Bring a car to Morocco

I dont have any concrete advise, but can tell you about our experiences.

I think there is a way you can take it out the country, to Ceuta or Spain mainland and come back in and get the papers extended. It is however dependent on the customs officials on duty. We had a colleague with a EU vehicle do that and when he tried to come back in they would not extend it and wanted to charge him duties. He went back into Spain again and returned the next day and was waved through without a problem.

We have had a problem importing a bike as the customs officials calculated the taxes on their value and not what we paid for it and ended up paying close to double in the value.

Sorry, so no sound advise there!

Thanks Wendy.  Your bike experience is what I fear for my van:  That they will want 100% or 200% of THEIR value.  I'll ship the van back to Canada before I do that.  For the amount of money they may want, I can buy a NEW Toyota or Mitsubishi 4WD van here in Morocco.  Thanks for your input.  Malcolm (Rabat)

Hi there, you can take your van out of Morocco (as a previous preson explained) and bring it back in as long as it is not in the same year that you originally brought it into Morocco. We brought our car from England in August and will go to Spain in Feb and bring it back in again. There should not be a problem as it is not in the same year we brought it in. Good luck!

Thanks eljamaly.  From what I've informally read on the internet, foreigners can bring a vehicle into Morocco for 6 months out of any 12 month period (this is what customs gave my van in August 2009).  But you seem to suggest that sometimes the "12 month period" is interpreted as a calendar year.

I'll try to renew the "6 months" this in Feb 2010 (next month), and I plan to have the van out of Morocco for July and August, but then the same problem will start all over again, and every year I have the van here :-(   The hassle may not be worth it.  Malcolm

We can have vehicles in Morocco up to 6 months. Then 6 months out, and again in. Unless: you have 2 passports! i know a friend he has, one Portuguese passports and another from Australia. So 2 registered numbers at the border.

My sister is going to pick her car back in Portugal, 6 months out are done.

car coming again.

Thanks Erfoud.  I've also heard that having 2 different sets of Ownership papers (Vehicle Title) in 2 different names will work for the every 6 months in and out trick.  Thanks.

hi / don't forget that you can keep a car in morocco up to 6 months but not a VAN because is considered as a commercial vehicle so you can keep it only up to 3 months .

Thanks Dinob:  Just for the record, Moroccan customs gave me 6 months for the van as it's a personal camper-van vehicle.  But thanks for taking the time to write.  Malcolm

can you let me know how you got on with your van as i have the same problem.
thanks

OK, this was our experience:

I had to get vehicle insurance to drive a foreign vehicle in Morocco, as my Int'l insurance had expired.  I bought only 10 days.

I bought vehicle insurance to be able to drive my Canadian van into Europe (Ceuta).  I had to buy 30 days, the minimum. Historically I used MotorCycleExpress.com, but they temporarily stopped offering this insurance, but I did find knopftours.com/ . Come to find out, I did not have to purchase this insurance.  See below.

We drove to Tetouan beach area of Fnediq and stayed in the DreamLand Hotel.  That night, we decided to take a taxi to the Ceuta border to check out what we would do 'tomorrow'.  The Moroccan Customs guy said, "come back here at about 9 p.m. tonight (when there are few people), and then be sure to check the van out of Morocco (i.e. van entered as exited in the Moroccan computer) and then do a U turn BEFORE you have to enter Ceuta, and come back into Morocco." 

We did that, BUT the guy waived the required 24 hours that a vehicle is SUPPOSED to be out of Morocco before returning. No bribes were asked for nor given. 

This trip was at the end of January, and we were then given only 5 more months to have the van in Morocco this calendar year, as we had used 1 month already (January) for our total of 6 months in any one calendar year.

We did ascertain that the fine for overstaying the vehicle time limits (the 6 months) are:
1100 MAD for 5 days;
1260 MAD for 10 days;
2750 MAD for 30 days;
5000 MAD for 3 months;
10000 MAD for 6 months

FWIW, Moroccan customs wants 47,000 MAD to import a 1989 VW Camper van.  I have decided that I will NOT do this, nor do the 6 months export foolery on an ongoing basis and I will sell the van in Europe and buy a nice new Moroccan 4WD VW T5 van and have a camper interior custom made for it.

OK?  Malcolm

I had my uk registered car in Morocco for total 9 months, 3 months for last year 2009 and 6 months for this year 2010 every 3 months I took it to Ceuta and brought it back in again. I have just returned with another vehicle which is a camper van although on the documents it's still a van. I was given just 2 months at the customs in Tanger and not the 3 that I expected, as it was late and extremely hectic in Tanger I didn't notice the 2 months until the next day. I now know that vans can only stay in Morocco for 3 months but this still doesn't explain why they only gave me 2 months and I am thinking that it could be because I had my other vehicle here. Can anyone shed any light on this?

I have a question about this as well.  I am an American but recently got my carte de sejour to stay here in Morocco.  I would like to buy a car from Europe because it it much less expensive.  What papers will I need when I bring the car to Morocco?  How can I insure the car?  Thanks for all the help.

Hi

I have a UK car that is in Spain and would like to sell it if you find out what you need to know.I know some things and might be able to give you some advise based on my own experience over the last year with vehicles here in Morocco but will get back to you soon as my battery is running out!

Does anyone know if they check your drivers license at the border?

I've come into Morocco by ferry several times in the last year and I have never been asked for a Driver's License. IMHO one would be foolish to drive without a valid driver's license!

mwstebbins wrote:

I've come into Morocco by ferry several times in the last year and I have never been asked for a Driver's License. IMHO one would be foolish to drive without a valid driver's license!

Thank you for your reply. I don't intend to drive without a license, the papers for the car are in my friends name who will be with me but I will be driving the car which is also insured for me to drive, it's all completely legal but I wasn't sure if they might want to see her license for any reason.

I am wondering how this works, If I bring a vehicle in to Morocco in November that will be just a few weeks left of 2010, does anyone know how long they will give me? will they give me 6 months in total which will take me into 4 months of next years 6 months allowance?

My girlfriend brought her car into morocco this spring. the original expatriation date (when the car has to leave by) that she was given was early oct (6months)
when you bring a car into morocco, you can't leave the country without the car so flying off for a weekend is (in theory) not possible.
for this reason we went to Ceuta last week to exit with the car and come back the next day with the car under MY name. we were hoping for a fresh 6 months (same car, brought in on a different passport) when they filled out the green slip, they checked chassis and registration numbers on the computer and gave us the same original expatriation date. very disappointing.
we asked what happens if we overstay beyond the expatriation date.
reply:
1-30 days: 1500mad
30 - 60 days: 5000mad
60days - year 10000mad

keeping the car in Morocco an extra month would be ok if it only costs 1500mad.
the frustrating thing is not really knowing whether to trust this info;
(two separate custom officials had told us over the phone that we could have a fresh 6 months by nipping to ceuta and bring the car back in on a different passport. so why should i trust another official on the "fines" i would have to pay if i overstay?)
i have no idea what will happen if i overstay and get stopped by the police.

Hi, I think I am in big trouble. Can anyone help me? My husband and I are moving to Morocco because of work for 2 years. Removal company came last week, filled up the truck and when I went to check the docs to ship my car, I found the Decree 2-10-421 29/09/2010 saying that no car older than 5 years would be allowed into the country. Even if Diplomatic Core!!! Can anyone confirm if that is true? Is it still on? My car is 2006!!! :s What should I do?!?!?!?!

I want to bring a car to morocco,  it is in my mother's name. She is not traveling with me, is it a problem?