Importing a car from the USA: what it really costs to land it in France

The duty rate changed on 1 July 2026

The common customs tariff on a passenger car falling under heading 8703 is 10%. Since 1 July 2026, Regulation (EU) 2026/1455, adopted following the trade agreement between the Union and the United States, brings that duty down to 0% for the goods listed in its Annex I.

Here is the trap, and it is an expensive one. The zero rate applies only if the car originates in the United States under the EU non-preferential rules of origin, not simply if it was bought there. A Japanese, German or Korean car bought in California is not of US origin: it stays at 10%. On a car at 80,000 EUR the difference is 8,000 EUR, and it turns on where the car was built, not on where you signed for it.

The preference is claimed on the customs declaration, with preference code 300 and document code U190, and it can be claimed up to three years after importation. The importer has to be able to prove the US origin by any available form of evidence. The measure runs until 31 December 2029 and can be suspended by the Commission.

Watch the body type as well: pick-ups and mixed-use vehicles can attract a higher rate, up to 22% depending on engine capacity and weight.

Import VAT, and why your shipping bill is taxed as well

Import VAT is due at the standard rate of 20%, and a private individual pays it to the customs service, not to the tax office (article 1695, I-1° of the code général des impôts, the French general tax code).

The base is not the purchase price. It is the customs value, increased by the customs duty and by the incidental expenses up to the first place of destination in France (article 292 of the same code). In plain terms, ocean freight and marine insurance sit inside the VAT base: you pay VAT on the transport.

That is why a cheap car with an expensive shipping quote is a worse combination than the two headline numbers suggest. Every euro of freight costs you 1.20 euro once the car has been cleared.

How customs arrives at a value

Customs normally works from the transaction value, meaning the price actually paid as it appears on the invoice. Buy from a private seller and there is no invoice, so a bill of sale signed by the holder of the title and stating the price takes its place.

Where there is no purchase at all, or where the declared value is not credible, customs falls back on a specialist valuation guide, on the list price of the vehicle when new, or on an expert appraisal, applying a standard depreciation scale. Declaring an artificially low price saves nothing: it triggers a revaluation.

Classic cars: tariff heading 9705

A vehicle cleared under tariff heading 9705 is exempt from customs duty and benefits from a reduced rate of import VAT. The criteria were tightened on 1 January 2014 and are assessed case by case: being thirty years old is not enough on its own.

This is what makes some imports viable at all. But the case has to be built properly from the outset: a vehicle cleared under the ordinary regime cannot be reclassified afterwards.

Homologation is the real blocker

An American vehicle has no European type-approval, so it has no certificate of conformity. It has to go through the réception à titre isolé, the individual vehicle approval granted by the DREAL, the regional State body responsible for it. The car is examined individually and modifications may be required before it passes.

One point American sellers never raise: a salvage title marks a vehicle that was written off as economically beyond repair. It makes French homologation considerably harder, if it does not rule it out altogether. It is the first thing we check on any American car we look at, before we even discuss the price.

What it costs, end to end

A landed cost is the sum of the lines below, not the asking price plus a bit of freight. Each of them is quoted for the specific car, because each of them moves with the port, the season, the engine and the year.

• The purchase price, plus the US-side costs: auction or dealer fees, inland transport to the port of departure, export paperwork.
• Ocean freight and marine insurance, in a container, then the port and handling charges on arrival.
• Customs clearance: duty at 0% or 10%, or higher for a pick-up, then import VAT at 20% on the built-up base described above.
• The certificat de dédouanement 846A, the customs clearance certificate proving the duty and taxes were paid. This is the document a car from outside the EU is registered on, and it lets the car run on its foreign plates for up to four months from the date of issue. The quitus fiscal, the tax clearance certificate you hear about so often, is the equivalent for a purchase inside the EU and has no part to play here.
• The réception à titre isolé, with the DREAL charges, plus any modifications it requires.
• The contrôle technique, the French roadworthiness test, required before registration for a car more than four years old.
• The carte grise, the French registration document, priced on the vehicle's chevaux fiscaux (the cheval fiscal is the French fiscal horsepower unit) multiplied by the rate set by the region.
• The taxes at first registration: the CO2 penalty known as the malus, reduced according to the age of a used vehicle, and the taxe sur la masse en ordre de marche, the weight tax computed from the vehicle's mass in running order. Both bite hard on large American vehicles.

You can put your own numbers through our calculator: Calculer mon coût d'immatriculation works out the carte grise and the taxes due on an imported vehicle. The interface is in French, as is our detailed guide Le malus d'un véhicule importé, which sets out how the administration actually computes it. Call us and we will run it with you.

Buy it from us rather than importing it yourself

Send us the link to the listing. We come back with the complete price and the tax calculation behind it. We buy the car, we ship it over and clear it through customs, and you buy it from Autonero: a French invoice and the two-year garantie légale de conformité, the legal guarantee of conformity a French professional seller owes. 40% on order, the balance on delivery.

That is not the same thing as using a mandataire, the agent who buys in your name and leaves you as the importer on the customs declaration, holding the origin evidence, the 846A and the DREAL appointment yourself. We import in our own name. What you buy is a French car with French paperwork.

If your search is not set on America, say so. The same exercise inside the single market is far simpler, and frequently cheaper once the taxes are counted. Our guides are published in French: Importer une voiture d'Allemagne, de A à Z and Importer une voiture du Japon.

Send us a listing, call +33 9 80 80 15 10 from anywhere, or write to contact@autonero.fr.

Our premises: 10 rue du Bois Paris, 28630 Nogent-le-Phaye, in the Eure-et-Loir, six kilometres from Chartres and junction 2 of the A11. Visits are by appointment, so that someone is free when you arrive. Comment venir.

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• The malus on an imported car, worked out the way the French authorities do it
• When French VAT is due on a vehicle you import
• What the carte grise on an imported car really costs
• Buying a vehicle from Autonero, delivered worldwide