DOD updates Incirlik's POV policy

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Cory W. Bush
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  As part of an effort to streamline the processing of vehicles at Incirlik Air Base, the Department of Defense's privately owned vehicle processing program implemented several changes to their vehicle pickup requirements, which began March 1, 2015, here.

The Incirlik Vehicle Process Center, which processes POVs arriving and departing Incirlik, has changed their policy POV arrival pickup deadlines. The old policy allotted individuals up to 90 days to retrieve their POV, whereas, the new policy gives individuals 20 calendar days from the time their vehicle arrives at the Incirlik VPC.

"The reason why the policy has changed is due to individuals prolonging picking up their vehicle," said Tech. Sgt. Jahara Brown, 39th Security Forces Squadron Pass and Registration NCO in charge.

According to Brown, there is a lot of confusion regarding the process of getting a member's car from the VPC to their driveway.

"Every member should be able to meet the 20-day requirement to retrieve their vehicle from the VPC," Brown said. "A lot of people do not know that all you need is their beyanname cleared through the Turkish Customs office and Turkish Liability Insurance. Most members are under the impression that you need your tax exemptions as well, but that is not true to retrieve your vehicle."

For members with vehicles already in Turkey and not able to meet the 20 day requirement, the member will need to submit an extension form that explains the reason. Once the extension is approved by the Turkish Customs Office, the member will be granted an additional 30 days to complete the registration.

"We're here for the Airman," said Cengiz Han Iletmis, VPC customs and operations coordinator. "We adopted these changes fairly quickly here and Airmen and their families retrieve their vehicles faster. The flow of traffic runs smoother and the customers are happier, which makes us happy."

For vehicles arriving before the member, the 20-day window is still in effect, but the VPC will complete the extension request on behalf of the member.

"You don't have to complete the registration for your vehicle," Brown said. "The member just has to get it out of the VPC."

According to the new policy, failure to comply with the new procedures will result in fines paid at the member's expense. Determined by the Turkish Customs Office, the average fine is one percent of the member's vehicle value, but may change due to the length of the violation.

"The last thing we want is for someone to have to pay fines for not picking up their vehicle," Brown said. "We haven't had a problem yet and we hope to keep it that way."

For questions regarding the vehicle registration process, contact the VPC office at 676-9964 or 39th SFS Pass and Registration at 676-6617.