German import plates
 

Tried posting this in Trip Planning but it's not getting very much help, so thought I'd try here:

Looking at taking a vehicle down to Cote d'Ivoire later this year.

However it'll probably be bought in Germany & ideally on the temporary plates. My insurance will cover Europe & Morocco on the plates BUT will the Spanish & Moroccan police be OK with it? Has anyone else seen a vehicle on the 5 day plates going south?

Next question, will we be OK to enter Mauritania & get insurance there on temporary plates?

Anyone had experience?

Thanks!

I've purchased cars from Germany in years gone past and rather than the 5-day temporary plates (Überfuhrungskennzeichen) I would consider getting the one-year export plates (Ausfuhrkennzeichen). If anyone knows the meaning of the yellow flash and the dates, they would know the registration had expired.

You will see German export plates with the red flash at the right of the plate fairly often in Morocco on high-end BMW and Mercedes vehicles driven by Moroccans. I have never seen temporary plates (yellow flash) in Africa.

If your insurance is legit then I'm sure it will be fine in Spain within the duration of your plates.

We did it many years ago with a German export-plate Merc (below in Mori No Man's Land - regs were slack then).
At this time the car trade through the Western Sahara to Mori included many blatantly stolen vehicles.
i recall there was some rush to get out of Europe, but no hassle once in Morocco.

However, I'm sure Mk and maybe even Mori have tightened the rules since then, and wasn't there something recently on North Africa forum about masses of impounded cars at the Mori border?

I imagine much would depend on the type of crate gris you have: whether the details on it match your name and the car's details, and your general worldliness at dealing with border people.

[Just seen Tim's reply and would take his advice. I notice the car we were in originally had the red side-sticker]

Wouldn't insurance policies have a condition that they must be legally registered and comply with all requirements for legal registration?

The Vienna convention requires it too.

Mauri customs would confiscate your vehicle, just like they have done with 1500+ other vehicles without the proper papers over the last year.
Temporary red flash plates is what the car dealers have.
Still they get confiscated if there is anything unclear about ownership or registration.
Much tighter now than before.
Customs compound in Tanger Med only had around 50 vehicles in April.

Red export plates are not just for dealers, they are intended to allow purchasers of cars (private individuals) to export the car they have just bought. Picture shows my Z3 at the top of the Grimsel Pass. As I said above I've seen many cars in Morocco with export plates.

There's a wealth of information elsewhere, just google 'German export plates'

Thanks for all the answers.

Essentially the vehicle will be registered in Cote d'Ivoire, I've looked at getting the registration done by post with all the documents there & getting plates sent back to me but it's not possible.

We have two problems:

1. We want to buy a vehicle in Germany (cost is cheaper than France) but not re-register it in France due to paperwork, time & cost issues. Hence the question about the 5 day plates, thanks Tim for the suggestion of the red plates, great idea - if it can go all the way south on them!

2. The vehicle is for the NGO, we shouldn't need to pay import taxes on it in CI due to it's use there, however if it's in an individual's name rather than the NGO's name from Germany to CI, we're wondering if we're going to be able to do that. Hoping so!

We don't want to send it by boat, the cost is a minimum of 2,000€ and on a personal level I'd be keen to make the journey again overland!

As for insurance, we have insurance in France that might accept it, otherwise it's going to have to go on an individual's insurance both of which will cover as far as the Mauri border for no extra cost. From there we'll buy insurance!

Thanks for any other ideas!!