Hello all,

We (2 Amerıcans) have just realized our syrıan vısas have expired and are scrambling to fınd an alternative route to jordan or egypt. We have contact wıth a few freıght companies and ıt looks as though it might be possible. There is also a possibility of sendıng a truck through syrıa , but its hard to send our girls off alone through syria. As we have no option but to find a way to africa somehow as we are going to SA, I will update with our fınal solution.

Rien

What they said to us is that we had to remove everything not attached to the car. But they didn't apply this very consistently. So we had to unbolt zarges boxes we use for storage and also take out the fridge. However, there was a box bolted onto the roof rack they said we didn't have to take off though they did go through it. We didn't have to take off the sand ladders and they were content with the tent just being opened. We weren't asked to remove the batteries. Every item had to come out of every box or bag and the scan was item by item. They were even leafing through the pages of books. They scared my other half to death by trying to dismantle some very expensive camera lenses (that don't come apart). Unloading and scanning took about 4 hours.

They then inspected the empty car which took them a couple of hours. I guess it would have taken less time if they hadn't broken the key in the door lock. They asked for the keys to the safe, took spare wheels off etc. We weren't allowed to be present when they inspected the car.

It then took us a couple of hours to repack so about 8 hours in all.

Bizarrely we also had to do much the same thing when we were leaving Israel although half way through the scanning our forwarding agent threw a wobbly and said we'd miss the ship. So they just stopped.

We had minimal questioning going in but quite a lengthy interview on leaving. They separated the two of us for questioning and then compared our answers.

In all honesty it was a real pain and though I really enjoyed the country I would would think hard about entering Israel again with a car - or at least one that fully loaded. I should add that the customs staff were all very courteous and polite throughout and we tried to reciprocate. From what I hear our experience matches that of others.

Grimaldi sent a pretty impenetrable document to us which mentioned other taxes - worst case scenario on my reading was $400+- when I pushed they said the exact cost depended on various factors such as how long the vehicle had been in the country. The forwarders (Allalouf) just said it didn't apply to us and in the event we were charged 60 odd shekels ($15-20) fully receipted. You could try contacting Allalouf for some comfort?

We got it covered on our green card. However, I heard it was $100.

Yes you should have insurance for Europe - no-one checked ours but it is a legal requirement.

We were away from the UK for three years so had no UK insurance. We bought a green card covering all Europe (incl Israel?!) from Alessi who I think are based in Belgium. NB it will not cover the UK or wherever in Europe your car is from. All was done via email/internet banking etc though we did get the original document couriered. It was pretty expensive (300+ euro) but we did want three months cover.

Two separate groups we met (incl two on bikes) said insurance had cost $100 for Israel. They were perfectly happy to accept the green card.

We are in process of shipping our SUV to Alexandria for our overland trip to Cape Town. By container is expensive and slow...
Do you have idea what is the current situation with farries etc.

What is the procedure to clear the vehicle in Alexandria?

I dont think anybody really knows what the exact procedure is, or should be,
but from my experiences you will need Patience, patience & even more patience!!!!

Just dont expect anything to happen quickly!

Andy