Mongolia Charity Rally Vehicular Rules

Holy cow, things are moving fast. I've been doing lots of Skype calls and conferences with people that are involved with this year's Mongolian Charity Rally. What's strange it that all of these people are very far away from me, the nearest is Dave, who lives in New York City. I've been living in 4 time zones: mine, here on the island of Alameda, Eastern time, GMT, and Ulaanbaatar time. My days start fairly early in the morning, typically 5am and end with a phone conference with Dulguun at 1-2am. Finally, something I can do that fits my sleep schedule. Being awake for 19 hours a day has benefits.

One of the things Dulguun and I have struggled with were the vehicle rules for the 2010 rally to Mongolia. She's been keeping her finger on the pulse of things over there in Mongolia. The government has imposed some fairly strict rules and hefty import taxes on vehicles entering the country which means vehicles that would have been all right and tax exempt in previous years are now subject to tighter scrutiny at the border. This means a tougher time selecting vehicles if one wants to donate it at the end of the trip. So if you're a rallier who wants to take part in this adventure, here they are:

MONGOLIA CHARITY RALLY 2010 VEHICLE RULES

You can take any vehicle you want to Mongolia! What’s the catch you ask? Here it is! If your vehicle is tax exempt, you’re ready to rumble. If your vehicle is not tax exempt, you will have to pay the import tax.

We operate a pre-clearance system: once you’ve settled on the vehicle you want to take, please fill in the vehicle approval form on the website . Your vehicle will then be approved as tax exempt, or we will tell you the tax that will be payable on it, within two weeks. You should submit your vehicle for customs clearance before you buy it. If you don’t, we are not responsible for any costs you incur!

TAX EXEMPT VEHICLES

Example of a tax exempt vehicle

Taking a tax exempt vehicle is not only the cheapest way to get to Mongolia, it is also a better way to take part in a Charity Rally like this, as the tax exemptions are set for vehicles that are useful for the people of Mongolia. So we encourage you to take a tax exempt vehicle!

Rule 1: Tax exempt models for 2010 can be no older than 9 years old, therefore for 2010; your vehicle has to have been manufactured after 2001.

Rule 2: To be tax exempt, your vehicle must be one of the following:

· Single cab pick-up truck (see models below – if you have a model in mind that is not on our list, email us and we’ll see if we can get an exemption for it).

· Ambulance (requires separate cabin, room enough to carry gurney and medical supplies)

· Truck/lorry (must be single cab, NTE 3½ tonnes).

Please find below an indicative table of the models that are exempt. We will supplement this from time to time.

Table of tax exempt vehicles
Make	Tax Exempt Model
Land Rover	Defender Ambulance
Nissan	Navara (Single cab)
	Cabster
Ford	Escort
	Transit cargo vans
	Minibus/school bus
	Medium duty trucks
	Pickups
Mitsubishi	Canter
Isuzu	Trucks
Mercedes	Ambulance

NON-TAX EXEMPT VEHICLES

If you really don’t want to take a tax exempt vehicle, no problem! But you can pay the tax man! You will need to transfer the import tax to us before you leave for Mongolia.

There are two tiers of tax exempt vehicles:

· Preferred non-tax exempt vehicles

· Non-preferred non-tax exempt vehicles

Regardless of which type of non-tax exempt vehicle you take, your vehicle cannot be older than 9 years old, so must have been manufactured in or after 2001 for the Mongolia Charity Rally 2010.

Preferred non-tax exempt vehicles

You need to:

1. (a) Review the table below of preferred, non-tax exempt vehicles, and if your vehicle falls within it;

(b) Proceed to review the tax brackets below to see what tax will be payable on your vehicle.

2. If your vehicle is not in the table below, please proceed to the “Non-preferred non-tax exempt vehicles section” below.

Table of preferred non-tax exempt vehicles
Make	Taxed Model
Land Rover	Defender
	Discovery
Nissan	Terrano
	Patrol
	Pathfinder
	Navara (double cab)
	X-Trail
Toyota	Landcruiser
	Highlander
Mitsubishi	Pajero
Isuzu	Trooper
Subaru	Forester
	Tribeca
	Legacy
Jeep	Cherokee
	Patriot
	Liberty
Mercedes	GLK Class
	GL Class
	M Class
Honda	Pilot
	CR-V

Tax payable on preferred non-tax exempt vehicles
4x4 Import Taxes		Import tax amount (in USD)
		Year since manufacture
Size of engine		0-3 years	4-9 years
1	1500 cc and below	500	1000
2	1501-2500 cc	1500	2000
3	2500 cc and above	2000	2500

Non-preferred non-tax exempt vehicles

A non-preferred non-tax exempt model is anything that is not listed above. You are welcome to use such a vehicle on the Mongolia Charity Rally, but please be aware that (1) there will be a higher import tax due on the vehicle; and (2) it will be harder for us to sell to raise money for charity.

Please remember that your vehicle cannot be older than 9 years old, so must have been manufactured on or after 1991.

Tax payable on preferred non-tax exempt vehicles
4x4 Import Taxes		Import tax amount (in USD)
		Year since manufacture
Size of engine		0-3 years	4-9 years
1	1500 cc and below	500	1000
2	1501-2500 cc	1500	2000
3	2500 cc and above	2000	2500

Thanks for supporting Charity Rallies! If you have any questions on vehicle approvals, please email: fel@gohelp.org.uk

Whew!
More in the next blog posting soon.