Advice8 min read19 views
Updated 2 November 2026 · Written by the Wahanaya.lk team
Sri Lanka Customs sells uncleared vehicles through sealed-bid tender sales, not live auctions. You get the tender list from customs.gov.lk, inspect the vehicle on set dates, bid, pay VAT/PAL on top if you win, then register it at the RMV using the customs letter and receipt.
It's a sale of vehicles that importers never cleared from port, sold off by Sri Lanka Customs under Section 129 of the Customs Ordinance, which lets Customs dispose of goods when the importer fails to clear them within the required time. The ft.lk report on the Hambantota Port sale of over 1,000 uncleared vehicles explains that these vehicles are not tied to any Customs violation — the importer simply never came to collect them, often because the duty bill was higher than expected or the deal that brought them in fell through. Most of these are brand-new or near-new imports still sitting in port yards, sold "as is" to recover unpaid taxes and storage charges.
This is different from a leasing company's repossession auction. A Customs sale is a government disposal of unregistered, uncleared cargo. There is no CR book yet, no registered owner, and often no running engine until you get it moving.
Go straight to customs.gov.lk and look for "Tender Sale" notices from the Central Disposal Directorate — these are published as PDFs listing each vehicle (make, model, chassis number where known, estimated reserve) along with the general conditions for that specific sale. Serious upcoming disposals, like the Hambantota Port sale, are also reported in the business press, so a quick search for "Sri Lanka Customs vehicle tender" alongside the current month is worth doing before you go to Customs House in person. You can also ask at the office of the Deputy Director of Customs, Central Disposal Unit, Third Floor, Customs House, No. 40 Main Street, Colombo 11, for a physical copy of the tender list and conditions.
Don't assume the terms are the same every time. Deposit amounts, VAT/PAL treatment, payment deadlines and clearing deadlines are all set per tender notice and have changed between sales, so read the specific PDF for the sale you're bidding on, not an old one you found online.
You collect or download the tender form, fill it in with your bid price for the specific vehicle item number, and drop it in the tender box at the Central Disposal Unit by the stated closing time. The box is opened right after closing, and the Tender Board's decision on the winning bid is final — there's no negotiating afterward. If someone else will submit the bid on your behalf, that person usually needs an affidavit from a Commissioner of Oaths naming them as your representative.
If you win, two separate payments are coming: your bid amount, plus VAT and PAL calculated on top, as shown in the tender list for that vehicle. Past tender notices have required full payment within a short window — commonly a few working days from the tender date — and required the vehicle to be removed from Customs custody within about a week after that. Miss either deadline and the award is usually cancelled, with your refundable deposit forfeited to Customs. Because this timeline is tight and varies by notice, have your funds ready and lined up before you bid — a Customs tender is not the place to bid first and arrange money later.
You can view the vehicle on the inspection dates and times printed in the tender notice, but don't expect to drive it. Many of these vehicles have been sitting in a port yard for months, batteries flat, tyres perished, and some have never been registered or driven on a Sri Lankan road at all. Bring a mechanic if you can, check the body for container-handling damage and corrosion, and look at the odometer and condition against the vehicle's stated year and model rather than trusting the description alone. Because there's no warranty, treat the inspection the same way you would check a used car before buying privately — this is your only real chance to catch a problem before you're committed.
Once you've paid in full and the vehicle is released, you take the letter and payment receipt issued by Customs to the Department of Motor Traffic (RMV) along with the standard registration paperwork, so the RMV can register it in your name and issue a CR book for the first time. This is the same principle that applies to vehicles bought at any auction run by Customs, the armed forces or the courts — the RMV wants that official letter and receipt as proof of how you lawfully acquired an unregistered vehicle. Imported vehicles generally have to be registered within 90 days of the Customs declaration date, after which a monthly late surcharge on the CIF value applies; confirm the current deadline and surcharge rate directly with the RMV when you collect the vehicle, since this is the kind of figure that changes and is worth checking as of November 2026 rather than relying on an old source.
The biggest one is bidding without a firm total cost in mind — your bid, plus VAT and PAL, plus whatever it costs to get the vehicle running, towed, and through RMV registration, can add up to well past what looks like a bargain price on the tender list. Run that total past what similar registered vehicles are actually selling for using price check before you commit, so you know whether the deal still makes sense once every cost is added in.
Other common mistakes: skipping the inspection and bidding on description alone; not having full payment ready within the short deadline and losing the deposit; assuming the vehicle comes with a CR book (it doesn't — you're buying an uncleared, unregistered import); and not checking whether a model has parts and service support in Sri Lanka before bidding on something unusual. These sales are cash-and-document transactions — Customs doesn't arrange financing, so if you'd rather compare ordinary financed purchases, a leasing calculator can show what a similar registered vehicle would cost you monthly on the open market instead.
It can be, if the vehicle is sound and you've priced in VAT, PAL and the registration process properly — these are often near-new vehicles sold to recover unpaid duty, not wrecks. But it's a higher-risk route than buying a registered used vehicle from a private seller or dealer, because there's no warranty, no test drive, and a tight payment deadline that punishes hesitation. If you're not confident reading a tender notice or judging an uninspected vehicle's real condition, it's worth asking around in the Wahanaya forum first — other buyers who've been through a Customs tender sale can tell you what actually happened on the day, and you can browse ordinary listings on vehicles as a comparison before you decide which route suits you.
Check the chassis and engine numbers stamped on the vehicle against the CR book, confirm the seller matches the registered owner's NIC, and cross-check the registration on DMT eServices before you pay. If anything doesn't match exactly, walk away or verify at an RMV office first.
Wahanaya.lk team7 min read
Enter the car's chassis number, your NIC/passport and mobile number at Sri Lanka Customs' Vehicle Verification Portal (services.customs.gov.lk/vehicles) and you'll get an SMS confirming whether it was legally cleared, locally assembled from imported parts, or fitted with fraudulent number plates.
Wahanaya.lk team6 min read
Absolute owner on a CR book means a finance company or bank still legally owns the vehicle under an unpaid lease or loan. You can buy it, but the financier must give a written release before DMT transfers it to you.
Wahanaya.lk team6 min read
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