IRAN : Border crossing with a car
Bonjour
This post is about our experience of border crossing & driving in Iran, where we went on holidays for one month with our own car (mini camper van). My aim is to be as precise as possible to give you detailed information.
1) The facts:
- Us: 1 man (French) + 1 girl (Singapore), 33, non married (!)
- Car: Peugeot Expert, set up as a camper van and registered in France, Diesel engine
- Entry border: Bazargan (Dogubayazit)
- Exit border: Sero (Yuksekova)
- Main itinerary: Tabriz, Theran, Yazd, Shiraz, Banda Busher, Esfahan, Orumiyeh. (more than 6000 Km)
- Dates: September 12th to October 10th, 2010
2) Documents
- Visa. Easy to get. We get them in Istanbul and ask an agency to get the embassy code for us (Touran Zamin).
- Registration document for the car.
- carnet de passage en douane for the car. You ABSOLUTLY NEED this document. Ask your Atomobile Club about it.
- Dont forget to bring all your money in cash with you (Euro preferred) as visa card and traveller check are not accepted in Iran.
3) Entry Border
There is two borders to cross from Turkey to Iran. We enter through Bazargan which is the most popular one and the biggest. It is also the most crowdy.
- First you have to clear the Turkey Exit (30min).
- Then you wait for the gate to open (more or less once every 30 min) and you enter the iranian side. Show your passport to any uniform-dressed guy around, he will show you the entrance on the left. By the time you wait, many people will come and bother you for money changing and other things. My advise : dont change money at the border (or do it at the bank next door), but bring a few Euro in small change.
- The first guy you meet is the Tourism Officer. He is friendly and will ask you a few questions about the trip you plan. He may give you some advice but will not give you detailed answers about the border crossing. He may be the only guy there who speaks english!!
- Passport check : see the military officer who will control your visa and register your entry... no problem... 30 min for 2 passports.
- For the French, fingerprints are compulsory... another 30 min in a small office full of non english speaking peoples.
- Car check: here is where things become more complicated and tricky. As no official speak (or want to speak) english, you will be soon targeted by a "facilitator". This guy will just act as if he is an official and will not ask you if you want help... he will simply handover your papers and start to process for you. Look carefully: everybody seems asleep but this guy is running everywhere for you!!
- The guy will take you from an office to another in order to have your carnet de passage correctly stamp. The custom officers will fill in your carnet de passage's page. He will put an oval green stamp at the back of the page (important stamp as the police always check for it). You will need to provide a copy of your passport (first page and iran visa page). For the moment everything is fine and there is no difficulty. The custom officer will ask you your exit border: don’t worry as you can change your mind latter and finally get out through a different border than the one you declare at the entry custom (that is what we did without no problem).
At that point:
-- your passports are stamped
-- your carnet de circulation is stamped first page and 1/3 of this page is kept by the customs (check carefully that everything is ok)
-- you have been given one letter for you to get Iranian registration plates in the Khoy police office (we will see that latter)
-- your car have been checked by a custom officer (civilian dressed, quick look and no problem... hide your GPS if you have one!!)
-- you are now out of the office and your facilitator is asking you THE question : Benzene or Diesel ??
4) What you have to know about the fuels in Iran:
- They are rationed (incredible!!) and there is not as many petrol stations as in Turkey. Some stations does not have Diesel.
- ALL the cars are benzene or gaz LPG. Only trucks and buses are Diesel
- You need a ration card to get fuel but for benzene (only) you can buy without the ration card (but you will pay 4 times more).
- Prices are:
--Benzene with ration card = 1000 rial / Liter.
--Benzene without ration card = 4000 rial / L.
--Diesel (ration card compulsory) = 175 rial / L.
As you can see there is a big difference between benzine and diesel. Keep in mind that 1 EUR = 15 000 Rial...
-So this is why the custom will check your carburant: If you are Benzene, no problem as you dont need a card to buy petrol. But if you are Diesel you absolutely need the card. So of course a trafic officer will try to sell you these cards at very high price.
