Two small topics only for today.

Number one is regarding Ramadan. As you will need an export certificate from the chamber of commerce to get your personal effects shipped out of Qatar, try to get it before Ramadan. The forwarder I am using handed over the paperwork a week ago, but up to date he did not receive anything back from the chamber of commerce. And the export insurance for the car is running out in a few days. A renewal would be another QAR 160. I guess that the chamber of commerce will not re-imburse you even if they are the ones to slow down the process.

Number two is regarding the insurance of the car during shipment. If you request an offer, most companies will give you a quotation for total loss only, where the fee to pay is around QAR 800 for a car worth QAR 100,000. But as I wrote: total loss only.
Now more likely is that the car is getting scratched or damaged slightly when packing or unpacking it inside the container. Also there's an insurance covering it. Almost. Exclusion number one is that all damages below QAR 1500 are not covered. Exclusion two is that minor scratches and dents are not covered. So what's the point then?

One more step. Assuming you have a valid road permit for your car and you want the insurance company to pay you back, you will have to take the insurance paper to the traffic department during the time you change the registration to export plates. Traffic department will stamp and sign your insurance paper for you to retrieve the paid money.

Back at the insurance company you will have to present the stamped paper, the ID of the car owner and the export certificate. This will lead to a lot of paperwork until you will get a cheque with your refund. Don't be surprised - it is almost nothing. Regarding what I was told by the insurance, the law says you will get back 7/8 of your paid insurance if you cancel within one week after renewal, 1/2 if you cancel the insurance less than 3 months after renewal. In my case the insurance ran for three months and 10 days, so I was refunded 3/8 of the money I paid in. Ok, Germany is different, but in Germany you will be refunded more properly. And if your car was insured here in Qatar more than 8 months until you change to export plates, you will get back nothing.

Ok, one step further.

To get the export plates you will have to go to the traffic department in Madinat Khalifa. There are small shops just in front of the building where official agents are waiting for offering their services. Negotiating the price might work, because they start offering their service at QAR 150, we managed to come down to QAR 100. For this money the agent will issue the necessary paperwork in Arabic. You will have to present the car registration, the no-liability-letter from the bank as well as the Arabic letter for the change of ownership, issued by the bank after clearing your loan. Also please check that the bank will hand you over the necessary second page with all the signatories on it. We did not have it, but due to lucky circumstances we managed to get through without it.

The agent then will cash QAR 210 for the changeover at the traffic department, QAR 30 for the 3 letters and QAR 150 for the insurance. Plus his own fee. I am sure if you speak and write Arabic, the insurance will be less. He will ask you where to export the car to and how (by ship or by road). This will later appear on the export certificate issued by the traffic department.

First step thewn is to give up the parking space you will have been circling for for half an hour. Just to pass through the checking for the vehicle chassis number (right lane). If the agent is nice he will show you some "hidden" place to park your car.

Next step is to go to traffic department and queue up. In our case carrying a cranky baby speeded up the process tremendously. You will get the export plates and do a second circling through the place they checked the vehicle chassis number, but this time on the left hand side. The regular plates will be dismantled and the export plates riveted to the car. Now you've got 10 days to export the car.

Soon my project will end over here in Qatar. As we bought a car over here and want to take it with us back to Germany, I am currently figuring out what steps to proceed to export it properly.

First thing to do is to pay off the bank loan. Depending on the bank you will have to pay a penalty for early settlement. Our bank calculated it with 1 percent of the remaining debts up to that day. The money had to be paid into the current account, a letter of no obligation from the account owner had to be issued that the bank can take the money and settle the loan. It took then two days to receive two letters. One is a letter from the bank stating that the loan has been paid, the other one is an Arabic letter for the traffic department for changing the entry of the owner in the registration card of the car. For non-Arabic readers: the bank is mentioned there as partial owner of the car as long as there is a loan running.

Then, in preparation, there's more paperwork to be done.
You will need a letter for German Customs from the German Embassy here. That letter will cost Euro 20 and is a "Bescheinigung zur Vorlage bei der zustaendigen Zollbehoerde". It contains the names of all family members, including their passport numbers, and stating the proposed date of leave as well as that the personal effects transported are owned by the family and will not be used for retail back in Germany.

Then you will need your local contract over here in Qatar (or a statement of your company that you've been working here from date a to date b), including scans of your passport as well as your latest Qatari visa.

Additionally you will have to present the original invoice for the car including attached the list of signatories of the respective car dealer you bought the car from. I got it without cost and without any problems from my car dealer even one and a half years after we bought the car. Just present the registration and the passport of the person in whose name the car is being registered in.

Of course the export vehicle certificate issued by the traffic department. As I did not apply for export plates yet, I don't know how long it will take, but I was told that the registration of an export plate is around QAR 520. And you will have to get a 10 day valid insurance for around QAR 80. The export plates are then valid for those 10 days only!

The usual no-objection-letter from your employer that you can export the car is mandatory as well.

Let's see how it goes.

Is it an order or a recommendation? And what exactly is it I should drink?

Sometimes you have to spell how you pronounce it, right?

In this case the accident most likely happened when the designer of this board went to school.

If.

"But I already used the "c" in "chicken"

Sometimes it happens that I have to turn around an drive the same way again. And if it is only because of someone trying to sell his house.

Maybe a house boat in the middle of the desert?

No, in this case it has been spelled correctly. But even if done so, sometimes the shop owner should step back, look at his sign and think if also the meaning is correct.

Otherwise she might be in trouble.