Use of right hand cars in Ethiopia

Ofcourse, you can! Right-hand cars still exist in Ethiopia. Indeed you should have to know that that, you have to ride at right side too. In some countries, the rule is a bit different. I don't know about yours, Countries like Zimbabwe; they drive at left side.

Thanks Jossypapa. I mean right hand drive cars which are driven on the left side of the  road as in England. Are these cars allowed to be imported into Addis? I thought there was a restriction.where can i find out more?

How are u planning to bring it into the country, on a permanent or temporary basis. Practically, there are many right hand drive cars in Ethiopia. Import laws are very restricted and custom duty is very high.

It wont be easy drive for you , better you buy a car here.Nissan Juke will be expensive to buy here though and I don't think it is available even.

Still if you plan to import it here, be ready for the custom duties as they are huge,as far as driving is concerned, right hand cars are not commonly seen on the roads, i bevel it is okeh to drive one.

Hi
The legislation to my knowledge have not changed banning the importation of RHD cars into Ethiopia.

You can import your Nissan Juke, but the customs duties (duty, excise duty, local tax) is draconian based on the engine capacity of the vehicle , age and value. You are starring at something like 150% of the FOB (Free on Board) imported content of the value of the car and on top of that ERCA (Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority) do their own value adjudication (rendering the requirement of providing a declaratory value useless (why do you require a shipper to provide a value declaration of the goods if you not going to believe or accept the declared value)?

Worse, had Ethiopia been a WTO (World Trade Organization) signatory member, and accepted the Carnet Convention (Carnage de Passage), you could go to your AA (Automobile Association) in the United Kingdom, pay a facility bond value of the car and bring the car into Ethiopia under a Carnage de Passage where you can use the car for a period not exceeding a year without paying a single cent bar the shipping costs and customs clearance cost and export same under the Carnage de Passage back to your home country. I am not privy to the current status of the Carnage Convention insofar as Ethiopia's membership is concerned, but it could be worth a try.

The other option is to source a car from one of the neighboring countries (in LHD format) and drive it across into Ethiopia (I tried that option and gave up back in 2012). ERCA in their logic and wisdom have not figured out that one can legally buy a car in Sudan in LHD and drive it across the dust into Ethiopia because their calculation of customs duties include transport (the basis being: cost of vehicle + insurance + freight). Who told them to charge tax is beggars believe as WTO signatory countries do not include as this as part of the duty calculation, as the computation is simply FOB (free on board value) and then plus the insurance and transport. The ERCA chap at the border asked me where the transport was reflected on the invoice and I said I just drove the vehicle from Kenya to the Ethiopian border. And he said no, we cannot accept this and that put paid to my dream of driving a vehicle overland and clearing in country.

Finally, cars on the local market are exorbitantly priced and not worth what you pay. An ERCA employee once told me in 2013 that a car in Ethiopia was not a necessity but a luxury. What I ended up doing was getting to Germany, sourced a used VW Tiguan diesel and shipped this lock stock and barrel to Addis Ababa (with the railway line now functioning between the Port City of Djibouti and Addis Ababa one does not need to go to Djibouti to effect customs clearance and in-transit shipment). The leg time has been reduced considerably - pretty fast in modern standards (kudos to the powers be).

Generally you got to have guts and patience on a wing and prayer.... It should be a simple process that is complicated for no apparent reason other than frustrating importers.

My 2cents worth of comment.

Dannii

Thanks Saaed Ya, i would bring it through the official channels but need to know if there are right hand cars driven around and if there is easy navigability with these cars in the city and outside.

best
r

thanks Roohit. This is helpful. So you are saying that Nissan Juke is not used/doesn't have a market in Ethiopia?

best
r

Thanks Dannii for this detailed note. Very much appreciated. You have shared some interesting insights. I might ping you for additional information later if thats fine with you.

best
r

ruchb - no bother. Please chime in when you have further queries

Hey,

I am sure there are some jukes we can find on streets,actually you can find all kind of cars in Addis Ababa but point is , since it is RHD and if you are planning on selling it , it would be tough.

If you are planning on using it and taking it back then it is fine, I have seen some RHD on the streets but not very common.