Importing Used Cars into the UAE

Faysel is your stereotypical used car salesman. He had purchased, some weeks ago, four used cars in the US and had them shipped to Dubai. None of the cars run, so he got them for about US$1,000 each. He said it would cost about US$3,000 to get them repaired in the US to the point where they could pass registration: air bags, tyres, engines, and transmissions generally all need to be replaced. In the UAE, he can have all this done for less than $1,000, because labourers here get less than 1/10 what they get in the US, and the quality of tyres, engines, and air bags required to pass inspection is much lower.

Sometimes, Faysel will take a car that was smashed on the driver's side and an identical car smashed on the passengers side, then have his workers cut them in half and join the two good halves together. This is almost impossible to pull off in the US (and costs quite a bit of labour and baksheesh to the inspector), but Faysel says he's done it several times here.

A couple of days ago, he took me along to watch the process. He had the shipment shipped to himself, but he doesn't have an import license for the UAE, so he has to pay an importer to bring in the cars. First, he took me to the shippers, where he signed a release saying the cars could be given to the importer. He got a copy of the letter, and signed it.

Then he was hungry, and asked where I'd like to eat. 'How about a place with falafel and goat shwarma?' 'OK.' But, as we were walking, Faysel saw a pizza place, so we ended up splitting a half veggie, half meat-lover's pizza. Next, we needed to meet the representative from the importer. Faysel hired an illegal taxi. The rear passenger's door was smashed, so Faysel got in from the rear, driver's side door, and the taxi took us, eventually, to Faysel's flat. On the way, the quality of the driving showed us just how the rear passenger's door got smashed.

Faysel called his wife from his mobile, and she stood on the balcony and tossed down the key to one of Faysel's cars.

Then we had to take another taxi to where the car sat. It's a car Faysel hasn't used for six months, the registration has expired, and one tyre was completely flat. The A/C no longer works, and the radio and glove box have been removed. We drove on the flat tyre to a garage with free air, but the tyre had come off its rim. We then drove to a tyre shop that managed to get the tyre back on its rim. Then we drove to a petrol station where the importer's agent was waiting. Faysel and the agent hugged each other, and Faysel handed over the letter and some money. 'I don't have quite enough for the agent, could you lend me a few dollars?' I didn't have much, but it turned out to be enough. After all, the agent would have Faysel's cars as deposit.

Then Faysel drove me home, and said he'd have the cars the next day, he'd have them sold the day after that, and he'd give me back all my money. When I tried to call, his mobile was switched off, but he finally called me. 'The tyre went flat as I was driving home, so I had to abandon the car and take a taxi.' 'What are you going to do about the car? Leave it on the side of the road?' 'I don't know. Maybe I'll get someone to go move it back where it was.'

Fortunately, I didn't have much cash on me when Faysel asked, as I haven't heard from him for a couple of days.