People living in the UAE moving overseas sometimes wonder if they should ship their car or buy a new one. It usually depends on the destination and model of your car. To make your job easier, here’s some valuable information to help you make a well-informed decision.
Is your car eligible?
Your first move should be to find out if the car you are shipping is “shippable”, i.e if it can be registered in the country you are moving to. There are some countries that limit import of certain car models. For example, India doesn’t allow export of left-hand cars. While you won’t have a problem shipping a GCC spec car to any of the GCC countries, you could face some problems when shipping a GCC spec car to any European country. Your car would have to go through additional processes to determine if it would comply with the rules and regulations of the other country. Other factors such as the acceptable emission fume levels of countries must also align.
Shipping to some countries can be very expensive
Buying a car in countries where the import duties and taxes are normally high is a better decision in the long run. Keeping in mind the type of car model, you might be faced with huge expenses in Pakistan, Philippines and India. On the flipside, taxes in countries like Kuwait, U.S and Saudi Arabia are low. Refer to the table below, compiled by ServiceMarket and Seabrook Cargo LLC services, to get an idea about the approximate shipping costs and the approximate values and duties applied on the car valuation.
Table 1: Approximate cost of shipping a car from UAE
| Country | Approximate shipping cost (AED) | Approximate duties and taxes on car valuation (%) |
| USA | 9,000–15,000 | 2.5 |
| EU | 3,500–11,000 | 29- 32 |
| UK | 7,000– 8,000 | 30 |
| Jordan | 6,800– 7,500 | >48 |
| Lebanon | 6,800– 8,000 | Upto 60 |
| India | 5,500– 6,500 | > 125 |
| Pakistan | 6,000–7,000 | 15- 80 |
| Philippines | 8,000– 9,000 | 65-150 |
| Kuwait | 3,000– 5,000 | 5 |
| Saudi Arabia | 3,500– 5,000 | 5 |
Shipping costs are reduced if your stay is temporary
If you plan to stay in another country for less than a year, then you can duck import duties and taxes on car shipping, according to Seabrook Cargo Services LLC. There are more than 75 countries where you can export your vehicle with a Carnet de passage if you plan to stay there for 12 months. In that case you would not have to pay VAT (value-added tax on import duties). A Carnet De passage can be requested from the Automobile and Touring Club in Dubai.
Is it better to buy or ship?
If a car costs more in the country you are shipping to, then it is probably better to ship it. Land shipping costs are lesser than sea shipping costs. Costs are also affected by distance. The smaller the distance, the lesser the amount. Get in touch with your shipping company for further inquiry into processes such as border taxes, duties and customs. If buying a car is more costly, then go for shipping. You can check your car valuation on online platforms like CarSwitch.com. They have an extensive inventory of used cars for sale where a variety of certified and warrantied cars are valued.
