How to import car parts from Dubai to Senegal

Senegal checks new car parts through paperwork and valuation rather than a product certificate. The US Commerce Department's guide, last published in March 2026, says imports worth FCFA 3 million or more, about US$6,000, go through inspection by Cotecna, and that the value Cotecna approves becomes the basis for customs valuation. A trade-size parts order will usually pass that line, so the prices on our invoice need to stand up to Cotecna's check. We found no Senegalese conformity certificate required on new parts before they leave Dubai.

The rule that shapes demand is about cars. A decree signed on 24 October 2025, announced by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko that August and reported by Le Soleil in November, raised the age limit for imported private cars and light utility vehicles under 3.5 tonnes from 8 to 10 years, and set 15 years for trucks and passenger-transport vehicles. Cars two years older can now come in, and an older fleet goes through more pads, discs, bushes, belts and water pumps. We found no rule on imported used parts, and every line we quote is new.

Senegal's own customs records show how its parts trade divides. In 2023 they booked US$19.46 million of other vehicle parts under HS 870899, with China first at US$5.32 million, France second and Japan third, and the UAE sixth at US$1.17 million. The UAE's own filing for the same year shows US$28.5 million of vehicle parts of every kind, HS 8708, leaving for Senegal. Part of that gap is goods recorded by the country that made them; the research behind these pages suspects cargo moving on from Dakar to Mali accounts for more.

Senegal applies the ECOWAS common external tariff. PwC's tax summary, reviewed on 7 August 2026, gives customs duty at 0, 5, 10, 20 or 35% depending on the nature of the goods, so one pallet of filters, pads and lamps can span more than one band. Your clearing agent reads each line's rate from the current schedule, which is why our invoice carries an HS code on every line rather than one code for the whole consignment.

Senegal stacks several small levies on top of duty. PwC lists a statistical charge of 1%, a community solidarity levy of 0.8% since July 2017, an ECOWAS levy of 0.5% on goods from outside ECOWAS, a COSEC royalty of 0.4% on sea imports, and a Customs Modernisation Programme levy of 1.5% introduced by the 2022 Finance Act. VAT is 18% on most commercial operations. A Japanese bearing or a Korean filter collected in Dubai comes from outside ECOWAS, so it attracts every one of these.

As arithmetic only, and assuming VAT is charged on the CIF value plus duty and levies, a part in the 10% band carries about 35% of its CIF value in charges and one in the 20% band about 47%. CIF means the goods plus insurance and freight to Dakar. Treat those figures as scale, not an assessment: on an inspected consignment the base is the value Cotecna approves, and your clearing agent's figures are the ones you pay.

Start with the DPI, the preliminary import declaration. The US guide says any import worth FCFA 1 million or more, about US$2,000, needs one, and that it must be domiciled with a bank in Senegal. Your bank therefore sees the order before the goods arrive, and it will want our pro-forma invoice to open the file. Ask for the pro-forma as soon as the quote is agreed, so the DPI is not the step that leaves a consignment waiting at Dakar.

Sea cargo adds the BSC, the cargo tracking note. A cargo-note service's guide, updated in August 2026, says it is validated by COSEC, the Senegalese Shippers' Council, under a 2008 interministerial order, and that it covers sea imports discharging at Dakar, including cargo passing through to a landlocked neighbour. It is built from the dated master bill of lading, the commercial invoice and the freight invoice, and the bill of lading must carry the BSC number, so your cargo agent and the shipping line both have a hand in it.

From our side come the commercial invoice and the packing list, each showing the part number, brand, grade, HS code and value of every line, matched to the cartons. The US guide also lists a freight bill, an insurance certificate and a certificate of origin from the chamber of commerce in the exporting country. Leaving Dubai, that is the Dubai Chamber, whose certificate names the country of manufacture rather than the UAE, so a re-exported part claims no ECOWAS or Gulf preference at Dakar.

The handover is in Dubai. Your cargo agent or forwarder collects the packed order from us, arranges the UAE export filing and books the freight, normally by sea to the Port of Dakar, with urgent light lines by air. Your clearing agent in Senegal takes over at the port. Easy Auto does not book freight, name a shipping line or promise an arrival date, so the cost and timing of the voyage are agreed between you and your agent.

