Shipping a Car Overseas? Learn More About Customs Clearance

Shipping a vehicle that you bought from an online auto auction can be a challenging task if you don’t know much about the process. Primarily, this concerns customs clearance that any vehicle needs to pass at the port of destination. This involves providing all necessary documents to the port officers and paying all duties and import taxes. 

With EasyHaul, you can simplify the shipping process. The instant shipping quote that you can calculate online includes the cost of US customs clearance and documentation fees. To avoid delays and additional storage fees, we recommend you prepare for customs clearance at the destination port by reading this article. 

Vehicle documentation

No matter how you choose to ship a vehicle – by RORO or container – it needs to enter through the port of the country of destination to reach its destination. To do that, you’ll need to provide a variety of vehicle documents to port authorities. 

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the following documents are required:

• Copy of Bill of Sale or invoice
• Passport 
• Copy of consignee

Also, you need to upload the following documents on EasyHaul via your profile:

• Consignee information for the vehicle’s recipient
• A copy of the buyer’s passport
• A copy of the auction paid invoice

You can also purchase insurance for your shipping order, and EasyHaul will take care of all the paperwork that’s left. 

Import tax and duty

To get permission to bring your vehicle into the country of destination, you’ll need to pay import taxes and duties first. 

The Value Added Tax (VAT) on the import depends on the country where you’re importing the vehicle and will be somewhere between 19-22%. The import duty also varies depending on the country and the vehicle type. You can check with the customs and VAT authorities in your country for details.

Get help from EasyHaul

EasyHaul handles clearing US customs for you, however, it’s your responsibility to verify import procedures and customs clearance at the destination port. If you need any help with that please contact us at [email protected]. We have partners in many countries around the world that can help you prepare for clearing customs at the destination.