Importing a car from UK
Posted: Sat 12 Jan 2019 1:31 pm
Just thought I would share my experiences:-
Importing a car
Some time ago my wife and I decided we should buy a UK car, spend a bit of time travelling through Europe with the final destination being TRNC where we will import the car. When we moved out here some 12 years ago we did something similar so whilst not complete novices it had been a while!
I planned ahead deciding on the type of car we wanted but not necessarily the model and started taking to dealers, I was in the UK last January so that was the target time for the buy with us driving over in the early spring. I treated it as a buyers’ market and sourced a car at a good price in the end.
We began the Journey in March and had a good trip over arriving on a beautifully calm spring day on the overnight ferry into Girne. I had everything sorted, insurance etc but needed ins and outs at the port so left the car there and took a taxi to the police station and sorted this.
We were given a yellow form that allowed us a month which is pretty much what I expected. We then took that form to the customs office at Lefkosa and had it extended. The extension relates to, I believe your ins/outs history and your car tax, though I have no idea what the relevance is. We were on UK road tax till January and they gave us till November. As the deadline approached, I went back and after a little bit of coaxing the stay was extended till 10th January as I wanted to get into another year and avoid dealing with it in December.
We then bit the bullet and decided to get on with it!
We went to a customs agent I have used for other things, decent English and pretty helpful. We took with us:-
Muhtars letter
Car Paperwork
Copy of passport
Fatura from the docks (port of entry)
Yellow import form from docks (port of entry)
New ins/outs
The agent filled out a form for us and prepared the paperwork and sent us to the Ticaret Diaresi to get the import licence. This has moved now and is on the right hand side of the road heading into Lefkosa. On the right hand side is a red petrol station (Kpet) and it is the road immediately after that. However you cannot take it so you have to continue in and turn at the big junction after the Flour distributor. You cannot do a u turn so the best thing we found was to turn left and then turn back and re-join the road which would lead out of Lefkosa. We made enquiries and were shown to an office on the first floor, they were all exceedingly helpful however we learned we were deficient by 2 pieces of paperwork and we needed additionally: -
Bank Statements and a Copy of our Kocan
We returned the following day with these docs and the closure of this was a breeze, again all parties were pleasant and helpful. We then went back to the customs agent. Another form filled out and we went to the customs office with one of their “runners”. The car was inspected and there was lots of running round offices whilst we sat and drank coffee. It was determined that the Ticaret Dairesi had missed a letter out on their form in the sequence that formed the chassis number and also the inspector was unable to read the engine number. The first was fixed by another visit to the Dairesi where there was lots of apologies and the issue was quickly sorted. The latter was sorted at the inspection by police later in the process. We then went back with the corrected form, more “running” by the customs guy followed and finally the moment of truth came and we were told what we owed. They took the latest Glass guide price, trade then took 23% off this (UK Taxes or something) then took something like 50% of that and the figure was about 2 thirds of what I was expecting. Fees paid to the agent were 500tl. The tax is paid in TL.
We then went to the police station just up the road, he sent us off to get the engine number cleaned, we returned got an inspection report from him, took it to his office and got a new MOT. No emissions were required. We took all this back to the customs office so they could enter the engine number on their paperwork and that was it. It was approaching 3pm so we thought we would leave the registration part for a fresh day.
All in all, a result. Happy with what I paid and also very happy with the help assistance and friendliness of all parties.
The second part of importation involved going to the Lefkosia Motor Registration Office (old KTHY building). We arrived in the morning and took a couple of numbers (we didn’t quite know which one we wanted). When our number came up the lady behind the counter told us to go to ‘Danisma’ (Advice) which as you enter the building is straight in front of you. Speak to the person behind the counter and explain that it is a new registration. He took the file from us and told us to come back at 2pm. At 2pm we arrived and were told to sit down as it wasn’t quite ready. After about 1 ½ hours and asking intermittently if it was ready, we were called through the back where we paid about £650. This included the first year’s tax. They filled out a new Log Book and gave it to us along with the tax disc, MOT and copy of the import form. If you need husband and wife on the log book please inform them before they fill it out, they will need a copy of both passports.
All done and dusted, we now just need to get new number plates and change the details on our insurance.
