# bringing cars to SA



## matthijs1 (Feb 22, 2010)

My family and I are planning to move to Cape town in about 1.5-2 years from now. If we would purchase cars that are RHD in the United States where we live and make sure that they are registered in our name for a certain amount of time before we move(I heard 1 year is nessesary) Can we bring them as part of our houshold goods if we owned them long enough to avoid very high import taxes? What requirements are there for getting them on the street? Any input would be greatly appreciated


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## mman (Nov 15, 2009)

Probably easier to buy your cars when you get to South Africa. What is your reasoning behind wanting to buy a car an bring it over to S.A anyways if i may ask?


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## matthijs1 (Feb 22, 2010)

because i can buy the cars a lot cheaper in the States


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## ROKZY (Feb 25, 2009)

Some thing to consider would be that inorder to gain access into quite a number of places- homes- offices- parking lots, etc, you will have to reach over (or maybe even get out of the car to go to the other side) to use the call box, speak to the guard, or gain the parking ticket. Not such a big deal, I guess, but then consider that a lot of carjackings- robberies happen right in the drive way when people are waiting for the gates to open. Of Course a right driving car would likely through off the person who wants to take the car... but still a definate security risk for yourself especially if you have to get out of the car to use the call box. There are some highpoints to bringing a car into SA, do also consider broker fees, loading dock fees mixed with possible general corruption... 
And then there is driving on the left- maybe you have already tackled that- not an easy task for the newbie and using a car that was made to drive on the right is just added difficulty.
But, then again, maybe the bright side is greater....


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## matthijs1 (Feb 22, 2010)

Rokzy,

Thanks soo much for your reply. The car we are planning to buy in the U.S would actually be a RHD. They have good deals here and we can get good financing options. driving with a RHD car in the U.S before we leave might be a pain, but we'll have to make it work


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## ROKZY (Feb 25, 2009)

matthijs1 said:


> Rokzy,
> 
> Thanks soo much for your reply. The car we are planning to buy in the U.S would actually be a RHD. They have good deals here and we can get good financing options. driving with a RHD car in the U.S before we leave might be a pain, but we'll have to make it work


OH dear, oops, sorry! I just saw an American Ford Mustang on the road and all I could think about was-- what a pain that would be! Obviously I still had that on my mind when replying to your post...
If you can get the car on the very cheap- perhaps all of the import fees would balance out. While it's true that cars are expensive here, it is my observation that the maintance done by the average Joe here is very poor. So, with that in mind, even second hand cars can be not so good.....
Do search the threads for this question... you may find specific answers to your questions regarding import fees and such. Sorry I can't be a better help. 
~Best!


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## stuart72 (Mar 21, 2010)

the best thing to do might be to have a look at the department of trade and industry website, as it is all in there and simple enough to find. you can find it by searching for dti on google.co.za


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## zambezi.king (Oct 8, 2009)

Not sure of the facts but...

We wanted to bring in a car from the UK when we returned we needed:

1. VAT (14%)
2. SABS (South African Bereau of Standards) fee of about $759 I think?
3. Shipping and clearing fees.
4. Demurrage fees if the vehicle has problems clearing customs... with corruption on the increase this might be a problem unless you can pre-clear... check up on this to see if it is a possiblity.

I think if the vehicle is in your name for a year you don't pay the import duty but you still pay the VAT etc... not sure, check it out.


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## Johanna (Apr 13, 2009)

We brought our car back ( it was a car that we bought in SA and took to the UK ), I would recommend that you buy a car here.
We had quite a bit of hassles, but in the end we managed to get the car cleared and did not have to pay anything, but it was not an easy task.


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