MrMcJay:
The land borders were shut to vehicles from Benin Cotonou because it was the point of origin for most smuggled vehicles into Nigeria. Most vehicles from Cotonou do not pay Customs Duty and were usually smuggled. Hence, they decided to throw away the baby with the bath water by closing the land border.

Now, if a vehicle is bought from Cotonou and Customs duty is paid on it at Tincan to give the fraudulent impression that it was brought in from Tincan, no problem. You're attempting to help the FG achieve what they wanted howbeit illegally. It's not outrightly illegal but you're exploiting the weakness of the law. One day, you'll pay for that.

The day an overzealous customs officer insists on sighting supporting documents which you used to obtain your C-number, you may fall into a deep pit. That's the day you'll explain how a vehicle imported into Port of Cotonou found its way into Tincan Port at a time the land borders from Benin to Nigeria were closed to vehicle imports.

radautoworks:
I honestly don't know enough about this to comment. I simply about this by buying and bringing in my own vehicle. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to do so.

nurey:
After due consultations, I think the best path to tow would be

1. Do a full vin check and get to know what port the vehicle is bound. If it is Benin Republic it's a red flag stay away.

2. if the port is lagos, no wahala

computerglobal:
Contact us for your comprehensive vehicle history report

You came late to this party but I trust your services any day.

CarGuideNG:
The history report is one method to know the true Nigerian or import history.

For example, a lot of AutoCheck or CarFax reports end with:

Vehicle exported from A and imported to B, alongside a date of export.

Where A may be
Newark New Jersey, Baltimore Maryland, Halifax Canada, etc

And B may be
Benin(Cotonou) or Nigeria(Lagos)

www.nairaland.com/attachments/7811240_20180919041818_jpegfa6abcc2be08451d2217373431e3abc7

This is quite helpful, an example is this report for a 2002 Toyota Camry, just one instance of several we have encountered recently. The client contacted us for the history when he was considering purchase.

The customs papers he forwarded showed that the vehicle was supposedly shipped to Tin Can Lagos (Nigeria), in December 2016 in a container with other parts.

From the history report we discovered that the customs papers were fake.

The car was shipped to Benin (Cotonou) in July 2017, by that time Cotonou imports had been banned, so the papers were forged and backdated to December 2016.

In these situations with clear ongoing fraud and illegalities, we strongly encourage clients to abandon such vehicles. It's not an exhaustive approach, but from our perspective and speciality it is one way to tackle the issue.

GAZZUZZ:
The venza was only impounded because of underpayment.
It will be released as soon as he tops up the oil payment.

before you pay for a car (toks, new or used) ensure you verify how much was paid and confirm if it is the right amount for that era (obasanjo, goodluck, buhari)

Finally No do Gra Gra Mathew 5:25 has explained it properly.

GAZZUZZ:
The venza was only impounded because of underpayment.
It will be released as soon as he tops up the oil payment.

before you pay for a car (toks, new or used) ensure you verify how much was paid and confirm if it is the right amount for that era (obasanjo, goodluck, buhari)

Finally No do Gra Gra Mathew 5:25 has explained it properly.

saintjoel:



Thanks for raising this sir.... This is a question that some buyer's deliberately ignore..... Many times when I run checks on duty and I tell them that their purchases were undervalued....they just tend to turn deaf ears to what I say..... One was even arguing with last week that the dealer said that once the customs account has been credited, they don't need release and they bought the car based on the dealer's advice..... I guess the car was sold cheap and they didn't want to miss the deal...... Anyway,before you buy a car,always make sure you know the tarrif that is applicable for the particular year that the duty was processed......

Hauptmann:


sir how long does your verification service take?

MrMcJay:
Sometime ago, a clearing agent boasted here on Nairaland that he helps people bring vehicles in from Cotonou and register them at the Tincan Ports in Lagos despite the fact that land borders have been closed by the Nigerian Customs to vehicle importation. When we asked him how he'll do it, he said he has his way of doing it.

That day, I made this comment below:



Just yesterday, a Nairalander opened the thread below:
https://www.nairaland.com/4737275/muscle-camry-almost-got-impounded




What made me open this thread was an incident that happened to a friend a few weeks ago. He bought a Tokunbo Venza from an auto dealer here in Nigeria. Before buying, he conducted due-diligence at the customs desk and it checked out.