Hope this is of help to someone!!!!
Importing a car
Some time ago my wife and I decided we should buy a UK car, spend a bit of time travelling through Europe with the final destination being TRNC where we will import the car. When we moved out here some 12 years ago we did something similar so whilst not complete novices it had been a while!
I planned ahead deciding on the type of car we wanted but not necessarily the model and started taking to dealers, I was in the UK last January so that was the target time for the buy with us driving over in the early spring. I treated it as a buyers’ market and sourced a car at a good price in the end.
We began the Journey in March and had a good trip over arriving on a beautifully calm spring day on the overnight ferry into Girne. I had everything sorted, insurance etc but needed ins and outs at the port so left the car there and took a taxi to the police station and sorted this.
We were given a yellow form that allowed us a month which is pretty much what I expected. We then took that form to the customs office at Lefkosa and had it extended. The extension relates to, I believe your ins/outs history and your car tax, though I have no idea what the relevance is. We were on UK road tax till January and they gave us till November. As the deadline approached, I went back and after a little bit of coaxing the stay was extended till 10th January as I wanted to get into another year and avoid dealing with it in December.
We then bit the bullet and decided to get on with it!
We went to a customs agent I have used for other things, decent English and pretty helpful. We took with us:-
Muhtars letter
Car Paperwork
Copy of passport
Fatura from the docks (port of entry)
Yellow import form from docks (port of entry)
New ins/outs
The agent filled out a form for us and prepared the paperwork and sent us to the Ticaret Diaresi to get the import licence. This has moved now and is on the right hand side of the road heading into Lefkosa. On the right hand side is a red petrol station (Kpet) and it is the road immediately after that. However you cannot take it so you have to continue in and turn at the big junction after the Flour distributor. You cannot do a u turn so the best thing we found was to turn left and then turn back and re-join the road which would lead out of Lefkosa. We made enquiries and were shown to an office on the first floor, they were all exceedingly helpful however we learned we were deficient by 2 pieces of paperwork and we needed additionally: -
Bank Statements and a Copy of our Kocan
We returned the following day with these docs and the closure of this was a breeze, again all parties were pleasant and helpful. We then went back to the customs agent. Another form filled out and we went to the customs office with one of their “runners”. The car was inspected and there was lots of running round offices whilst we sat and drank coffee. It was determined that the Ticaret Dairesi had missed a letter out on their form in the sequence that formed the chassis number and also the inspector was unable to read the engine number. The first was fixed by another visit to the Dairesi where there was lots of apologies and the issue was quickly sorted. The latter was sorted at the inspection by police later in the process. We then went back with the corrected form, more “running” by the customs guy followed and finally the moment of truth came and we were told what we owed. They took the latest Glass guide price, trade then took 23% off this (UK Taxes or something) then took something like 50% of that and the figure was about 2 thirds of what I was expecting. Fees paid to the agent were 500tl. The tax is paid in TL.
We then went to the police station just up the road, he sent us off to get the engine number cleaned, we returned got an inspection report from him, took it to his office and got a new MOT. No emissions were required. We took all this back to the customs office so they could enter the engine number on their paperwork and that was it. It was approaching 3pm so we thought we would leave the registration part for a fresh day.
All in all, a result. Happy with what I paid and also very happy with the help assistance and friendliness of all parties.
The second part of importation involved going to the Lefkosia Motor Registration Office (old KTHY building). We arrived in the morning and took a couple of numbers (we didn’t quite know which one we wanted). When our number came up the lady behind the counter told us to go to ‘Danisma’ (Advice) which as you enter the building is straight in front of you. Speak to the person behind the counter and explain that it is a new registration. He took the file from us and told us to come back at 2pm. At 2pm we arrived and were told to sit down as it wasn’t quite ready. After about 1 ½ hours and asking intermittently if it was ready, we were called through the back where we paid about £650. This included the first year’s tax. They filled out a new Log Book and gave it to us along with the tax disc, MOT and copy of the import form. If you need husband and wife on the log book please inform them before they fill it out, they will need a copy of both passports.
All done and dusted, we now just need to get new number plates and change the details on our insurance.
Hope this is of help to someone!!!!