Mission Accomplished!

In the words of our outgoing Commander-in-Chief, "Mission Accomplished." I guess to be technical, he never did actually say it, but he owned it. As for me, I will say 'Mission Accomplished!!!" I have my Toyota Tundra and it is legally prowling the streets of Dubai.

When I left for home on Dec 20th, for Christmas vacation, I was told that the truck would be clearing thru Customs on the 21st and would be delivered that afternoon. I paid the Customs Duty Tax ($1100) and I had my friend Rod handle the delivery. Well, no delivery on the 21st. Nothing on the 22nd. 23rd? Nope. I got a call on Christmas Eve from the Customs Broker, who explained to me that the container had gotten lost for 3 days. They had finally tracked it down and things would be moving ahead now. I told him I didn't know what Rod's schedule was and I would be home on the 27th. After work on the 27th, I dropped by broker's office and paid an additional $800 for storage charges, but I did see the Truck in the parking lot...dusty, but none the worse for the trip. Later that afternoon they delivered the Truck via flatbed; and a few hours later they delivered the boxes and other items that had been stored in the truck. I was still missing one piece of paperwork, and since the 28th was a public holiday (Arabic New Year), I would have to wait until the 29th to pick it up--and that turned into the 30th before he actually had it in hand at the office. It was a GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Clearance document.

When I saw the paper, I got a little concerned because at the bottom they had typed "cannot confirm that vehicle meets GCC Standards" Uh ohhh.

Well, I had my truck, but it had no plates, so I just parked the Beast in the parking garage.

Also, while all this was going on, I was still trying to nail down some Auto Insurance for the truck. I made a few inquiries, but the only company that seemed responsive was AXA. Since the truck is not sold in the Arabian Gulf, AXA said I needed to get a letter from Toyota saying spare parts were available. I got the letter. I also needed a 'no-claim' letter from my insurer in the USA, and I put that in motion. They finally sent me a quote...$300 for Liability only. They wouldn't provide Collision. Well, I went back to Toyota and asked who they used when they set up their buyers with insurance. I was given vague directions to a building in Deira (he mentioned Dnata, Nissan, Al Hiassum, third floor). Well, I had a general idea of where it was, so I drove down there, circled a couple blocks, I saw Nissan, I saw Dnata, I found a parking space, went into a Used Car dealership that was owned by the same company that owned the Toyota dealership and asked again about inusrance. He told me to walk a couple blocks past the Nissan dealer to the Al Hiassum building. I went up to the third floor and found the Arab Insurance office. After a couple inquiries, I found a lady who would talk to me. I explained what I needed and she took my paperwork and asked a couple fellow workers some things in Arabic. Then she asked for my Drivers License, took one look, and told me it was less than a year old and they couldn't insure me. Say what? I briefly tried to argue, but it was obvious that this was their way of saying they didn't want to deal with me. So I went back to AXA on the way home and paid for liability only. I will have to keep looking around for a comprehensive plan.

So, now I have the truck and all the paperwork, it's time to get the Beast street legal. Now, the RTA website says vehicles less than 2 yrs old don't need to be inspected. I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling that didn't apply to my truck. I drove down to the registration office and found out that, yes, I would have to bring the vehicle in for testing. So I called a towing service, they met me within 30 mins at my apartment and loaded up the truck. 200 dhms later the truck was offloaded at the testing center. The process was pretty painless. Get a number, drop the truck at a garage bay, wait 20 mins for your number to be called and get your inspection certificate. Then you take your paperwork to a typist, who types up your documentation in Arabic (15 dhm fee). Take another number and finally pay 400 dhm registration fee. Then you go to the plate factory (another desk) and get your plates. For 10 dhms they will fix the plates to your vehicle--the plates do not have holes for bolts. The 'fixer' taps holes with a screwdriver and hammer and screws on the plates.

I also went next door to the gas station and got a Salik toll card--called and activated it, and I declared myself 'street legal.' Mission Accomplished!!

Total cost was about $5500 USD. I had budgeted for about $4500, but the extra $800 storage costs kind of blew thru that. I blame the shipper in the US for that since the bungled the paperwork and caused the delay. I'm not thru with them, but I doubt I will get any satisfation other than reporting them to the BBB (which it looks like I will have to wait until I'm in the USA to do).

One last note that I classify as one of those minor details that you just never think about...I knew I would have trouble with the GPS system--I'm still trying to track down a DVD for the system with local maps; but one thing I didn't think abut was the radio. In the US, we use the odd numbered frequencies (99.1 99.3 99.5, etc); but here they use the even and the odd, so I can't receive Dubai 92.0 or COAST 103.2 or any other 'even' stations. I really only have 2 English language stations I can pick up. Virgin Radio has a satellite system that I think is available here--The line up isn't very extensive and I think it's only available as a hand held system--not for auto. I'm checking around to see if anyone at work is using it.

Also, after a couple months in the Yaris...the truck is huge!