Importing a used car from the US to Ukraine

The risk behind a cheap US car

Copart and IAAI sell cars that insurers have written off, and the low price is what makes them worth shipping across an ocean. The question is what exactly was damaged. A front-end hit repaired with new parts is one thing; a car that sat in floodwater up to the dashboard is another, and it can look fine for months.

The Ukrainian registration certificate won’t tell a later buyer which one they have. The US records will: the title brand, the insurance total loss and the photos taken at the auction.

Rozmytnennia: what customs clearance costs

Rozmytnennia (розмитнення), clearing the car for free circulation, means three payments, according to the State Customs Service:

• Import duty: 10% of the declared value. For electric cars it’s 0%.
• Excise tax: base rate × engine factor × age factor. The base rate is €50 for petrol engines up to 3,000 cm³ and €100 above; €75 for diesel up to 3,500 cm³ and €150 above. The engine factor is the displacement divided by 1,000. The age factor is the number of full calendar years since the year of manufacture, at least 1 and capped at 15. Electric cars pay €1 per kWh of battery capacity; the hybrid lines named by customs pay €100.
• VAT: 20%, charged on the value plus the duty and the excise.

The customs service’s own example: a 2019 petrol car with a 2,010 cm³ engine gives €50 × 2.01 × 5 = €502 of excise. Because the excise depends on engine and age, not price, it weighs more on a cheap salvage car than on an expensive one. The VAT exemption on electric cars ran until 1 January 2026. The customs service has a calculator, and a broker can run the numbers for your car.

Euro 5, Euro 2 or Euro 6?

You’ll read online that Ukraine requires Euro 5. For passenger cars (heading 8703), the State Customs Service says clearance needs at least Euro 6 for new cars and at least Euro 2 for used ones, and you must present a document showing which emissions level the car meets by design. US cars are certified to US EPA rules rather than to a Euro class, so ask a broker how to get that document for your car before it arrives.

Documents customs asks for

• An invoice or other proof of the car’s value, such as the auction receipt.
• Proof of ownership, such as a sale contract.
• The registration document, which for a US car is the title, and proof the car was taken off the register in its country of registration.
• The document showing the car’s emissions level.

You file a preliminary customs declaration first. The car must enter Ukraine within 30 days of that declaration and reach the clearing customs office within 10 days of crossing the border. After clearance, the car is registered at a service centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVS).

Getting the car to the border

With Ukraine’s Black Sea ports disrupted by the war, US cars usually travel by sea to an EU port and then by road. The Port of Gdynia in Poland, which handles containers and ro-ro cargo, invites Ukrainian importers to route cargo through its terminals. Ask your forwarder which port and which transit papers suit your car before you bid.

Before it sails, US Customs and Border Protection must see the car and its title, or a certified copy, at least 72 hours ahead. A car bought without the title in hand waits in the US.

Checklist before you bid

1. Decode the VIN with the VIN decoder: year (for the excise age factor), engine size and fuel type.
2. Look at the lot photos and the damage recorded at the auction, and read the title type. See salvage title checks.
3. Run a CARFAX or AutoCheck report for flood and total-loss events and the mileage trail.
4. Work out duty, excise and VAT before you bid, and add freight and EU transit.
5. Make sure the title will travel with the car: customs wants it.

What our reports cover

CARFAX and AutoCheck reports cover cars with a US or Canadian past: title brands across all states, insurance write-offs, auction sales, service visits and odometer readings. The auction report shows a Copart or IAAI lot at the moment of sale, with photos, damage notes, title and mileage. We don’t do customs clearance, transport or MVS registration.