DRIVING & INSURANCE

International Driving Permit

Essential for parts of Africa – obtained through RAC – £8 or so
Download info here

Carnet de Passage

UPDATE: RAC no longer does Carnets. But CARS does… click here

INFO FROM 2013:

This allows you to take your vehicle legitimately across borders in Africa.  It is a temporary import / export book designed to ensure that vehciles brought into the country are not sold, but are taken out again.

The carnet is obtained through RAC and takes at least one month to process.

Call them on 01603 605154  View info here

Vehicle valued at £2,000.  RL Davison Insurance covers this at a cost of 10% surety.

Kenya requires cost of vehicle x 200% = £4,000 (RL Davison requires 10% = £400) plus additional fees so the TOTAL = £964 (around £500 of this should be refundable when I return the vehicle to the UK)

Going through Egypt and down (800% value of vehicle) expect to pay around £2,164 (for a similar valued vehicle).

Vehicle Insurance

UPDATE: Campbell Irvine no longer do insurance.

For vehicle insurance, the only firm I know that can offer fire, theft and accident insurance for all of Africa is available in the UK irrespective of where the vehicle is registered by:
Campbell Irvine (Email here)

Download Quote Form here
My quote for 6 months was just shy of £424 (vehicle value £4000)

Comesa Yellow Card

Comesa (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) insurance, commonly known as the “Yellow Card”, relates to motor vehicle Third Party liability insurance. Buy this in the first country you can, or pay for each country as you cross the border.  Cheaper if you buy the Comesa Yellow Card insurance.

 Comesa for my trip was KES12,000 (£90) – I arranged this with the company who received my vehicle at the port (Multiple Solutions Ltd)

NB: The CYC is valid in: ANG; BOT; BUR; DRC; DJI; EGT; ERI; ETH; KEN; LES; MAL; MOZ; NAM; RSA; RWA; SOM; SUD; SWA; TAN; UGA; ZAM; ZIM.

The CYC is not valid in the country in which you buy it. Therefore you will have to buy LOCAL 3rd party insurance first – usually for the length of time that you’ll be travelling in that country – then you’ll buy the CYC as an EXTENSION to your existing local 3rd party insurance policy.

International Motoring Services (only necessary for countries where English translation might be a problem)

I didn’t need this in the end but would have done so if traveling through Egypt, Sudan or Ethiopia perhaps.

The International Certificate for Motor Vehicles (ICMV) is a translation of your vehicle registration document (V5c) required by some countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).
An ICMV is valid for 12 months from the date of issue and is issued in accordance with the Road Traffic Convention of 1926.

Email them on IMS@theaa.com  View more info here.

Vehicle Importation into South Africa

Nick Bradshaw’s website Langebaan-Sunset has excellent information on how to import our LC80 into SA once the trip is over.

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HEALTH

European Health Insurance Card (if traveling through Europe first!)

Takes up to 10 working days to process – click here to apply

Travel Insurance

I am using Insure & Go – they will only cover trips lasting less than 3 months though, so will need to get something else after 3 months (or renew).