MONGOL RALLY ROADBOOK We’re not fans of giving you too much information, and if you’re looking for advice for what to do when you lose your vehicle documents, wallet and passport you’ve come to the wrong place. What you have here is the few bits of truly vital information; like how to get your deposit back and where to go where you reach Ulaanbaatar. If you remember one piece of information written on these here bits of paper, make it be this: If you are shipping your vehicle with us you will need to hand your vehicle registration papers, Mongolian temporary import documents, vehicle owners passport scan and a signed copy of the shipping document. If you need your registration document back at home, you must get a notorised copy for you and leave us with the original. You will not be able to ship your vehicle without leaving your original registration papers. TRACKING YOUR ADVENTURE We’ve an army of digital wizards who have lovingly crafted us a beautiful and highly sophisticated blogging and tracking system. Your friends and family will almost feel they’re stuck in the car with you ­ minus the smell of BO and diet of instant noodles. The link you need to be sharing with your friends, families and Kazak supporters along the way is this one: Mongol Rally Roadbook Version 1.1 Page 1 Released July 2014 http://bit.ly/MR14tracking The place you need to go to share your adventure with the world is here: http://bit.ly/MR14blogging UPDATING FROM THE ROAD You can either update directly from the blogging page above, or you can do so by mobile phone. REGISTERING YOUR MOBILE The first step is to register your mobile, you only need to do this once for each phone number, but you will need to do it for each number if you are going to buy local SIM cards. You can register your phone by logging in to the website and adding the number. If you can’t get online you can also register using SMS messages: The number to register your phone and send SMS updates to is +44 793 794 66 77 Enter the following with a space between each bit of information to register your phone ● Begin your text with TA ● The email address you have registered with the Adventurists ● Your date of birth in the format dd/mm/yy (in this order with forward slashes) ● The Adventure code ­ MR14 So your registration should look like this: TA [email protected] 19/04/86 MR14 UPDATE YOUR BLOG AND MAP Once your phone is registered you can send in blog and location updates. All your messages will appear on your team pages and the Mongol Rally Live Tracking Map. Enter the following with a space between each bit of information to make an update ● Begin your SMS with TA ● If you want people to see where you are enter your location followed by a colon “:” ● Type your message So your update should look like this: TA Novosibirsk, Russia: Another puncture and we’ve run out of tea. Try to be as specific as possible with the location, if possible town, region, country Mongol Rally Roadbook Version 1.1 Page 2 Released July 2014 IF YOUR CAR BREAKS DOWN BEFORE MONGOLIA As our old pal Churchill was wont to say K.B.O. Keep Buggering On. If you just keep moving to the finish line you won’t have to worry about import taxes, permissions, paperwork, public transport and the shame of failure. If the unthinkable does happen and there really is only one option left to you, you can’t just leave your car at the side of the road and catch the first flight back to the warm embrace of your bed and safety of your sofa. A car is not like an old book you can take into a foreign country and discard, give away or sell, it is an asset which is subject to import taxes and must be dealt with accordingly. If you’re forced to leave your car anywhere between Europe and Mongolia you need to do so within the letter of the law; each country has different requirements of paperwork and taxes necessary to dispose of said vehicle. Because these rules change from country to country and year to year, it’s down to you to find out what you need to do to satisfy the authorities of the country you’re in. If you get it wrong, you could face fines, imprisonment, deportation or worse. If you’re in any doubt ask your consulate for the exact procedure and paperwork required. BASIC RULES Do not leave your vehicle in Iran, Turkmenistan or Azerbaijan. Under any circumstances. We will say this again; Do not leave your vehicle in Iran, Turkmenistan or Azerbaijan. Even if you have to drag it out of there piece by piece. Failing to follow this advice will unleash a shit­storm of inconvenience upon you and possibly us, which we’ll likely direct back to you. When we say shit­storm of inconvenience we obviously mean financial and legal troubles. Make sure you obtain the necessary evidence of the legal disposal of your car. Ideally on headed paper with stamps, seals, crests and signatures. The best ones are from the police or customs office. Under no circumstances leave your car without getting receipts, police reports, sales documents, or import tax certificates, otherwise you’ll face serious difficulties leaving the country and getting back your deposit. Mongol Rally Roadbook Version 1.1 Page 3 Released July 2014 IF EVERYTHING REALLY GOES TO SHIT If there is a total emergency we still won’t be able to help you. This is what you signed up for, Adversity and Triumph. You might want to give us a shout anyway so we can coordinate the consular office and insurance companies, and if you so choose your next of kin too. IF YOUR CAR DIES INSIDE MONGOLIA Rule number one is, you’re on your own. Your shitbox car may have cost £60 to buy but it could be about to cost you a hell of a lot more unless you get her to the finish line. Having entered the country with a vehicle, you will need a paper trail of what has happened to it in order to leave the country without it. Your passport will be stamped to say that you entered by car and you need supporting documents, in order to get through customs on the way home again. “Giving” it to a herder and hitch­hiking to UB won’t cut the mustard unfortunately, as you won’t get any such supporting documentation. As far as customs are concerned this would look like a permanent import of your vehicle, which will cost you over $6000 in import taxes Your actual tax liability will be more than in the table above because you will be charge customs duty and VAT, these come to 20% of the perceived vehicle value. Since we are no longer importing and selling the cars, but rather shipping them home from UB, there will be no drop­off points between the border and UB; once you’re in Mongolia, you’re committed to getting that piece of shit to UB. Mongol Rally Roadbook Version 1.1 Page 4 Released July 2014 Rule number 2 is, don’t despair; tow it, truck it, Mongolise it (this is a real verb, used to describe the ingenious fixes devised and executed by enterprising Mongolians using elastic bands, goatskin, horsehair, a hammer and felt). Use Adventurists Chivalry; if you see another team man­down, don’t just drive past them ­ can you tow them to the next town for repair, or all the way in? These are the episodes that glory beers and (occasionally) babies are made from. So that’s a carrot. And here is a stick, nay, several sticks that you could come across if you dump your car in Mongolia: ­ Having broken the law you could be arrested for attempting to illegally abandon a vehicle. There will be little your Embassy will be able to do to help. ­ You might not be allowed to leave Mongolia. The authorities may stop you at the border and demand payment of the import fees. ­ The border authorities could also ask you to retrieve your vehicle, sort the paperwork and pay the import taxes before letting you leave the country (this probably won’t be quick). ­ If we have to rescue your illegally dumped car because you legged it, we’ll probably have to charge you more money because sorting out your mess will cost more than the shipping fee. GETTING INTO MONGOLIA You will all be coming in as ordinary tourists, ask for 30 days in country for your vehicle, (probably your max tourist visa stay) as this gives us plenty of time to get your car processed in UB and on its way home, if you are shipping. And, if you’re driving, it gives you plenty of time to drive across and around and enjoy yourself. There’s no ill consequence for leaving sooner. Once you are at the finish line the registered owner of the vehicle will be issued with additional documents to show that we are taking responsibility for the shipping of your vehicle, and you will sign a letter to the same effect, passing over control of the car to us. We will keep a scan of your passport, the car’s registration document (V5C or country­equivalent), the customs papers you will be issued at the border, and a letter from The Adventurists stating that your team is travelling to Mongolia as tourists and that this is your final destination, which you the vehicle’s registered owner/keeper will need to sign.