5) Ration cards or not ration cards
- If your car is benzine no problem. The facilitator will drive you to the traffic office (take your car and drive 500 m. Once close to the border exit, there will be an insurance office on your left, make a U turn and look for a long building same side of the road... here are the trafic police offices) to have a special stamp. The officer will probably check your car so dont try to lie.
- If your car if Diesel, then you can declare it as so and buy diesel card... maybe you will have to negotiate but I dont know the "offical" or "border" prices.
- We did not get the cards at the border but it seems that they calculate the trip you want to do and the length of your stay and try to sell you some 300 Litter cards at high price. According to rumours, it could cost you 500 Eur or more.
-If your car is Diesel, you can also pay the facilitator to get a benzene stamp... Here we are!! the facilitator does not work for free... but you did not hire him so you dont have to pay him... so this guy will try to frighten you in order to get a backsish for the diesel story. Except if you have a truck, I strongly suggest you to "change" your diesel car into a benzene one. Negotiate hard with the facilitator and try to get the stamp for less than 50 Eur (consider it as a fuel expense and keep in mind that your fuel will cost you only 175 R/L). This guy will ask for 200 Eur or more... we pay 50 after less than 2 minutes of negotiation and I surely could have had a better deal!
6) Insurance
- The facilitator will also try to have you buying the insurance at the border... so he can get a commission.
- DONT BUY THE INSURANCE AT THE BORDER
- At that moment just say you already have an insurance... Insurance in Iran are not mandatory and it wont be checked at the final gate.
- My advise: get your insurance in Tabriz.
7) Getting out of the border
- Take all you papers (passport, carnet, flying papers full of stamps) and go to the final gate.
- There is a small office next to the gate. Climb the stares and see the officer there. Give him everything, he will check and give you back your passport, your carnet, and the letter for Khoy police (registration plates). Dont forget nothing in his office!
- congratulation you are in Iran (after 1H30 minutes).
8 ) Registration plates
- Any car entering Iran for more than 7 days must get Iranian number plates...
- In reality is that few foreigners do change their plates. We did not, and stay one month with some police controls, without no problem (they never talk about the plates!).
- If you want to do it. Stop in Khoy police office : direction of Tabriz, the road split into 2 with Khoy on your right. There is a big police station at this junction... stop there and ask.
- It could be a great souvenir but be ready to spend some more Euro (50 according to some rumours)!!
- It seems that without the Iranian registration plates, you cannot ask for some more Ration cards in Petrol ministry offices.
9) Some advises to start Iran
- Visit Naser in the Tabriz Tourist Office (see the Iran LP page 149). This guy speaks many languages (english, french, german...) and will realy help you to:
- get an insurance for less than 25 Euro a month
- change money
- get Diesel ration card for 35 USD for 100 Litters
- and many more things such as de-stressing and enjoying iran...
10) how can I get Diesel without a ration card??
- dont wait for you tank to be empty as not all the stations have Diesel.
- Target a station with trucks or buses.
- Park close to the pump and ask the truckers who are filling their tanks (or the pump attendant) if they can help you (you need diesel but have no card)
- Most of the time they will use their card to fill up your tank without any problem... you wont even have to queue!!
- They will not ask you for money. you just have to pay the fuel to the pump attendant... sometimes they will even pay for you.
- You can get a ration card in Naser office in Tabriz in case of emergency.
11) Getting out / Sero Border
- Sero border is really smaller compared to Bazargan.
- getting out is easy and free... as long as you have your carnet de passage and all your documents in order.
- If I go again in Iran, I will choose to enter through this border as it is more easy to manage. I guess here you can deal yourself this Diesel or Benzene story and pay less, with less stress.
If you need more information, or if you have more information (especially about dealing yourself the diesel story, buying ration cards at the border, getting the registration plates or crossing in through Sero), your post is most welcome.
Sunday, May 27th 2012, 12:48pm UTC+2
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