Dubai Forums Dubai Tech Discussions Dubai Auto

Folks,

Needed some input from people who have had experience importing cars to DXB or know about the system enough to guide me through the process.

Car in question is a 2004 WRX STi. This used to be my personal car back in the States. I need to know what are the steps which I need to take from the time the car reaches port.

1) Duty, so I go to the port and meet with the customs agent with my bill of lading and they work out the value of the car. I pay 5% on the spot and get some paper work?

1) Registration. Once I have paid the duty, am I allowed to tow the car out of the facility to some RTA inspection site or do I have to do some conversion as such? From what I have gathered, one needs to have some warning on the side mirorrs in Arabic and get a 120KPH Plus buzzer installed. Is that factual or optional. Long and short what do I need to do to get the car registered in Dubai.

I see that they have banned Skylines. I do see GCC spec Lancer Evos along with some US imported Evo IX (on forums). That said, are STis one of those banned cars or they do not care much about it?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Lutfy

I don't know myself, Evolve and DubaiPetrolheads are 2 specialist car websites/forums that might help you if you don't get any luck here.

bro if the car is left handed y do you need to conversion? and who said skylines are banned :S. as for getting arabic writing on your mirror and installing a 120kph is just bull cr@p. there are so many cars in UAE which have been imported from Japan or Germany and most of them dont have stickers or buzers installed.

I dont know what the process of shipping and paying 5% duty is. best to involve a shipping person and let him do everything for you, it will be less hassle for you plus those guys know what they are doing.

as for the registration i think it should be ok since it is a left hand car which hasnt been converted from right to left. you probably will need to get a blue import number plate and insurance for one day for how many days you need to register your car.

p.s dont go listening to rumors or stories best source is the police or the RTA. call them up talk to them heheh dont worry you aint braking a law by bringing in a car to uae . its better to talk to them face to face rather then calling them up.

by the way how much did you car cost you back in the states? and how much was the shipping charges from states to dubai?

Thanks for the reply. I will be getting in touch with the RTA, wanted to get some pointers so I can start working in the right direction.

The cost of car is in the low to mid $20K and the shipping charge was a flat $3.5K for a 40 foot container which includes furniture, books, boxes, tools etc.

Lutfy

lutfy wrote:Thanks for the reply. I will be getting in touch with the RTA, wanted to get some pointers so I can start working in the right direction.

The cost of car is in the low to mid $20K and the shipping charge was a flat $3.5K for a 40 foot container which includes furniture, books, boxes, tools etc.

Lutfy

hmmm compared to the jap version the price is expensive. the japanese version you can get for $10K but they are right handed and you have to spend about $5K to $8K on converting them from right to left hand.
How about the duty? will you have to pay any duty?

I don't even want to entertain the idea of a 'conversion' in this place. I have yet to see ONE good RHD to LHD conversion. Of course, there might be one or two good conversions, so you'll just have to decide how lucky you're feeling

If the guy has a LHD STi, I'd say to just import it instead of buying a RHD one with a questionable history (aren't most used cars like that? ), doing a conversion, and finding that someone didn't do a good job (or someone's idea of a 'good' job is just shy of 'downright atrocious' in your book)

ghoonk wrote:I don't even want to entertain the idea of a 'conversion' in this place. I have yet to see ONE good RHD to LHD conversion. Of course, there might be one or two good conversions, so you'll just have to decide how lucky you're feeling

If the guy has a LHD STi, I'd say to just import it instead of buying a RHD one with a questionable history (aren't most used cars like that? ), doing a conversion, and finding that someone didn't do a good job (or someone's idea of a 'good' job is just shy of 'downright atrocious' in your book)

there are good ones but they are expensive but thats only because they are good i guess . and if you get it done by them you will be able to pass on dubai no plate. for their no u will have to contact the police or the traffic department.

Yeah, but why take the risk, when the OP already has his car in LHD, and all he needs to do is to import it? Plus, since he already owns the car, he knows the history of the car, and doesn't have to take a chance with buying one of uncertain history from here and then take more chances and spend more money on the conversion