Singapore Expats

So i'm new to this forum although iv'e been lurking around reading posts since like forever.

Anyhow, i'm from the UK and i have a 2008 Mercedes that i want to i port into Singapore. I can get it as far as shipped to the port but thats it. What do i do next? How do i get it through customs, get it registered? Roughly, what will it cost me? I was told it would cost around SG$5000 plus an additional fee of 150% the cars value!? I was also told it was extremely tedious and time wasting?
Any expert help out here?

Tedious and time wasting yes but you have patient, it is worth it cause the vehicle here cost an arm and a leg. I have no experience in bringing in imported vehicle , SE, knows better
Try this link
http://www.customs.gov.sg/topNav/faq/FA ... ehicle.htm

and this for a headstart

http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publish/o ... ng/en.html

Mad Scientist wrote:Tedious and time wasting yes but you have patient, it is worth it cause the vehicle here cost an arm and a leg. I have no experience in bringing in imported vehicle , SE, knows better
Try this link
http://www.customs.gov.sg/topNav/faq/FA ... ehicle.htm

and this for a headstart

http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publish/o ... ng/en.html

Thanks, i'll take a look at them links. I'm a patient person so i might be okay, its just as long as i don't end up paying the value of my car twice over - just by importing it.

I am in the similar shoes with you. I have an option of buying a used car from my friend in Australia cheap and was thinking going this route. After some research, I kind of gave up on it. Here is a useful link which basically walks you through the process. http://www.onemotoring.sg/publish/onemo ... mp/Car.pdf

How do you figuring out or estimate the OMV for certain model? I found some websites list the OMV for cars, for example
http://www.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/info ... 14&DL=1317
but I am not sure if this number varies from case to case, because according to here
http://www.customs.gov.sg/sgcustoms/tem ... HINT=Guest

the OMV is derived based on how much you paid. What if I paid little, since I am getting it from my friend? My gut feeling is they wont let this fly, they will screw you in any way they can... And don't forget that S$10000 surcharge for nothing..

The best part has yet to come. To register your car, you need to paid the full amount of the OMV, which is rediculous to me. Correct me if I understand it wrong. I hope I do...

I appreciate if other people can throw in their experience and knowledge on this.
If some one are still planning on doing this, drop me an email at [email protected]. I would love to get that car to Singapore, in an affordable way.

chster wrote:I would love to get that car to Singapore, in an affordable way.

If there was an affordable way, every man and his dog would be doing it.

Just bite the bullet and go with the flow here, the big plus now I am so used to the SG car prices, when I return to the UK I cant believe how "cheap" Astons etc are, I will have no guilt problems buying a car when I return to the UK.

chster wrote:the OMV is derived based on how much you paid. What if I paid little, since I am getting it from my friend?

OMV stands for Open Market Value so not necessarily money you paid. It may be that money if it is in same reasonable range. If it is ridiculously low they will take some average values for the make, manuf. year etc.

http://app.lta.gov.sg/motoring_vo_omv.asp
OMV is assessed by the Singapore Customs (Tel: 6355 2000), based on the price actually paid or payable for the goods when sold for export to the country of importation.

lol, I guess you are right. In terms of owning a car, US is a bad place to start off. You will feel get ripped off almost wherever you go.

For x9200, thanks for your link. Do you think the OMV on the link I found reasonable?

it'll probably cheaper for u to rent a car then import it in if u're staying for short term

Well, i guess i won't be importing if i'm going to end up paying something like £50000 when my car costs £12000.
Psssh!...

So i can't impot into Malaysia and drive over lol?

What do i do eh?

SaadCE wrote:Well, i guess i won't be importing if i'm going to end up paying something like £50000 when my car costs £12000.
Psssh!...

So i can't impot into Malaysia and drive over lol?

What do i do eh?

It's Singapore's answer, right or wrong, to controlling the traffic as found in KL, Bangkok, and so many other Asian cities.

You pay GST, registration tax, and additional registration tax no matter whether you import or buy. If you import, it's based upon the total costs... insurance, shipping, and OMV of the vehicle.

Then, you buy a COE, certificate of entitlement to drive it. It's an auction process. Last month a 10 year COE cost $34,000, payable up front.

The Honda Civic, that costs US$20,000 to buy in the US, will cost you S$70,000 to put on the road in Singapore when it's all said and done.

