Exporting a mini out of Sri Lanka to UK

[CryptoB]

Hello All,

Long time reader first time poster here.

I live in UK permanently  I would like to know  any information about exporting a car out of Sri Lanka, I have a mini in Sri Lanka (registered under my fathers name currently which we will transfer to myself if it helps the process) and I would like to export the vehicle to UK, this car means a lot to me and lot of sentimental value so I refuse to sell it but currently it's not being used by anyone and rusting away which is a shame. This car has great memories so I really want to take the car with me to UK if possible.

I heard there is a new(ish?) law bought in  recently where it allows exporting vehicles out of Sri Lanka. Is this true? I remember reading few years back this was almost impossible.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

[iRage]

Hey...I would sat welcome to the forum but since you have been here before.."Congrats on your first post !!!".

Yes..there is a provision for you to export your car. Been looking in to it myself...the regulations for a Sri and pre-Sri regristered car is somewhat different (the latter falls in to antique status, so you need to jump through some hoops). The additional complication I would see for your case is the "last registered owner" of the car. If it still is in your father's name you will have to show evidence to the fact that you are the rightful owner of it (no one else..your siblings ? would claim rights t it). Plus, you will have to show that you are able to import the car in to the foreign country legally (i.e. show you are a resident there...or selling the car to someone there, etc...)  

[CryptoB]

42 minutes ago, iRage said:

Hey...I would sat welcome to the forum but since you have been here before.."Congrats on your first post !!!".

Yes..there is a provision for you to export your car. Been looking in to it myself...the regulations for a Sri and pre-Sri regristered car is somewhat different (the latter falls in to antique status, so you need to jump through some hoops). The additional complication I would see for your case is the "last registered owner" of the car. If it still is in your father's name you will have to show evidence to the fact that you are the rightful owner of it (no one else..your siblings ? would claim rights t it). Plus, you will have to show that you are able to import the car in to the foreign country legally (i.e. show you are a resident there...or selling the car to someone there, etc...)  

Thanks very much iRage.

Truth of the matter is my father passed away recently and we are sorting out all these things right now,  I'm in the process of transferring the vehicle to myself or to my sister or mother (ie , one of them become the rightful owner and then I get it transferred to my self as the person who is exporting  I wanted to see what is the best option before doing anything.

There are no issues with ownership of the vehicle as me, my sister and my mother all want it to come with me to UK as it is our pet car of the family and that is what we all want , I bought the car myself and registered it under my fathers name 18 years ago and I've been telling my father to sell the car and use that money for something else since it's not being used much, but he refused to sell it  until he left us because it reminded him of me being here.. so now that he is gone I do not want too sell it , so I will try my best to take it with me.

About my resident status, I have permanent residency in UK and 2 years ago I was eligible to become a British Citizen but I never bothered doing it,  so right now I'm a Sri Lankan citizen with permanent residency in UK,

Should I kick start the process as a Sri Lankan or after becoming a British citizen ?

 

So to sum up below are the queries I have

1. Should I transfer the vehicle to myself or to my sister/mother first?

2. Should I kick start the process as a Sri Lankan or should I become a foreigner and then start the process?

3. Where can I find any official info? any links to sites or documents? should I go to some government department and talk to someone over there etc?

 

Vehicle reg is 6 Sri so I recon this doesn't falls in the antiques category?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[iRage]

Well...in my case the car was a 1983 Corolla....I am a Sri lankan citizen with residency in Japan...so things seem to be okay. It might be easier to just transfer it in to your name once and for all rather than registering it under your family members' names and then transferring it to you....that just adds times and additional transfer costs, etc...also, having it under your name for as long as possoible might help your case.

I started off with customs (well my dad did the leg work); then referred to the Department of Import and Export control, who pretty much said the car needs to be clear (i.e. proper registration without disputes, etc....). Not sure of what happens with the registration because I never pursued it that far because I decided to keep the car in SL for a few more years. 

[CryptoB]

Cheers iRage, much appreciated.

Edited August 1, 2018 by CryptoB

[CryptoB]

Ok I found some information and posting here in case if it helps someone else.

1. Need to go to RMB and request a cancellation of registration via MTA  67 and request to export the vehicle via MTA  140 forms..

2. Obtain a temperory TIN/VAT registration from inland revenue department

3. Contact Sri Lanka customs and inform them regarding the matter and pay any fees charges.

 

Regarding  shipping I found a shipping agent called trico which I have dealt in the past to send stuff from UK to Sri Lanka which is pretty reputed and reliable company. Spoke to them on the phone today and it looks like it's going to cost around 3.5 - 4 lahks.

 

Shipping takes a around 18 days in transit and another 2-3 weeks either side waiting times. so I'm looking at around 6 weeks for the whole process.

Edited August 3, 2018 by CryptoB

[Dharshini]

On 8/3/2018 at 6:13 PM, CryptoB said:

Ok I found some information and posting here in case if it helps someone else.

1. Need to go to RMB and request a cancellation of registration via MTA  67 and request to export the vehicle via MTA  140 forms..

