Importing a used car from the US to Iraq

Salvage cars and Iraq’s 2026 rules

Iraq’s Ministry of Trade announced that from 1 January 2026 imported cars must meet the Iraqi car specification, Technical Requirement No. 167, with inspection, registration and conformity run through an online platform. As reported by Kurdistan24, the requirement keeps out:

• Cars damaged in accidents
• Flood-damaged cars
• Burnt or partly damaged cars
• Vehicles that fail safety standards, or have low environmental efficiency and high fuel use

The ministry said the controls cover imported cars of model year 2025 and newer, and that customs duty on cars rises to 15% or more, depending on the type of vehicle and its efficiency. Customs itself is run by the General Commission of Customs under the Ministry of Finance. These rules are new and may be adjusted, so ask a licensed customs broker in Iraq what applies on the day your car arrives.

Forged VINs at Umm Qasr

In January 2025 the Border Ports Commission said it had found more than 200 vehicles and heavy machines with forged chassis numbers at Umm Qasr. The numbers had been changed to make old models look newer than the model year Iraq allows. A judge in Umm Qasr ordered them held, and the commission said they would be confiscated under Council of Ministers decision No. 80 of 2020.

A VIN is checkable. The 10th character is the model year and the last six are the production number. If the VIN on the dashboard, the door pillar and the US title don’t agree, or the year doesn’t match the car, walk away. Our VIN year guide shows how to read it.

Kurdistan Region rules

The Kurdistan Regional Government sets its own import instructions. For 2026 its Ministry of Interior strictly bans cars that were submerged or burnt, or whose chassis or engine was damaged, which it calls salvage, along with cars marked “For Junk”. Private cars must be model 2025 or no more than two years older than the current model year, and they need a catalytic converter.

Routes into Iraq

• By sea to Umm Qasr. Since December 2025 a DP World ro-ro ship links Dubai’s Mina Rashid to Umm Qasr in about 36 hours.
• Through Jordan. Cars land at Aqaba, which Aqaba Development Corporation markets as a base for reaching Iraq, and travel by road to the Karameh crossing, Trebil on the Iraqi side.
• From Jordan’s free zones. In the first half of 2025 the free zones re-exported 39,641 vehicles, up 67% on a year earlier, with demand coming particularly from Syria and Iraq.

Every stop is a chance for the car to be repaired, resold and given new paperwork. The further a car has travelled from its US auction, the more you need the record of how it looked when it was sold there.

Before you pay a deposit

1. Photograph the VIN on the dashboard and door pillar and compare it with the title and invoice.
2. Decode it with the VIN decoder and check the model year against Iraq’s rules, or Kurdistan’s if you register there.
3. Run CARFAX or AutoCheck for salvage, flood and fire brands and total-loss records.
4. Pull the auction record. The lot photos show the crash, flood or fire damage before the repair, the airbags included. See our Copart report guide.
5. Ask a customs broker for the full duty and fees under the 2026 rules.

What the reports tell you

CARFAX and AutoCheck reports cover vehicles sold in the US and Canada: title brands, total-loss and auction events, and recorded mileage. The auction report shows the Copart or IAAI lot on the day of sale, with photos, recorded damage, title and odometer. We don’t clear customs or ship cars to Iraq.