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My inlaws are giving us their Ford Explorer to take to Dubai. Do we have to title it in our name here and pay 5% excise tax to the US just to take it to Dubai and another 5% when we get to Dubai for import fee or can the paperwork be signed over to us somehow and not titled until it gets to Dubai? What documentation is required to bring a car into Dubai?
Thanks in advance

Wendy

why don't you just buy one here? Cars are so cheap and your US model won't be Gulf Spec

scarlet wrote:why don't you just buy one here? Cars are so cheap and your US model won't be Gulf Spec

Yep. Although there is a ministry-of-something fee that you can pay to make your car magically GCC-spec. Dhs 330 turned my Japan-spec into GCC-spec. But I let some agency handle my paperwork. I couldn't be bothered with the hassle.

thanks. i had no idea about the Gulf spec stuff.

Beware! Depending on which State the car was built for (Florida and Alabama are different from Wyoming and California is different from everything else) the car may simply be unsuitable for use here because of the temperatures. As a general rule, a Southern States car will work better than something form the MidWest or the North, but you may still not be able to get spare parts if something goes wrong.

Plus, as I have discussed before under other headings, there is no guarantee that your gift will actually work at all on the fuel quality here. I'd be saying thanks but no thanks, and getting something locally that you know will work.

If your benefactors are particularly generous, have them sell the car in the States and give you the cash towards something new here and then everyone should be happy.

That's something to consider autodrome. Why then are there all of these posts saying that people imported cars and everything worked out fine? This is the first I've heard about fuel quality and different states and stuff. I always thought the cars in the US are built at a central location and shipped to different states with all the same specs. We have never looked at cars from other states as any different than ours.

epsmall wrote:That's something to consider autodrome. Why then are there all of these posts saying that people imported cars and everything worked out fine? This is the first I've heard about fuel quality and different states and stuff. I always thought the cars in the US are built at a central location and shipped to different states with all the same specs. We have never looked at cars from other states as any different than ours.

I doubt you'll have problems with fuel here. Many people drive US-spec imports here, and my own car is a Japan-spec German car. The only US-spec cars which hate our high-sulfur fuel are some direct-injection ones like the Lexus IS350 and LS460. In a Ford, the only difference with GCC-spec Explorers might be an extra fan and different air filter, which is what Jeep does. Overheating issues are possible, but in my experience a car suffers more due to the age of the cooling system rather than not being GCC-spec.

True - to an extent. California, for example, enjoys some of most severe emission restrictions anywhere in the world and the cars destined for that State are usually slightly different. The issue here is certainly one of fuel - which is why anything new in Europe is late here: on a recent trip to Italy to drive the new Audi A and S5s, we were advised that the cars would not be available in the Middle East until March next year precisely because the management system has to be reprogrammed to account for the lower fuel quality, in order that the car will deliver the same 'experience'.

Grey imports generally are bad news. There will be no warranty backup on a newer car, parts may be difficult to source, workshop procedures may not be available and they will be worth less when it comes to resale.

Years ago, I visited Jaguar in UK for the X Type launch - basically at the time, one body with two engine options (apart from colour and trim). The plant were producing 87 variations on the car depending on which market it was going to end up in. Things like fuel, fuel tank nozzle size and air density in each market, as well as temperature and humitity levels, dust and water, were all considerations.

Bottom line is that they might all look the same, but there will be detail differences for each market so that the car performs the same way in each market. I had a look at the build book for Land Rover about 20 years ago when I was ordering one, and it was the thickness of a London telephone directory, with legal and performance variations for almost every country under the sun. Danish market tailgate, anyone?

I guess 'you pays your money and you takes your chance'.