How to export cars or what do I think about the subject of exporting cars is a question I get from time to time. An email from a reader named Kristina came today and that is what prompted me to write this post.

First off, I have not personally gotten into exporting cars yet so I won’t be getting into the nuts and bolts. However, I strongly feel there are a few common sense things to consider that should be fundamental to anyone thinking about exporting used cars to other countries. I would consider these to be First Principles For Exporting Cars in that you wouldn’t consider exporting used cars until each of these were met…

1) Integrity: The person you are exporting cars to must have an extremely high level of integrity. You must know (not trust) that they will do what they say they will do before you send them a car. You must know that regardless of bureaucratic hurdles or horrendous weather conditions that they will follow through on their word.

2) Trust: The person you export your cars to must be an individual you can trust with your life. Yes, I really do feel that is how far reaching the trust must be that you must be able to have in that person. And when I say trust them, I’m not saying that you blindly trust them based on what they told you about themselves. The trust you have in them must be based on what you know for a fact about them and how they conduct their life and business, etc. So go ahead and listen to what they say about themselves, and take notes – and then verify everything. Make Ronald Reagans signature phrase be your motto: Trust but verify.

3) Knowledge: This individual must have tremendous knowledge of the used car market (or whatever the vehicle) for where these cars will be exporting to…and knowledge of all government rules and regulations such as tariffs, etc.  So if they tell you that there is a huge demand for 2002 to 2005 Chevy Corvettes and they can sell them all day long for between $70,000.00 and $85,000.00 USD, then you can be assured that they are telling you the truth because their knowledge is based on current market conditions. Trust but verify still comes to play here too which means that until you have a pretty good track record of successful deals with this person then you must still find some way of verifying that there is indeed a high demand for those cars and that they sell for the prices they are telling you.

Here’s a question…

“But Steve; all funds would be placed in an escrow account so I wouldn’t be risking anything if they didn’t follow through with their end of the deal so your big deal about integrity, trust and knowledge is a little over-blown don’t you think?!”

Really? So you’re going to tell me that after taking the time to do your due diligence like: researching the prices for 2002 to 2005 Chevy Corvettes, contacting sellers, going out and inspecting the Corvettes you deem to be viable for exporting, buying the cars, transporting the cars to the shipping yard, preparing them for shipment, doing the paperwork, transferring funds, etc., etc., etc. that you would be okay with not knowing that your contact person on the other end is trustworthy, has integrity, and has excellent current local knowledge of their market?

By all means do everything you can to protect yourself (like the escrow account, etc.) but what will you do if your contact person on the other end proves him or herself to have no integrity, trust or knowledge by flaking out on you? Seriously. Do you have the time, money and resources to drop everything and fly to freaking Ruwanda to take possession of the cars and sell them there? Or would you have them shipped back to you?

Okay boys and girls; don’t let what you just read scare you away from the potential profits found in exporting cars to other countries. Instead, you should now know that all three of those elements must be inherent in the person you are entrusting your cars to in that far away country because the absence of just one can turn an extremely profitable deal for exporting cars into a friggin nightmare scenario.

Until later…

Steve