Carnet de Passages – the passport for your vehicle
You're planning to drive around Australia with your own vehicle, to set out east on the Silk Road or want to go on a safari in Africa? At many border crossings outside Europe, you will be asked for a Carnet de Passages:
It is an international customs document for the duty-free and temporary importation of a vehicle
It is required in certain countries of Africa, Asia and South America as well as in Australia and New Zealand
It is valid for 12 months and does not include any vehicle insurance
Carnet de Passages charges
You have to lodge a deposit for the Carnet which depends on the vehicle value and the countries, you intend to visit. Additionally, you have to pay an issuing fee. In case of a DHL dispatch, there will be an additional dispatch fee.
The exact costs for the Carnet can be found in our table of fees.
Application Carnet de Passages
The Carnet de Passages can be issued in the name of only one person and for one vehicle. That means it is not transferrable to another person or vehicle. The document's holder is liable for consequences which reveal from loss or abuse of an unauthorized third party.
The Carnet is regarded as an official document and remains the property of ADAC. Therefore, the document's holder should keep it carefully.
Please send the complete documents for the application
original and signed application form version 24A
copy of ID or passport
copy of current vehicle registration papers (please note, that the address mentioned in the vehicle registration will be on the Carnet)
copy of automobile membership card (affiliated to the FIA)
for camping vehicles a copy of a current valuation report or proof of current vehicle value
original and signed Collateral Promise, if you aren't the owner of the vehicle
by e-mail (cdp@adac.de) or mail to the following address (ADAC e.V., Carnet de Passages, Hansastr. 19, 80686 München/Munich, Germany).
You can download and print the application form for the Carnet here.
Which countries require a Carnet de Passages?
Latest travel news
Please be alerted to unannounced and longer border closures at short notice worldwide. We therefore recommend to contact your Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the embassy in the country you intend to visit.
At the moment, the Carnet de Passages is not accepted for the temporary importation. It is not possible to say how the entry situation is.
When entering India with the Carnet de Passages, the Indian customs authority often requires a confirmation issued by ADAC. Hereby we confirm that your Carnet was issued by ADAC. As Indian customs authority often wants to receive this confirmation directly from ADAC, we don't send it to you with the Carnet. The request of this confirmation may cause delay on entry.
Travellers, who would like to import their vehicle temporarily under a Carnet de Passages, have to provide different information to the Indonesian automobile club to avoid long waiting periods at the border.
Please provide following information to the club (IMI) by e-mail at the latest one week before your planned entry: imi@imi.co.id
• Name
• Country of residency
• Carnet number
• Port and date of entry to Indonesia
• Itinerary plan in Indonesia
• Port and date of exit from Indonesia
Generally, the Carnet de Passages is required for the temporary importation of a vehicle into Japan. Due to the ratification of different conventions on the road traffic, Japanese authorities don’t accept vehicle registrations from Germany, Switzerland, Monaco or Slovenia. Therefore, it is possible that the temporary importation will be refused even if you have a Carnet de Passages.
Before customs clearance, the Carnet holder has to obtain an authentication of the Carnet at the relevant JAF offices. For further information please contact JAF directly: https://english.jaf.or.jp/use-jaf-more/bringin/carnet*. After the verification, your vehicle will be inspected and registered in Japan.
*By clicking on the links, you will be redirected to external websites for which the respective site operator is responsible.
Due to the current situation in Sudan, we can’t issue any Carnets for Sudan until further notice.
Please note that you need a permission for the temporary import. For further information please contact the Department of Land Transport of Thailand* at least 30 working days before your planned entry.
*By clicking on the links, you will be redirected to external websites for which the respective site operator is responsible.
Extension of Carnet validity
If your Carnet is going to expire or is running out of pages and you want to continue your journey, you have two options of extending its validity:
Follow-up Carnet
Please apply for a new Carnet approximately 4 weeks before the expiry date at ADAC. The Follow-up Carnet is again valid for 12 months and can be used for several countries. The issuing fee must be paid again, the lodged deposit will be transferred. If you decide to go to countries which are not covered by the current Carnet, the deposit must be increased. The dispatch of the Follow-up Carnet by DHL is possible (additional dispatch costs). Please use the current table of fees. For the issuing of the Follow-up Carnet, we need a new application form. Please download the current version here.
