Importing cars from borneo (malaysia)

Hi, Are you sure that is wise considering georgeb's tales of the approach to car maintenance in that neck of the woods? The expression "Every expense spared" springs to mind.

Colin

Edit. I know George is in the Philippines but I seem to remember he lived and worked in Malaysia at one time.

I spent 6 months trying to export an immaculate Daihatsu Compagno from Malaysia.

Inhale successfully imported from most parts of the world, but this one stumped me.

No infrastructure, export rules seemed to change every time/ person I asked, and no one would take he seriously.
I gave up, but it has now been several years & it may have changed since.

I lived there nearly six years but never came across anyone trying to export a vehicle. Most just sell when they are leaving. Perhaps there's a good reason for this?

Knowing the country, and as said above, your biggest stumbling block will be bureaucracy and probably the sheer number of backhanders you'll need to deal with - and still no guarantee of success. It's also a place that I wouldn't trust an agent to deal with everything, you'd probably need to be there yourself to keep an eye on things.

In most of the places I've lived, whilst they make importing difficult/impossible with many hoops/taxes/bribes to contend with (I looked at it here in the Philippines and decided I haven't long enough to live!) there is often just no concept of people wanting to export a vehicle. It doesn't compute, so they make up the rules as they go along and these will, by definition, differ depending on who you talk to and how much they think they can gouge.

I keep mentioning bribes, but you have to remember you will be dealing in a hugely corrupt country, which runs all the way through society, from the PM downwards and believe me, I have first hand experience. An innocent White Guy several thousand miles away is easy meat. You have been warned!

Have an ask on some of the many expat forums, see if anyone else knows.

Sorry I can't give you a more positive or definitive answer, but there may not be one!

If it's that slck/corrupt just stuff a couple in a cintainer and worry about it when it gets over here ? worst is you'll need to ring the shell using an old ID (yes yes i know but as long as there's no stolen vehical involved does it really matter?), if that is C&E don't latch onto it and follow what happens to it?
maybe a holiday over there with a box of spanners ?
a sun tan and a few body shells as a reminder of the hols LOL

Thanks for the responces. They make a lot of sense. Infact we have had a women that worked in our buisness development team last year, she was from Maylasia and only working over here because she wanted something to do (cracking set of legs) . Her father is something like the 4th richest man in maylasia.... but thats another story.  Anyway I sent her a quick email last week and she basically said good luck with trying that.

I know its all a bit pie in the sky atm but the idea of just bungling a few cars in a crate a sending them back seems like an idea....

With the world being such a small place nowerdays having a such a vast untapped resorce for a supply of those types of vehicles there must be a legitimate reason why its not common practice.

The two main ports on the west coast are Port Klang near Kuala Lumpur and Butterworth up north. These handle the bulk of container traffic. There's probably little Ro-Ro, (or roll on-roll over as they are known in this part of the world!) as stuff either arrives as Knock Down Kits, made in factories based in Malaysia (to circumvent the swingeing import duties) or manufactured in Thailand - mainly pick-ups. There may be a little from Japan, but that's the wrong way!

Now I think on, I may know someone who could help, or at least know if it's possible. He's a Brit living in KL - actually a cellist with the Malaysian Symphony Orchestra! - and dabbles a bit in old UK tin, sourcing stuff for ex-pats. Let me see if I've still got a contact mail address for him. Or if you fancy a trip, get to KL, go into the Green Man on Changkat Bukit Bintang and ask Kevin the owner, if he knows where he is! www.greenman.com.my/

Good threat is an amazing read!

i'm sure if you asked around a few bars,you'd find someone who could organise "export" for you ....