For an imported vehicle worth S$30,000 OMV, with insurance and shipping (and assuming engine larger than 1600 cc's):

a) Pay S$10,000 surcharge
b) GST @ 7% for S$2,100
c) Customs duty @ 20% for S$6,000
d) Pay additional registration fee of 110% for S$33,000
e) Pay COE which is S$43,000 for August (> 1600 cc).
f) Road tax (yearly) S$1,600 or more depending upon engine size

This adds up to about S$105,700 if you are importing a Merc worth S$30K and a 3 liter engine. This doesn't mention the inspection and documentation hassles you must overcome.

Do you get the feeling they don't want you to import?

Strong Eagle wrote:

SaadCE wrote:Well, i guess i won't be importing if i'm going to end up paying something like £50000 when my car costs £12000.
Psssh!...

So i can't impot into Malaysia and drive over lol?

What do i do eh?

It's Singapore's answer, right or wrong, to controlling the traffic as found in KL, Bangkok, and so many other Asian cities.

You pay GST, registration tax, and additional registration tax no matter whether you import or buy. If you import, it's based upon the total costs... insurance, shipping, and OMV of the vehicle.

Then, you buy a COE, certificate of entitlement to drive it. It's an auction process. Last month a 10 year COE cost $34,000, payable up front.

The Honda Civic, that costs US$20,000 to buy in the US, will cost you S$70,000 to put on the road in Singapore when it's all said and done.

For an imported vehicle worth S$30,000 OMV, with insurance and shipping (and assuming engine larger than 1600 cc's):

a) Pay S$10,000 surcharge
b) GST @ 7% for S$2,100
c) Customs duty @ 20% for S$6,000
d) Pay additional registration fee of 110% for S$33,000
e) Pay COE which is S$43,000 for August (> 1600 cc).
f) Road tax (yearly) S$1,600 or more depending upon engine size

This adds up to about S$105,700 if you are importing a Merc worth S$30K and a 3 liter engine. This doesn't mention the inspection and documentation hassles you must overcome.

Do you get the feeling they don't want you to import?

Yeah, i get the feeling. Damn. I guess theres not much i can do, thanks for your help anyway guys.

SaadCE wrote:Well, i guess i won't be importing if i'm going to end up paying something like £50000 when my car costs £12000.
Psssh!...

So i can't impot into Malaysia and drive over lol?

What do i do eh?

If you sign up to the "malaysia my second home" package, you need to leave I think 100k us$ in the bank, be retired, etc then you can import a duty free car into Malaysia. which also means you can buy it duty free in the UK.

Then you can pop over to Singapore with it, though I suspect Singapore has a time limit on Malaysian registered cars.

QRM wrote:

SaadCE wrote:Well, i guess i won't be importing if i'm going to end up paying something like £50000 when my car costs £12000.
Psssh!...

So i can't impot into Malaysia and drive over lol?

What do i do eh?

If you sign up to the "malaysia my second home" package, you need to leave I think 100k us$ in the bank, be retired, etc then you can import a duty free car into Malaysia. which also means you can buy it duty free in the UK.

Then you can pop over to Singapore with it, though I suspect Singapore has a time limit on Malaysian registered cars.

Is it cheaper to import a car into malaysia, how cheap and then do the same rules apply for importing a car into singapore from malaysia or is it cheap?

The same rules apply for importation from anywhere. QRM was proposing a scheme whereby you take a second home in Malaysia (and I have no idea what that entails), then import and register your car duty free in Malaysia.

You then drive your Malaysia registered car in Singapore. How long and how often you can do this is unknown, but I think if fair to say that the streets would be full of Malaysia registered license plates if this were easy or possible to do.

Strong Eagle wrote:The same rules apply for importation from anywhere. QRM was proposing a scheme whereby you take a second home in Malaysia (and I have no idea what that entails), then import and register your car duty free in Malaysia.

You then drive your Malaysia registered car in Singapore. How long and how often you can do this is unknown, but I think if fair to say that the streets would be full of Malaysia registered license plates if this were easy or possible to do.

Your'e completly right again thanks. Well. I guess it all boils down to no more cars being wanted on the streets of Singapore.

Thanks anyway though guys, and if anyone does crack a loop hole in the system allowing cheap import, then please do post. Until then i'm off to make friends with both car smugglers and the transport minister.