carnet at border from Turkmenistan to Iran?

[wheelsofmongloria]

Hi!

We're Australians, just finished the Mongol Rally and drove from England to Mongolia via Azerbaijan on a Caspian ferry and through Kazakhstan in a British registered car.

We are in the process of driving our car back to Europe from Kazakhstan, planning to do the Pamirs and go into Uzbek Turkmen, Iran etc.

Several other rally cars got their car into Iran from Turkey and Armenia without a real carnet (they bought "carnets" at the border for 400euro or 600euro).
I was wondering if anyone knows if there are people who sell the dodgy or fake carnets at the Turkmenistan border into Iran.

Many thanks for your help.

[ustrasse]

Hello!!

We did this about a month ago, thanks to the help of Hossein at Overland to Iran (www.overlandtoiran.com/). Hossein is an incredibly friendly guy who has contacts with guys doing import/export at most Iranian border points. He organises the entire thing for both entry and exit. All you have to do is show up, get your immigration stamp, and wait for the paperwork to be completed. It wasn't cheap (it cost us €600 for our VW Golf III), but it makes the process much smoother than trying to negotiate with the border officials yourself. It took them around 3 hours to complete all the paperwork on the way in through Armenia, and only about 30 minutes on the way out to Turkmenistan.

I think it's not actually a "dodgy carnet", but that they're temporarily importing your car, and then exporting it again. Not sure though.

[ustrasse]

The fee Hossein charges includes everything, BTW, including car insurance. We even got a gigantic bag of pomegranates from the customs dude at the Iran/Armenian border

[Persistence]

I think I would rather haggle with the border people than pay the equivalent of $1,000 Aus. They must have a temporary import permit for other goods, why not vehicles? Surely all the surrounding countries don't have to have Carnets.