There are just 500 Ferrari LaFerrari coupes, so if we were fortunate enough to obtain our hands on one, we’d do whatever in our power to avoid it from getting crushed. Apparently, that’s simply excessive of a trouble for one owner in South Africa, who let his LaFerrari languish in a customs warehouse for 3 years over unpaid import taxes prior to getting it seized once again in an ill-fated smuggling effort last month. Now, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has had just about enough, so they’re preparing to crush the vehicle.
“When it was first brought into the nation, the owner failed to follow right import procedures consisting of paying the necessary customs duties and VAT. As a result, the automobile remained in a bonded warehouse for 3 years since the owner could not settle the needed customs procedures,” SARS informed.
This February, after years of inactivity, the owner submitted documents to move the LaFerrari out of the nation to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The hypercar did undoubtedly leave the nation, but agents captured smugglers attempting to sneak it back in the next day, at the very same border crossing. Cash can purchase a hypercar, but it can’t make you clever.
SARS revealed the seizure last week, and CarBuzz says the next stop in these circumstances is generally the crusher. Along with the duties, it’s also now illegal to import brand-new left-hand-drive cars into the country. We are surely thinking that all this could have been prevented if the person had simply paid the taxes in the first place.