How to import car parts from Dubai to Mauritius

The Consumer Protection (Control of Imports) Regulations, in the consolidated copy the Mauritius Revenue Authority publishes, prohibit the import of 18 groups of second-hand vehicle parts. A rule added in May 2011 also bans second-hand parts originating from Japan, including parts that were shipped through another country, and the controlled-goods schedule restricts any other second-hand parts for resale to essential parts under a permit. A US Commerce Department guide published in February 2026 still lists certain second-hand vehicle parts as prohibited. What is left open is new parts, and new parts are the whole of our offer.

The regulations we read are aimed at second-hand goods. We found no pre-shipment conformity certificate for new vehicle parts in the sources we read, unlike Zimbabwe's CBCA or Kenya's inspection scheme. Some goods still need a permit from the Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Protection, which publishes its lists of prohibited and restricted imports, and the government's Trade Easy portal gives the shipping documents required for each tariff line, so your customs broker can check every line of your list before it is collected.

The US Commerce Department's Mauritius guide, published on 18 February 2026, says customs duty is normally charged on the CIF value of imported goods, meaning their cost plus insurance and freight, at ad valorem rates in bands of 0, 5, 10, 15, 30 and 100 percent. Imported goods also pay VAT at 15%, with some exceptions. Excise duty applies to vehicles, electrical appliances, petroleum products and some other goods, and the guide does not list vehicle parts among them.

We could not read the band for each parts line in MRA's own tariff, so this page gives no line-by-line rate. Ask your customs broker to look up each tariff code on your list before you set resale prices, and send us the codes they use so that our invoice matches. Preferential rates need proof of origin with the bill of entry, and a part made in Japan or Germany and re-exported from Dubai is certified with that true origin, so no preference that depends on UAE origin applies to it.

Mauritius clears goods on an import bill of entry, which the US guide says must be filed with the bill of lading or airway bill and the invoice. Each line on our commercial invoice carries its HS code, part number, brand, grade, price and the word new. That last point matters on an island that bans most second-hand parts: a customs officer checking the item 11 list should be able to see from the papers alone that nothing in the cartons is second-hand.

The packing list follows the carton order your cargo agent asks for, and a Dubai Chamber certificate of origin can travel with the load where your broker needs one. When your agent clears the goods out of the UAE, ask for the customs exit certificate and send us a copy. UAE VAT rules zero-rate an export only with official exit proof within 90 days, and if that proof never arrives the sale is charged 5% VAT like a local one.

The forwarder or cargo agent you appoint takes the cartons from us in Dubai and arranges the sea or air leg; we do not ship to Mauritius, and we give no arrival date. By sea, everything comes through Port Louis harbour, which is the only official port of entry for sea vessels in Mauritius, and container cargo is handled at its Terminal III. Air freight suits a few urgent, light lines; one Dubai forwarder's rule of thumb is air below about 100 kg and sea above about 500 kg.

Two cautions before you plan. Every sailing out of Jebel Ali passes the Strait of Hormuz, where Semafor reported container movements almost halted on 2 September 2026; no later report has reached us, so check with your agent what is sailing now. We found no published freight guide for Dubai to Port Louis; the nearest is one Dubai forwarder's Africa-wide band of USD 45 to 120 per cubic metre for shared containers, with minimum charges of USD 200 to 400.

Once your list is quoted, a person confirms how to pay on WhatsApp, and your agent collects nothing before then. We do not offer cash on delivery or take payment in crypto. Ask for the pro-forma invoice first: it lists every line, its grade and its price, and your bank or accountant can check it against the bill of entry later.

Fraud in the UAE trade usually means someone posing as a real company. Vietnam's trade office reported in 2025 that fraudsters used official-looking licences and newly opened personal accounts, and in one case a fake payment site imitated a Dubai bank. Do not pay through any link, escrow page or new bank account that reaches you by message until a person on the WhatsApp number published on this site has confirmed it, and check that the name on the account matches the company on the invoice.

Traffic in Mauritius keeps to the left, so the island's cars are built with the steering wheel on the right. Statistics Mauritius counted 4,920 cars imported used from abroad in the first half of 2024, beside 6,602 registered new. The regulation on Japanese-origin parts does not touch new parts for these cars: a new brake pad, filter or bearing made for a right-hand-drive Japanese model is matched by part number like any other.

Some parts exist in a left and a right version, and those we quote only against the number from your own car: the steering rack, the pedal box, the dashboard, the wiper linkage and above all the headlamps, since a dipped beam is cut to light the kerb on one side. Send the chassis number from the registration document with the engine code and the number printed on the old part, and each line is matched from those numbers.

Statistics Mauritius counted 692,798 registered vehicles at the end of June 2024, including 322,983 cars, up from 173,954 cars in 2014. By the end of June 2026 the total had reached 761,531, according to figures reported by the Mauritian motoring site Autocloud. The research we rely on points to Toyota, Nissan, Suzuki, Hyundai, Kia and Honda as the island's main makes, but no official share by make was published in the sources we read, so we give none.

Mauritius recorded US$31.9 million of vehicle-parts imports in 2023, with China and Japan each supplying about a fifth, Germany 8.1%, Thailand 7.1% and India 5.4%. The UAE was not among the top ten. Dubai is therefore not the island's main source, and what we offer is range and grade: genuine, OE-brand and quality aftermarket lines for Japanese and Korean cars, quoted together on one list.

Grade labels need care, because the word genuine proves nothing on its own. One budget pad sold in Dubai at AED 58 describes itself as genuine quality, while the Toyota part it replaces costs AED 322 to 399. Across the lines measured in Dubai on 3 November 2026, genuine cost about 1.5 times the OE-brand part and 1.7 to 1.9 times quality aftermarket. Filters are the line most counterfeited in UAE raids, so every filter we quote carries its brand name.

Our part is the sourcing and the paperwork in Dubai: we find each line through UAE distributors and aftermarket ranges, price it with its grade and brand named, mark every line as new on the invoice and packing list, pack to your agent's instructions and hand the cartons over in Dubai. You are the importer of record: your broker files the bill of entry with MRA, and you pay the customs duty and VAT. Our prices are ex-Dubai and never include Mauritian duty or delivery.

Island freight is charged per consignment, so a workshop's or parts shop's list for a season costs far less per part to land than parts bought one at a time. To get a quote, list each car's chassis number and engine code, any part numbers you hold, how many of each line you want and in which grade, and the name of your broker.