2. Obtain a temperory TIN/VAT registration from inland revenue department

3. Contact Sri Lanka customs and inform them regarding the matter and pay any fees charges.

 

Regarding  shipping I found a shipping agent called trico which I have dealt in the past to send stuff from UK to Sri Lanka which is pretty reputed and reliable company. Spoke to them on the phone today and it looks like it's going to cost around 3.5 - 4 lahks.

 

Shipping takes a around 18 days in transit and another 2-3 weeks either side waiting times. so I'm looking at around 6 weeks for the whole process.

Hi CryptoB,

       1. Did this process happen and successfully you were able to send the car out of Lanka legally?

        2. How much total cost approx took including shipping + lankan tax + clearance charges?

        3. As far as you know, is there any restriction in Engine CC (I am planning to send 1500cc Austin Cambridge to Germany)?

Thanks....

[kisalraja]

Hi, 

@Dharshini were you able to have any success with your process?

I'm unable to find any information regarding the export of vehicles from Sri Lanka except for an article dated in 2018 about tax incentives for re-exports of cars older than 5 years. [1]

The general messaging is 'No' from most people I've spoken to but the RMV isn't too sure about the process too AFAIU.

[1]: https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-encourage-re-export-of-used-cars-6235/

Cheers!

 

 

[CryptoB]

Hi Sorry for late reply,

On 1/6/2019 at 1:58 PM, Dharshini said:

Hi CryptoB,

       1. Did this process happen and successfully you were able to send the car out of Lanka legally?

        2. How much total cost approx took including shipping + lankan tax + clearance charges?

        3. As far as you know, is there any restriction in Engine CC (I am planning to send 1500cc Austin Cambridge to Germany)?

Thanks....

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply

1. I managed to get all the documents ready for the export and next steps were to cancel the registration from RMB and hand over the car to a company to export ( I managed to get a TIN/VAT from the inland revenue department after two days lurking around and talking to multiple people), but I wasn't able to find a shipping company in the end.

Things were crystal clear how to proceed once the car was in UK from UK regulations and I was able to get all the clearance and information from Sri Lankan authorities as well with bit of effort (mentioned in my above posts). 

When shipping a car I got told you need to remove all the fluids from the engine and petrol tanks and get a certificate( can't remember the exact name) to say it's ready to export, otherwise  if they get spilled inside the container for some reason then you are looking at a hefty fine from the shipping company.

2. Not sure about this, I would have been able to import the Mini back to UK without any taxes due the fact mini was originally shipped from UK to SL so my costs would have been really little once the car comes out of the port.

 

 

Edited February 9 by CryptoB

[kisalraja]

@CryptoB thanks a lot for that detailed response. Let's see how things goes. I thought the harder part would be getting the RMV stuff sorted but seems like I've overlooked the shipping side

Thanks a lot again. Much appreciated

[Virenmg]

10 minutes ago, CryptoB said:

Hi Sorry for late reply,

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply

1. I managed to get all the documents ready for the export and next steps were to cancel the registration from RMB and hand over the car to a company to export ( I managed to get a TIN/VAT from the inland revenue department after two days lurking around and talking to multiple people), but I wasn't able to find a shipping company in the end, I contacted Trico (both UK and SL branches) they were rubbish and weren’t really interested in providing me much details or doing the job . I wanted an estimation of their costs and clearance charges and since they haven't done these kind of exports they weren't confident in give me a figure, I got told it could take up to £2000-£4000 or maybe more as their charges. At this stage I lost confidence in them so gave up trying to use their services.

Things were crystal clear how to proceed once the car was in UK from UK regulations and I was able to get all the clearance and information from Sri Lankan authorities as well with bit of effort (mentioned in my above posts). 

When shipping a car I got told you need to remove all the fluids from the engine and petrol tanks and get a certificate( can't remember the exact name) to say it's ready to export, otherwise  if they get spilled inside the container for some reason then you are looking at a hefty fine from the shipping company.

2. Not sure about this, I would have been able to import the Mini back to UK without any taxes due the fact mini was originally shipped from UK to SL so my costs would have been really little once the car comes out of the port.

 

 

I'm just asking does this whole process take like nearly two years?

 

 

Thanks...

[CryptoB]

38 minutes ago, Virenmg said:

I'm just asking does this whole process take like nearly two years?

 

 

Thanks...

No you could get all that done apart from shipping bit in about 2-3 weeks in SL I managed to get all done in about 2 weeks.

As always in SL it helps when you know someone who knows someone in these departments.

[Virenmg]

1 hour ago, CryptoB said:

No you could get all that done apart from shipping bit in about 2-3 weeks in SL I managed to get all done in about 2 weeks.

As always in SL it helps when you know someone who knows someone in these departments.

Ahh so are u driving ur mini in UK without any issues.

 

Thanks

 

[CryptoB]

4 minutes ago, Virenmg said:

Ahh so are u driving ur mini in UK without any issues.

 

Thanks

 

No I gave up on exporting for the time being due to issues I mentioned in previous posts , sorry if it wasn't clear.

Car is still in SL, will try and get back to brinign it over here in few years time.