four years before you can sell the car.

If you need more information, please feel free to contact me; I work for a freight forwarding company.

Hello Rosie
Please can you send me details of the contacts you have regarding this please. Planning to take car across in September - only 4 months away! Thank you

This is very useful information , Lawrence.
Thank you

I also imported my car into Mauritius and used the same broker who dealt with my furniture.  The car will be inspected and must not be very old

Hi,  I am a returning resident to Mauritius, can I bring my car which is over 5 years old?

Many thanks

Hi, moving to mauritius in October...want to ship a chrysler grand voyager from uk to port Louis.
My wife is Mauritian, having been away for more than 10 years...would the car avoid the excise / duty ?
How much to ship a grand voyager ?..the engine is 3.3...any help or contact details would be great..thanks...Peter K

Hi, Good Morning are you doing the returning residence, if yes,  so no duty to paid the car has to be on the name of your wife, in case you have a residence permit for more than 5 years in mauritius  then thats fine, in case no there are some paper have to be done... I,m gerard 26yrs old i know some people, i can help for that you can contacrt me on +230 58563000 , i would be glad to help you if you need help. regards,

Gerard, thank you..my wife is Mauritian, returning after 11 years, car is in her name...any idea how customs MRU decide on the value of the car....older cars are so cheap in ireland ( less than €1000 )...do we need an agent ?...again thank you....Peter K

I did send you a detailed private message yesterday and I wonder if you did read it!!!

hello
I hope you are well...

you made mention of guys in UK and Mauritius for car shipping.. can you please send me their details..
***
Thank you

much appreciated

hi
I am looking for a reliable car clearing agent in mauritius. please contact.
thank you

Fred,
I'm living in Uk and planning to retire in Mauritius with my wife. We both have a car a would like to bring them with us. They are both over ten years old but are in superb condition. Can you advise us.

Hi

The age of the car should be not less than 18 months and not more than 48 months at the time of the shipment.

Just to be sure maximum age to import a car on imigration is 48 months

Tony kadge wrote:

Fred,
I'm living in Uk and planning to retire in Mauritius with my wife. We both have a car a would like to bring them with us. They are both over ten years old but are in superb condition. Can you advise us.

Hi Tony,

The age limit for cars must now be under 4 years old. Do you have Mauritius passport?

***
Kind Regards,
Frederic

Hi

Sorry for my late reply... I do not check my messages here very often these days!

Are you looking for a clearing agent in Mauritius or UK?

Regards,
Frederic

Hi

not more than 48 months.

Rgds

Hi
Kindly can you please let me know the freign company as i want to bring a container with one 4x4 to mauritius
Thanks

Hi Briyan,

Please contact David at Lightwood plc on (44)1992 524 237.

If you need more infor, please let me know.

Regards,
Frederic