Extension of existing Carnet
If a vehicle cannot be exported from a country within the Carnet validity, please apply for the extension at least 4 weeks before the expiry at ADAC. We will tell you if an extension abroad is possible and provide the according contact details of the foreign automobile club. The extension requires the approval of the foreign customs authority. The partner club forwards us the permission of the customs authority and asks for our permission to extend the Carnet. We will give our permission as soon as the extension fee (proportional paying based on the issuing fee) is in our bank account. An extended Carnet is only valid in the country of extension and can be used for leaving the country only, not for continuing your journey.
There are special rules in a few countries:
FAQs Carnet de Passages
Here you find answers to frequently asked questions concerning the Carnet.
Before your journey
+49 89 76 76 63 38
Monday–Friday: 08.00–14.00 (8 am - 2 pm)
Due to organizational reasons, we can't welcome clients personally. Please contact us by phone or e-mail (cdp@adac.de).
Please send all required documents in time (at least four weeks prior to your trip to start). We can issue the Carnet maximum 28 days prior to Carnet validity date.
Due to organizational reasons we can't keep an application form for more than six months. Shall your Carnet validity start in more than six months or you don't submit missing documents in this period, we will destroy your application documents under data security aspects. You must then send all required documents at a later date again.
As soon as all required documents (original and signed application form, copy of passport, vehicle registration papers and automobile membership card) and the payment of deposit and issuing fee have been received by ADAC, we need approximately 2 weeks for the issuing and dispatch. During high season from May to October and before Christmas holidays you should expect an issuing time of approximately 4 weeks.
As the individual equipment and interior of a camping vehicle vary a lot, we require a current proof of value when applying for a Carnet.
Please send us a copy of an official invoice (for body and built-in equipment) or a current valuation report. We require the value including VAT. The valuation report can be issued at a garage, a technical examination office, an appraiser or online.
You can apply before your departure for the Carnet. Please clarify the dispatch modalities with ADAC. Please note that the Carnet can be pre-dated only 28 days.
The Carnet will be issued and sent on time to any address you wish by DHL. The costs for DHL have to be paid by the applicant.
In case your Carnet shall be valid in more than six months, you can't apply before your departure. Therefore we kindly ask you to send the required documents by email or post while on the move.
We recommend you to keep your vehicle registered because you will need a valid registration as soon as you return to Europe.
In most countries you are obliged to present a liability insurance. Probably your insurance company doesn’t offer a global liability insurance. That’s why it is possible to take out insurance at the border of the respectiv countries.
During your journey
Most vehicle registration papers show only the engine capacity, therefore we fill in this data in the Carnet. Filling in the engine capacity is an established process as most foreign customs authorities use the engine capacity for the calculation of possible charges.
The period of stay of your vehicle is not only connected to the validity of the Carnet but also to the allowed period of stay of carnet-relevant country. That means, a vehicle cannot stay automatically for 12 months in a country. On our map on the website, you will find some additional information regarding the period of stay of some countries (only the ones we have details for).
In a few countries, it is possible to leave the vehicle without problems. However, there are countries which require to leave the vehicle in a customs ware house. And then there a countries where it is strictly forbidden to leave the vehicle. Please get in touch with the foreign customs authority to clarify this matter.
After your journey
When your journey is over and your vehicle is back in the country of registration, please present your vehicle and the Carnet to your national customs authority. It has to stamp and confirm the Certificate of Location (page 26 in the Carnet). For EU-registered vehicles, any EU customs authority can confirm the Certificate of Location. If you have a Follow-up Carnet, please don't forget to send along a copy of the first page inside. This copy must contain the vehicle data as well as a foreign customs stamp.
Please send your expired Carnet by registered mail or courier to:
ADAC e.V.
Carnet de Passages
Hansastrasse 19
80686 München
Germany
A personal drop-off is not possible.
To release your deposit as fast as possible, we need the original Carnet de Passages back (s. previous FAQ). Afterwards, the deposit will be transferred to the bank account mentioned in the application form. If your bank account details changed, you would have to write us the new bank details. The signed writing must be sent along with the Carnet.