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car/truck

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ahausman
  3/20/2014 23:05 EST

want to drive a vehicle down from france that will be a good surf car that mechanics fix easily and with plentiful parts - any ideas?

FarahL
  3/27/2014 13:24 EST

Hi There,
It's not clear from this post, together with your others, if you are coming into Morocco for just a few months or more permanently.
If you are just coming into the country for 2-3 months in the summer & driving the car in & out of the country, yourself, then something like my last car, a Citroen C3 Pluriel is certainly a fun car & I would hope your surfboard would fit either through the soft top roof, or by folding down various seats! As it is based on a standard C3 design, parts should easily be available. Car crime is not a huge problem in Morocco - as most people don't have one - but damage to cars is, so you will need somewhere to park which is supervised in some way.
BUT if you are planning a more permanent move to Morocco, then the situation regarding cars is a great deal more difficult & complex. If you will be needing a car for more than 6 months, you may not import a vehicle more than 5 years old & will have to pay a very substantial import duty - and that's just the start...I speak from bitter experience, so let me know if the latter is what you are planning to do & I can give further advice.

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ahausman
  3/28/2014 10:01 EST

Hey, thanks for reply FarahL: I am coming permanently(or for at least a couple years). I had not heard that bit about importing a car more than five years, but was expecting an import duty for sure. There's more?

FarahL
  3/28/2014 15:07 EST

Hi There,

Ok Just to confirm NO-ONE , foreigner or Moroccan resident is permitted to import permanently a car more than 5 years old.
(The only exceptions are Moroccans coming home to retire).

Very few Moroccans pay any income tax and so import duties are an important way for the Government to raise revenue.

What this means, as far as cars are concerned, is that you can expect to pay up to 100% of the car's current value as import duty (so you will need good paperwork which proves what you paid for the car, together with all of its original registration documents). The effect of such a huge charge also means that cars in Morocco are very expensive items - ones that you & I would think were heading for the scrapheap - with dents & scratches & dating back to before 2000, can still command a price of say 4000 Euros. Take a look at the Moroccan equivalent of Ebay; Bikhir , to see what I mean.

Morocco has, however, recently begun assembling some "Duster" marque cars, which presumably will not be subject to import duty; but this is only n option if you can afford a brand new car...

A couple of other things: no European car insurance policy is likely to cover you to drive into Morocco (in small print North Africa is almost always excluded). The result is that at Tangier port, you will see small booths which will sell you a short term policy just to get you started. You will certainly need this right away, as there are routinely police checks outside major towns & you must carry with you all of the car's legal papers, your driving license, car insurance & passport.

Border police in Tangier port will also expect to examine your car & its contents - and you may need to pay import duty on the contents too, if things appear to be new.

The car will ultimately need to be re-registered in Morocco. I have also read that if you live permanently in Morocco for more than a year, you are obliged to take a Moroccan driving test -but I have no direct experience of this!

If you decide to bring in a car more than 5 years old, you can only keep it in Morocco for 6 months out of every calendar year. Each time you leave the country during this 6 months, you must either leave in the car or surrender the car, its keys & its papers to customs officials at the airport, until you return. The fact that you have entered the country in a car will be on your passport record, so officials will know & stop you leaving by air if your car has not been surrendered - I missed a flight on these grounds before I discovered this rule. (NB there is an option on the Moroccan Customs website to choose either a french or english version- but when you choose the english version, nothing happens & you just get the french version anyway!
You will also absolutely not be able to sell, or even give, such a car to a Moroccan as they are subject to the same rules as you. You would not even be able to scrap the car as this requires paperwork too!

The only exception on the import duty front are Moroccans who work permanently abroad. They may, once every five years, import a brand new car without paying duty - which, of course, gives them a nice windfall when they sell it.

I think this answer covers most things you need to know. Good Luck!

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