Ask your agent three questions before you size the order. First, how it is routing Gulf cargo: ships leaving Jebel Ali pass the Strait of Hormuz, where Semafor reported container traffic almost halted on 2 September 2026, and we have not confirmed the November position. Second, whether Cotecna will look at the goods in Dubai or at Dakar, since the US guide calls the programme pre-shipment inspection without saying where it happens. Third, how the BSC deadline fits the sailing it has in mind.

Dakar also serves inland buyers. The cargo-note guide says goods passing through Dakar to a landlocked neighbour still need a BSC, and a 2024 Le360 report said Mali's imported used vehicles reach it through Dakar, Abidjan and Cotonou. A Dakar trader who restocks a customer in Bamako can put both orders on one list to us, but the second border, its papers and its duty belong to your agents, and our quote covers only the goods handed over in Dubai.

A person confirms how to pay on WhatsApp once you accept the quote, and nothing is handed to your agent before payment is settled. In Senegal the bank is part of the import itself: the DPI is domiciled with your bank for any order of FCFA 1 million or more, so the payment and the declaration should rest on the same pro-forma invoice, the same seller and the same amount. Tell the person quoting which bank holds your DPI, and the invoice is drawn up to match it.

Before any money moves, check that the quote and the payment details reached you in the WhatsApp chat you started with us from this page. A new number, a forwarded photo of bank details, or a request to pay a named individual rather than the company on the invoice is a reason to stop and confirm in that original chat. If someone in Dakar offers you our parts and quotes in our name, ask to see the written quote with the brand and grade on every line.

Senegal drives on the right, in left-hand-drive cars, the same layout as the Gulf. Gulf-specification headlamps, tail lamps, mirrors, wings, bumpers and dashboard parts are therefore built for the same side as a Senegalese car, and can go on one list with the filters, brakes and bushes that fit either way. Steering racks and column parts also match on side, though they must still match the model, year and build.

Senegal's cars arrive mostly used rather than new. Le360, reporting in 2019 on Europe's used-car exports to Africa, said only about 3,000 of the 33,000 vehicles sold in Senegal in 2014 were new. A Corolla or Hilux first registered in Europe can differ from a Gulf one in engine, emissions parts and lamp design, and a Peugeot or Renault built for Europe may have no Gulf equivalent at all. Send the VIN or the number on the old part, and each line is matched to your car before it is priced.

No official count of Senegal's fleet by make turned up in our research. The nearest window is new-car sales: a 2018 market report, which we could read only as a search summary, put Toyota at about 27.5% of 5,655 new vehicles sold, ahead of Mitsubishi, Citroën and Renault. The research behind these pages expects the Hilux, Corolla and Land Cruiser to lead the working fleet, with Peugeot and Renault common among older cars, but that is judgement, not a measured share.

The fleet is old and concentrated in the capital. The director of CETUD, Dakar's urban transport authority, put Senegal's cars at about 530,000 in 2019, 70% of them in Dakar, with an average age of about twenty years, Le360 reported. With the October 2025 decree letting in cars up to ten years old, the same lines keep coming back on Dakar workshop lists: brake pads and discs, clutch kits, suspension bushes and arms, belts, water pumps and filters, bought in quantity.

The grade sets the price of every line. On 3 November 2026 Dubai sellers asked AED 322 to 399, VAT included, for genuine Toyota front pads 04465-60380, against AED 216 for a set from MK Kashiyama, a Japanese brake brand, and AED 58 to 73 for budget brands. For a Dakar counter that resells, the real question is which grade its own customers will pay for; because the quote names the brand on each line, one order can mix genuine, OE-brand and quality aftermarket.

We take the list, match each line to the VIN or the old part number, source it across UAE distributors and aftermarket suppliers, and reply with the brand and grade on every line. When you accept and payment is confirmed, the order is packed to your agent's instructions, the pro-forma, invoice and packing list carry an HS code per line, and the cartons are handed to your agent in Dubai. We leave gas-filled shocks, batteries, airbags, fluids and aerosols off export quotes, as carriers may class them as dangerous goods.

You are the importer of record in Senegal. The DPI and its bank domiciliation, the BSC, the Cotecna inspection where it applies, duty, the five levies, VAT and clearing at Dakar are yours and your agents'. Each is filed or paid per consignment, so the more lines a consignment carries, the less each part bears. That is why we quote Senegalese orders by the list at trade quantities, a restock for a workshop or a counter, and not one or two parts for a single car.