Import from South Africa to the UK

[BizLightyear]

Hi Landy friends,
Thanks for letting me join this forum. I'm Danish and have been living in London the last year, but are now based in the green hills of Lancashire, UK.
I'm the happy owner of a 2006 Defender 110 Tdi300 Kalahari Edition (Rest Of the World specs), which I currently have registred in South Africa and use for our overland expeditions.
The short term plan is to drive it back to to the UK and register it there, but I am somewhat uncertain about the procedure and pitfalls and hope the that this forum can help make the process go smoother. The car is non-cat and non-EGR from the factory, thus I do not know if that will cause a problem with emissions during the MOT. Does anyone have experience with that?
The long term plan is to convert it from RHD to LHD and ship it to South America, so input from members who have done the RHD LHD conversion is of high interest too.
Thanks in advance and lot's of Landy greetings from Lancashire, UK.

[Romahomepete]

Important question.

Is it a UK built car?

Peter

[BizLightyear]

Hi Peter, yes, it's build in Solihull according to the VIN number.

Edited April 29, 2020 by BizLightyear

[Eightpot]

You need to:

Contact HMRC on arrival, pay any import tax & duty and get a NOVA certificate. There may be vat exemptions based on your status.

Have the car MoTd using its South African registration

Arrange insurance

Refer to the DVLA website section for 'registering a used vehicle for the first time', download the application form and guidance document.

Send off the MoT, Insurance doc, appilcation form, proof if ID and cheque making sure every detail is correct.

Registration will be issued in 3-4 weeks

If you want to ever own a vehicle in SA again you need to go through the formal export process, de-register or scrap it or you'll get a big unpaid licence bill

 

[BizLightyear]

Hi Eightpot,

Thanks a lot for your reply, it is highly appreciated.

Kind regards

Edited April 29, 2020 by BizLightyear

[Brian]

Remember to get a police clearance certificate, in addition to all the other formal registration documents. You'll need it at UK customs. Get it from the nearest police station in SA. Only needed for exporting the vehicle.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Brian

[BizLightyear]

23 minutes ago, Brian said:

Remember to get a police clearance certificate, in addition to all the other formal registration documents. You'll need it at UK customs. Get it from the nearest police station in SA. Only needed for exporting the vehicle.

Thanks Brian, will do. Do you know how the de-registering process works in RSA if we want to drive the car back to the UK instead of shipping it? Cheers

[Eightpot]

You only need police clearance to formally export the vehicle from SA.

It's a process local to SA and UK authorities won't ask for one.

[Nonimouse]

deleted

Edited April 29, 2020 by Nonimouse

[Brian]

The best and easiest place to start will be with a company specialising in vehicle registrations. I use Qnomore and have done for the last decade or so, for renewing annual vehicle licence and change of ownerships. Their fees are reasonable and certainly worth paying to avoid standing in a queue at the traffic dept.

https://qnomore.co.za/

The police clearance certificate is required for a vehicle exported from the SACU countries and is required at the port of entry into whichever country the vehicle enters when exiting the SACU area. It is therefore not something that is used when exiting South Africa necessarily. It is not needed, for example to cross into Botswana, Namibia or Swaziland, whether for tourism or export, nor will it be asked for to exit South Africa. After traversing those countries, e.g. through Botswana and crossing into Zimbabwe, you will need a temporary import permit on the Zimbabwe side for tourism or the clearance certificate from the SA police if exporting to that country.

In fact, customs officials in countries bordering SACU countries have been illegally demanding a clearance certificate from South African tourists, even when visiting on a temporary import permit as issued at the border for tourism. This is an opportunity for some "pocket money" to get around the immediate need to continue the journey. I have not heard of anyone having any issues with a clearance certificate when exiting South Africa, although it will likely be required if presenting export documents to be stamped or retained.

 

Since you intend driving, you will be well advised to obtain the police clearance certificate anyway. It avoids the corruption when leaving the SACU area and you will have it with you on arrival in UK anyway.

 

I would ask Qnomore if they can handle the export documentation to be forwarded to you in UK after you have driven out of South Africa and continue the journey entirely on the South African registration documents. The border crossings might just be a bit easier.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Brian
spelling

[Eightpot]

In order to get a Police Clearance Certificate for formal export, you will also need to get the car microdotted and get the Data Dot certificate - there are Data Dot centres in most towns.