123 cars being sent to Africa - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

chasinthesun · #1 02-08-2011, 10:36 AM

Its about a month ago that a fellow calls me and we begin a discussion of shipping cars to Africa .Him and his brother seem to have found a niche market cutting down cars and placing them in 40 ft shipping containers for transport.Just aft of the tank and the roof are taken off and rewelded at destination.Intersting business ,I wonder how many they can fit.

kerry · #2 02-08-2011, 10:40 AM

Why the cutting? Why not just drive them into containers on two levels? Should be able to get 4 123's into one 40' container.

vstech · #3 02-08-2011, 10:45 AM

containers are 8' high? cutting off the roof, and the trunk puts the cars... 32" tall... I bet they take off the tires. say 28" they may be able to stack them 4 high if they build a reinforced rack to hold them... one container could hold... 20 cars. another container for the cut off parts... wow.

cscmc1 · #4 02-08-2011, 10:58 AM

This is an interesting read on this very subject (well, minus the cutting down bit). Very common.

http://www.amazon.com/Mercedes-Not-Sale-Ouagadougou-Auto-Misadventure/dp/0767928695

ngarover · #5 02-08-2011, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

containers are 8' high? cutting off the roof, and the trunk puts the cars... 32" tall... I bet they take off the tires. say 28" they may be able to stack them 4 high if they build a reinforced rack to hold them... one container could hold... 20 cars. another container for the cut off parts... wow.

I'm guessing the main reason is the import or export of the cars themselves. It's one thing to bring a whole car in and have to pay for taxes etc versus shipping "parts" I know for a fact this is done to get cars and motorcycles to Bonaire. The cost of bringing in a whole car is so high (as much as the car itself is many cases) But you can ship in parts and "build" the car there for next to nothing... loop holes...

kerry · #6 02-08-2011, 11:35 AM

Hadn't thought about that. That's the same reason Mercedes was building the Sprinter in Europe, disassembling them, shipping them to the USA and reassembling here.

vstech · #7 02-08-2011, 11:39 AM

good point. hard to believe, a car missing a roof and trunk is considered "parts" though.

cscmc1 · #8 02-08-2011, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerry

Hadn't thought about that. That's the same reason Mercedes was building the Sprinter in Europe, disassembling them, shipping them to the USA and reassembling here.

Yes -- and the Ford Transits came over with glass windows initially, then had steel installed to make them "panel vans." That makes it a passenger vehicle upon import, avoiding the light truck tax.

barry123400 · #9 02-08-2011, 05:03 PM

Had a guy by that was from Lebanon last fall. Wanted to buy several mercedes diesels from me to ship home he claimed.

I did not find out what part of they are not for sale he could not understand.

Zacharias · #10 02-08-2011, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

good point. hard to believe, a car missing a roof and trunk is considered "parts" though.

Some countries' import regulations are worded in such a way that one can get away with it. Well, maybe with some accompanying financial consideration to the local customs officials.

A similar thing was happening in Canada with respect to Japan-market supercars like the Nissan Skyline. They would send them here in separate shipments, in sections that were then put back together and then given the VIN off a deceased domestic-market coupe.

One guy was even listing them, in sections, on eBay, with coded descriptions. Build yer own.

Zacharias · #11 02-08-2011, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barry123400

Had a guy by that was from Lebanon last fall. Wanted to buy several mercedes diesels from me to ship home he claimed.

I did not find out what part of they are not for sale he could not understand.

Many of the decent late-1980s and 1990s RWD Volvos disappeared that way from my part of Canada. BMWs as well. In Lebanon they see a car as Mercedes first, BMW second, Volvo maybe third and then everything else.

Mass car "migrations" happen within North America as well. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, most of the last generations of RWD Chevy Caprices got shipped to the Midwest US (as well as lots of Cutlass Cieras, etc.) as fast as they were traded in.

A huge portion of the new Thunderbird dealer allocation to Canada got turned around and sent back to the be sold in the United States. The US Ford dealers claimed they couldn't meet demand on their own allocations. It caused such a *****storm within FordMoCo ranks that they now police their dealers on dealer trades, apparently. And you hardly ever, ever see a T-Bird on the roads around here.

glenlloyd · #12 02-09-2011, 12:27 AM

Lots of Peugeot cars have been transported from Europe to S Africa, they seem to be popular there. There was a program in Europe years ago to subsidize the elimination of older vehicles (aka European cash4clunkers) and lots of cars were sent, some for use a vehicles and others for just parts.

There used to be a few people come through the mid-west in the mid-90's looking for cars to send over. They used to swing through the salvage yards and buy all the good engines they could as well, send over containers of engines too.

W124 E300D · #13 02-09-2011, 01:37 AM

78% of registered autos in Albania are MB, mainly w123/124