Hi All
Searched my ideal HZJ75 for a long time , and finally I found it and bought it almost 2 years ago ! But being able to enjoy this 75 troopy was a real saga ! Why ? Because I live in a beautiful , yet very complicated country ( tax & emissions wise ) : Portugal . The 75s were never sold new in Portugal , so I knew from the start , it would be a complicated matter . I found my 75 for sale in Holland , with Swedish registration . Buying was easy , but getting a Portuguese license plate , it was another matter !
I bought my 75 , because it was setup as a camping car or "motor caravan" , the only way , I could get my license plate without paying an absurd amount of import tax . Back in December 1st 2018 , when I bought the car in Holland , the portuguese tax scheme , was very sympathetic to "motor caravans" , but there was a catch ! Swedish documents did not mention specifically "motor caravan" , only mentioned "5 passenger vehicle" like a normal car . Swedish people are practical blokes , they don't care ( much ) how you setup your 75 . So what should I do ? Pay the normal 40000 Euros tax ( yes , 40000 Euros ) ? That's how much import tax a passenger Land Cruiser with a 4164 cc engine pays in Portugal . No way ! To my help , came a good portuguese friend , who lives and works at the UK , whom , like me , is crazy about Land Cruisers . He went to fetch my 75 in Holland , to register it in the UK , as a "motor caravan" , in my name , and when the UK license plates where ready , ship it to my address in Portugal ! That was cheap , but it took a little longer than we anticipated , and the 75 arrived in Portugal , with UK license plates , in my name , late February 2019 . I started then the process to register it in Portugal as "motor caravan" , 5 places , as the UK V5 ( equivalent to USA title ) stated . Like that , I would pay only about 2500 Euros import tax . An HUGE difference ! Then "disaster" struck ! Lots of people , knew that loophole of the "motor caravans" , and were importing mostly luxury Range Rovers as motor caravans to evade portuguese crazy taxes . The Finance Secretary ( minister ) wasn't happy about that situation and changed the legislation , ending the "motor caravan" loophole just one week before my 75 arrived in Portugal ! Now , motor caravans have such rules to be considered so , that is impossible to register a Land Cruiser as such ! I'm F"#$%d ! 40000 Euros , almost double than what I payed for the 75 ! Now what ? Sell it back ? No way ! One of the last 75s built , in excellent condition , with factory AC and factory lockers is as rare as hen's teeth , no way I would give it up , just like that ! Started to dig deep on the legislation and I found that if I changed the UK title to "van" , with 2 passengers only , the Portuguese crazy tax would be much lower , "just" 7800 Euros . Crazy expensive still , but no way I would give my 75 up ! So I officially "reexported" the 75 , notifying the portuguese customs ( the 75 stayed put in a garage ) , sent the UK title back to the DVLA by registered mail , requiring to change from motor caravan 5 places to Van , 2 places , and that's how things work to change a vehicle type in the UK ! Of course I got some help from my UK friend , and finally I got my Portuguese License plates in July 2020 , after paying 7800 euros import tax , for a 2 seater HZJ75 Land Cruiser .
Enough talking ! Let's see some pics !
The first pic is in Holland , the day I bought it
Rear
The day it arrived in Portugal , late Feb 2019
And it came with a crapy roof rack , but with a roof tent .
Searched my ideal HZJ75 for a long time , and finally I found it and bought it almost 2 years ago ! But being able to enjoy this 75 troopy was a real saga ! Why ? Because I live in a beautiful , yet very complicated country ( tax & emissions wise ) : Portugal . The 75s were never sold new in Portugal , so I knew from the start , it would be a complicated matter . I found my 75 for sale in Holland , with Swedish registration . Buying was easy , but getting a Portuguese license plate , it was another matter !
I bought my 75 , because it was setup as a camping car or "motor caravan" , the only way , I could get my license plate without paying an absurd amount of import tax . Back in December 1st 2018 , when I bought the car in Holland , the portuguese tax scheme , was very sympathetic to "motor caravans" , but there was a catch ! Swedish documents did not mention specifically "motor caravan" , only mentioned "5 passenger vehicle" like a normal car . Swedish people are practical blokes , they don't care ( much ) how you setup your 75 . So what should I do ? Pay the normal 40000 Euros tax ( yes , 40000 Euros ) ? That's how much import tax a passenger Land Cruiser with a 4164 cc engine pays in Portugal . No way ! To my help , came a good portuguese friend , who lives and works at the UK , whom , like me , is crazy about Land Cruisers . He went to fetch my 75 in Holland , to register it in the UK , as a "motor caravan" , in my name , and when the UK license plates where ready , ship it to my address in Portugal ! That was cheap , but it took a little longer than we anticipated , and the 75 arrived in Portugal , with UK license plates , in my name , late February 2019 . I started then the process to register it in Portugal as "motor caravan" , 5 places , as the UK V5 ( equivalent to USA title ) stated . Like that , I would pay only about 2500 Euros import tax . An HUGE difference ! Then "disaster" struck ! Lots of people , knew that loophole of the "motor caravans" , and were importing mostly luxury Range Rovers as motor caravans to evade portuguese crazy taxes . The Finance Secretary ( minister ) wasn't happy about that situation and changed the legislation , ending the "motor caravan" loophole just one week before my 75 arrived in Portugal ! Now , motor caravans have such rules to be considered so , that is impossible to register a Land Cruiser as such ! I'm F"#$%d ! 40000 Euros , almost double than what I payed for the 75 ! Now what ? Sell it back ? No way ! One of the last 75s built , in excellent condition , with factory AC and factory lockers is as rare as hen's teeth , no way I would give it up , just like that ! Started to dig deep on the legislation and I found that if I changed the UK title to "van" , with 2 passengers only , the Portuguese crazy tax would be much lower , "just" 7800 Euros . Crazy expensive still , but no way I would give my 75 up ! So I officially "reexported" the 75 , notifying the portuguese customs ( the 75 stayed put in a garage ) , sent the UK title back to the DVLA by registered mail , requiring to change from motor caravan 5 places to Van , 2 places , and that's how things work to change a vehicle type in the UK ! Of course I got some help from my UK friend , and finally I got my Portuguese License plates in July 2020 , after paying 7800 euros import tax , for a 2 seater HZJ75 Land Cruiser .
Enough talking ! Let's see some pics !
The first pic is in Holland , the day I bought it
Rear
The day it arrived in Portugal , late Feb 2019
And it came with a crapy roof rack , but with a roof tent .
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! I don't like roof racks or roof tents very much , and now , being restricted to 2 places only , I can camp on the interior whenever I need . I bought the 75 with the roof rack and tent included , the seller didn't want to sell it other way . Maybe I sell the tent to offset a little the cost of import tax .
. And still missing a mandatory cargo barrier behind the seats ( don't have pics of that , yet ) .
