cmkest

im currently a student in israel (with a valid student visa) and my father in los angeles wants to ship me his SUV (Toyota sequoia). does anybody have any experience in this matter? any recommendations for a company that does this at a reasonable price?

yosithezet

First you may want to consider what is going to happen with regards to parts. From what I can tell this vehicle is not sold in Israel which means repairs will be costly and take a long time as you wait for parts to arrive from abroad.

Otherwise you may want to ask on a board with lots of anglo olim like tanglo or janglo or some nefesh b'nefesh board.

craz

something tells me if someone is looking to send over a Sequoia when gas is $6+ a gal, and that SUV gets what 10 mpg if youre lucky on a hway. That they arent too interested in what it will cost to repair it

When I did a Yovo U She (personal import as a tourist myself yrs ago) I wanted to bring in the new Volvo 850 Turbo. Shipping it on the Volvo Overseas prog saved me over $6k from purchasing the same car in Israel, which I did but not the Turbo.

Simply cause casue they told me at the authorized Volvo shop they werent sending their guys over to Sweeden till appx a yr or so to learn about the Turbo, thusly if something goes wrong besides not having the parts , either Id need to fly in someone to fix it at my expense or ship the car to a country where they can fix it.

thats why I purchased the non-Turbo model, which was still a big problem since alot of the wiring etc was done differently then the 840 that was imported into Israel.

So I definitely agree with what you posted but for a different reason., and I know others who have brought in a vechile that isnt sold in Israel ran into problems and had to ship it out of the Country to get fixed, then sold it outside of Israel and brought in another vechile that was sold in Israel so that at least there was people who could fix it if need be

runningshoes

There are a LOT of restrictions on shipping cars to Israel from outside, including mileage, age (I think 2 years is the current limit), huge import duties that in part are driven by engine size, and whether the car is even on the list of approved vehicles. As yosi noted, if the Sequoia is not a model that's currently in Israel, upkeep costs would be high even if allowed in. Total import cost in general on cars would be very close to the value of the car, so it's not such a great deal, especially considering gas prices in Israel.

craz

the OP did say they were a student and it Used to be that Tourists and Students were able to bring a car in w/o having to pay those hefty taxes. But they did have to pay the VAT, which under certain conditions was refunded if met

cmkest

the restrictions you mention do not apply in my case as i am bringing it in as a student

entropy

You'll still have to pay the astronomical VAT, which may be refunded when you leave.

Is there a good reason you need an SUV? It might be cheaper to lease a car unless you're there for a long time.

cmkest

i believe that is incorrect

craz

if you were referring to Leasing that may be the case, I never sort info on Leasing

If its about the VAT then its Correct unless they have changed the Laws which is done everyday over there

As I said in post #3 I brought a Volvo 850 in and had to pay over $3k in VAT should have been more but they put down I had a 2.0 and not the 2.4 that I did. The Israeli version had it all on the back of the car eg 850 GLE or GLX. since all that was imported into the US was the GLX (2.4) no lettering so the woman at the Mam office simply checked off the 2.0

since I had my car there for appx 6 yrs I wasnt able to get the Mam back, then it was 3yrs at most, but then I never registered it either, but did have reg Ins and the Putach Hovar

Brings up a pt, even if you have non-Israeli plates registration (as I did) you still need to have the Putach Hovar , turns out that you Must have it but if you dont have an Israeli License you wont be covered and will be held personally accountable if you are in an accident even thou you had it and paid for it

there was a case that went to the Israeli Supreme Court and the guy lost it, as the Law was anyone w/o an Israeli License isnt covered, yet if you didnt pay for the coverage and were stopped youd be in trouble as well and your car could be taken away then and there if you didnt have proff you had the P H

the good thing is well it will save you from getting tkts usually if stopped back in the US

another good thing with a foreign plate , you can park at any meter or where the curb is Blue & White and not pay and wont get a tkt. Dont do it at the Red & White curbs. at least this was the case a couple of yrs ago

cmkest

can you recommend a cheap shipper?

craz

What year is the SUV? as if its not old and in good condition You MUST take Full coverage. Cars DO get ruined my was coming into NY I dont smoke and it ahd butts in piles, they broke my moon-roof and the electric seats and blew the battery

Then figure at least to/from NY it took min of 6 weeks Id say you need to tack on a few more out of LA

Also forgot to mention above, if you dont pay the VAT and the MeChas police (yes they do exist) stop you and you dont have the papers saying you paid teh VAT, say good-bye to teh car. I know it happened to a few people already. 3 times when I got back to my car (twice at the old BG) once I opened the door to get in I was surrounded by no less then 4 guys with their badges out, once I showed them the receipt for having paid the VAT, they walked away. I do know some who were stopped in TA and had the car taken away as they didnt pay the VAT

also check on who they will let drive it, in my days it was the owner or their spouse Only. and whom ever did drive needed also to have an Isreali license in order for the ins to come into play.

trust me even thou most people dont get into trouble, if you do they will block you in the computer and you wont beable to leave the Country till everything is paid to those that were injured. tere are those who werent allowed to leave cause they didnt pay off their moving violation tkts, doesnt always happen, but it does

Back to your question, not all Lines serve Israel and its easiest if they go into Ashdod.I would simply look at a Yellow pages in LA and start a calling.

apirchik

Here is the customs guide (in Hebrew).

Did anyone mention what would it cost to insure this type of a car in Israel?

Mats

I've been trying to figure this out.

I have 2012 Golf TDI. I love that little car. Great gas mileage, comfortable, sporty, and easy to park. And I own it.

As I understand it (from Google), that car is legal to import to Israel. The tax would be about $18,000 (value of the car + VAT). And shipping would be another $2,200.

I'd still have to figure out how to make the speedometer appear in kilometers per hour. My @#$! car was built in Wolfsburg, Germany, but still only displays miles (except for the digital display.)

So there's that, plus getting rear fog lights, which are part of the "European Standard." Again, that's just from what I found on Google.

My navigation system and radio would obviously not work.

My understanding is that a new car would probably be about $30,000 or more. And the "oleh" tax benefit only applies to new purchases.

I also know that Diesel gas is very expensive in Israel, but the tradeoff is better mileage.

I'm not shipping much else (6-7 boxes, I imagine. No furniture, no appliances.)

So the choices are...

1. Keep my car and ship it, and somehow figure out a way to make the "European" conversions.

2. Lease a car, foregoing the oleh benefit.

3. Buy a used car on arrival, foregoing the oleh benefit.

4. Buy a new car on arrival.

I welcome any and all suggestions.
Thanks!

mbgg

5. Take a bus

joshwex90

Hey Mats. Few points:

1. It's always better to start a new thread than revive an old one, especially if it's only tangentially related to the topic
2. Your questions are much better suited for something like the Nefesh B'Nefesh Facebook group than FT
3. Whether or not to buy new versus used is simply a budget question that none of us can answer. Though I do recommend if buying Hyundai or Kia to buy used.
4. Private leasing is generally not worth it in Israel.
5. Shipping a car isn't really such a great idea - they've made it much harder in the past year (there's a thread on this in the NBN Facebook group)

Good luck!