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Information for US import
of vehicles from the USA / Canada

You can acquire a vehicle in the USA via a broker or a dealer, or you can purchase
direct from a private individual.

New vehicles should be exclusively acquired from a “DMV Licensed Dealer”. The
excellent prices are net prices (export price excluding sales tax) but are usually
negotiable. Discounts of up to 5 percent can be achieved here.

When purchasing a used vehicle from a dealer or a private individual it also makes
sense to renegotiate the price. Discounts of up to 5 percent are also possible from
dealers, however, with private individuals, the amount of the discount depends on their willingness
to negotiate and the desirability of the vehicle.

You can get the biggest discount with a face-to-face cash transaction.

Sales tax

The sales tax that is paid in the USA cannot be compared to the value-added tax in
many European countries. Sales taxes are levied by the individual US states, whereby
the regulations differ from state to state. The tax rates also vary from state to state, as
well as from municipality to municipality and amount to between 0 and 9 percent.

Sales tax is levied on vehicles that have exclusively been bought for export. The vehicle
has to then be exported directly from the dealer. Most of the dealers require an export
certificate (B/L - Bill of Loading/Lading). You can obtain this from the carrier after the
vehicle has been shipped.

Whoever intends to travel in the USA with the vehicle before the export has to pay the
sales tax at the point of purchase. In this case, you should clarify with the dealer the
possibility of the tax being refunded by them after the subsequent export of the vehicle.

Means of payment

When purchasing over the Internet, most sellers insist on payment in advance. The
advance payment is possible via an international money transfer or payment through a
service provider, for example PayPal or Western Union. Payments on location can be
made with cash, traveler’s checks or a credit card.

Guarantee

Only a few vehicle manufacturers warrant a world-wide guarantee. With US vehicles
buyers can generally not expect the vehicle manufacturer’s representative in Germany
to assume warranty cases. You should definitely obtain information from the
manufacture concerned. It is also possible and sensible to agree guarantee insurance.

Title / Certificate of Origin

All vehicles, excluding new vehicles, require a “Certificate of Origin” or “title” for short
for export out of the USA and the subsequent registration in Germany. This is
comparable with the German vehicle registration document. It is not recommended to
acquire a vehicle without such a title.

The following details are listed in the “title”:

• Vehicle identification number of the vehicle
• Registered owner
• If the vehicle is financed e.g. through a bank or similar institute, you will find this in
  the “Lien holder” field – You need to pay attention to a release.

New vehicles without a previous registration are delivered with a “Certificate of Origin”,
which can be compared to the “title”. Vehicles without a “Certificate of Origin” should
equally not be purchased, as the export to and registration in Germany is almost
impossible without this certificate.

Goods in transit insurance

There are two kinds of insurance protection that you can resort to when shipping:

“Total loss” insurance: covers total loss if, for example, the ship sinks, the containers go
overboard or the vehicle is stolen. Also included in the total loss insurance is loading
and unloading as well as fire or lightning.

“All risk” insurance: in addition to the insurance protection of the total loss insurance,
the all risk insurance also covers damage in transit at the present value. The downside is
that there is usually a high excess.

Customs clearance

When importing vehicles into the EU, import duties are payable on the value of the
vehicle + transportation costs, this amounts to a 10% duty on cars (8% duty on
motorcycles and 22% duty on pickups). In addition to this, you must pay import sales tax
amounting to 19% (in Germany).

For vehicles that are 50 years old and above, we can reduce the duty by 3% and get
rid of the import sales tax. We can even reduce duties on vehicles that are 30 years old
and above when importing via the Netherland and vehicles older than 40 years via France.

Sample calculation:

Dollar exchange rate: 0.6500	USD	EUR
Purchase price of the vehicle:	10.000,00 $	6.500,00 €
Sea freight to Europe:	980,00 $	637,00 €
Port handling (EU):		395,00 €
CUSTOMS VALUE:		7.532,00 €
Import duty:		753,20 €
Sub-total 1:		8.285,20
Import sales tax (19%):		1.574,19 €
TOTAL:		9.859,39 €

Registration

In order for your vehicle to be registered, the following criteria has to be fulfilled:

• Necessary papers: “title” (MSO/Canadian “ownership”)

Written confirmation that the vehicle has passed customs (ZUB)
Vehicle data sheet, light technology certificate, exhaust emission characteristics certificate

• Modifications to the valid StVZO (German Road Traffic Licensing Regulations)
• Application for a German vehicle registration document
• Emissions test
• Presentation at the TÜV agents for a complete TÜV inspection.
• Obtaining the necessary exemption certificates
• Issuance of the German vehicle registration document

Special permits

In order to avoid high costs when modifying your vehicle, there is the possibility of
obtaining exemption certificates.

Examples of this are:

• Headlamp leveling
• License plate size
• Electromagnetic compatibility

Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our team at anytime.

Download information: US IMPORT