I am an American living temporarily in Dakar, Senegal. I expect to be here for about 6 months. I want to purchase a used Jeep Wrangler (less than 5 years old) and use it to explore both Saharan Africa (e.g. Morroco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Mali) and then later I plan to drive through Western Africa at least as far as Nigeria.

I think I have only two choices:

1. Have the car registered, titled and insured in my home state of Massachusetts and then secure a carnet and international insurance before shipping the vehicle to Dakar, or
2. Have the car shipped to Dakar and then register and insure the vehicle here.

I realize that Senegal is one of the more difficult countries in Africa and that the import duty may be as high as 40%. However I suspect that once I've registered in Senegal, I'm pretty good for the rest of the continent. I'm also concerned that, because I intend to be here for several months, a carnet may not suffice for such a long stay in Dakar.

Can anyone advise me whether I should:

1. Register the car in the US (and pay US sales tax of about 6%) and travel in Africa with or without a carnet (remember, I have to ship the car to Dakar), or
2. Register and insure the car in Dakar (while paying the duty, but not paying the US sales tax) and travel in Africa without a carnet.

Thanks,
Alex

What about option 3) Buying locally (though probably not a Jeep Wrangler)?

Nick.

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Nick Taylor, a Colorado Mack'em
blog | vehicles

Thanks for your response. I did think about buying locally. While the choice of cars here is a bit limited, I do see a fair number of Toyota Landcruisers (L73 model) but I think the math works out as follows:

10-year old Toyota with 150K kilometers
price $15K
tax $6K
Total $21K

3-year-old Jeep with 20K miles
price $14K
freight $1K
tax $6K
Total $21K

While the gasoline aspect of the Jeep may be a drag when compared with the diesel Toyota, I've got more faith in the mechanical soundness of the Jeep (only because I'll have a trusted mechanic check-out the Jeep before it goes on the boat). I'm happy to wait a month or so for the vehicle to arrive in Dakar (by the way, Grimaldi lines now have roro service direct from North America to Western Africa).

I think a carnat potentially saves me the import tax on the Jeep, but only if I then ship it back to America of course. However, since I intend to spend a substantial amount of time in Senegal, I'm concerned that a carnet may not be usefull.

I'm new to this, but I'll be surprised if I can have a US registered vehicle in Senegal or throughout West Africa for an extended period of time even with valid African insurance.

If anyone has any knowledge, I'll be very grateful.

I would point out that if you do intend to travel about a bit that you'd be far better getting a diesel engined vehicle because of fuel availability. The other thing is that any local mechanic will know Landcruisers and Nissan Patrols inside out whereas a Jeep may well be a new experience. More importantly though, you'll find it far easier to get spares for Nissans and Toyotas than for Jeeps. Can't remember ever seeing a Jeep to be honest.

Q

Quintin has a point. Choose something known locally, especially, if you plan to travel to other W African countries. The Jeep might be in good order in the states, but a minor electronic failure can allways happen and then there is noone to help. And dont worry about age of a Landcruiser - those wehicles are built to last.

Thanks for the information vis-a-vis vehicle selection. I think the points about the Toyota Landcruiser are very good.

However, I really want to get information about where to register the vehicle. I can:

1. buy it in the US, have it registered there and shipped here with or without a carnet, or
2. I can buy it locally and pay the tax, etc.

Either way of course the car would have to be insured for Africa. Does anyone have information pertaining to this decision? Which is better from a cost standpoint and which is better from a border-crossing standpoint?

Thanks,

Alex