After using it for about a year, he resold it to another buyer. The second buyer also conducted due-diligence at the customs desk and it also checked out.

While on Badagry Road, customs officers stopped him and after inspecting his papers, they impounded the vehicle. The buyer was confident to take on them because he had Customs Papers which checked out as at when he bought.

When he got to the office, the Customs guys explained what happened.

1. The agent who cleared the vehicle attached the details of the vehicle to a Container coming into Nigeria as if the vehicle was part of the cargo into Nigeria.

2. The Origin of the container was China and it was carrying industrial parts.

3. The dealership that sold the vehicle was in Texas, America.

4. They traced the details of the vehicle and discovered that it sailed from Houston to Porto Novo in Republic of Benin.

5. Last recorded Port was in Benin Republic before it miraculously appeared in a container coming from China to be cleared in Lagos.

6. There is no legal way that vehicle could have gotten to Nigeria from Cotonou.

7. In Lagos Port, the agent underpaid the value of the car but somehow got the customs papers.





The reason for this epistle is to provide information to prevent innocent Nairalanders from falling into this crime perpetrated by fraudulent agents and their allies.

1. Is there a way an innocent buyer can avoid falling into this problem?

2. Is there a particular Customs office buyers can go to physically verify that not only were the proper duties paid, but correct information given?

3. If you pay and customs officers collude with unscrupulous agents to defraud Nigerians, is there an official mechanism to get redress for the innocent buyer?

4. Is there an avenue for innocent buyers to pay unpaid customs fees over sized vehicles and ensure they are released?

5. For vehicles bought brand new in Nigeria and receipts issued by dealers, is there a way to verify duties were paid on those vehicles?





This is a kind of self-help thread since there's hardly information on these anywhere and the customs guys don't care.

Comments are welcome.


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GAZZUZZ:
The venza was only impounded because of underpayment.
It will be released as soon as he tops up the oil payment.

before you pay for a car (toks, new or used) ensure you verify how much was paid and confirm if it is the right amount for that era (obasanjo, goodluck, buhari)

Finally No do Gra Gra Mathew 5:25 has explained it properly.

Readonee35L:
Mrmcjay
Nice topic.

Can you see the stress an average person has to goto in a country to buy a legal car. That means even going to the custom doesnt mean you are safe because every person wants to exploit you.

The main reason why this car was impounded was because it was under valued. I dont think the customs are the one telling you car shipped to portonovo or wherever.

If the vehicles vin was attached to container and cleared as you said, everything should be fine unless the value claimed was extremely low.

And sometimes the People doing this illegal jobs dont have common sense. I have seen a vehicle whose custom duty is newer in date than the vehicle papers. If any officer inspects such vehicle he is going to be shocked and curious of how a vehicle was already registered before it was even cleared in nigeria with over a year interval .

Vehicle exported to even australia and driven to 9ja through land doesnt matter if the vin was attached to container . duty will claim lagos because its a container and other items are present in it even if theres no car of such inside.

jarkbauer:
Saintjoel believes everything is about undervaluation. Importing cars through land borders is illegal and if you are caught you are done for

saintjoel:


Oga, where did you read that I support undervaluation or where I stated that it's legal to move cars across the border with the ban still in place, do you need better reading glasses??

GAZZUZZ:


You came late to this party but I trust your services any day.

jarkbauer:


I said you think everything/everyproblem people have is undervaluation.

jarkbauer:
Saintjoel if one discovered his car was smuggled through land borders what can he do.

saintjoel:


Okay,no problem ...... But you the the funniest thing....apart from fake papers, undervaluation is everywhere and it's the next big thing after fake papers...... Most importers don't care about what agents have paid, as long as their vehicles can leave the port..... It's only when they get to the road before they now know what they got themselves involved in.... Just yesterday I charged N1.450m for a 2014 Nissan sentra and the importer just scrammed and blocked me on WhatsApp because he felt he can still get another person to do it for less than N1.2m...... So, you see why I always laugh about undervaluation...... Hundreds of cars out there were certainly undervalued....