cost of shipping a car

Delak wrote:

Hello all,
I am thinking about accepting a job offer in Vientiane. One of the benefits is shipping a container full of my items. I was thinking of shipping my car- a 2003 toyota avalon from the us. I was wonder if any one has had experiences shipping thier vehicles into Laos. What are the associated costs  and is it worth it compared to buying a used vehicle there.

Thanks for your inputs!

Welcome to the forum....  

The problem with shipping cars is the cost.
As Laos is land locked the car would have to be shipped via Bangkok into Laos or through Vietnam to Laos.
Add the cost of customs clearance into either of those 2 countries, transport through those countries, coupled with duties into Laos and it is not worth the effort.
If you chose to import it the time factor would be very high too so you would be without transport for months before your car arrived. Import taxes for vehicles are high here, up to 60%. Then there is the registration fees to change over to Lao plates.

You would be better to rent a vehicle for a short time here whilst looking for a vehicle to purchase. Plenty of good second hand vehicles for sale here.

Thanks Stumpy!
What I was thinking was since company was willing to pay for relocation ...and I would have a container at my disposal I would just put the vehicle in the container in addition to my personal items. Regarding Import taxes... when you say up to 60% do you mean up to 60% of the value of the car?
Also any idea about how much are the registration fees?
Finally how much do the vehicles rent for and how much are the second hand vehicles? Would be looking at something around the same vehicle type ie 2003 toyota avalon .

thanks much for your contributions- very helpful.

The 60% or whatever %age the customs deem is the amount is on their valuation of the vehicle.

Registration fees vary depending on which plates go on the car. There are diplomatic plates, business plates, Lao citizen plates, foreigner with residency plates and foreigner without residency plates.

A Google search will find rental costs for you. And now you can drive here on your overseas licence.

Another Google search will find out second hand vehicle costs. As an example of costs an average new Toyota Prado 4WD costs around $130,000.00 with taxes and registration.

To be honest forget bringing your car over and get one here.