Guide
An American car can be in the United Kingdom inside a month and registered within three. It can also sit in a compound accruing storage while one missing document is chased across two continents. The difference is rarely the shipping. It is the order the work is done in.
- Reviewed 4 September 2026
- General information, not advice
The shape of it
Four gates, and they open in order
Every permanent import into Great Britain passes four gates, in sequence. Customs entry: a declaration is lodged, the vehicle classified, duty and import VAT calculated on the customs value. Tax notification: HMRC is told through the Notification of Vehicle Arrivals service. Technical approval: the vehicle satisfies an approval route or qualifies for an exemption on age. Registration: DVLA issues a mark and a V5C on form V55/5. Nothing behind a gate completes until the one in front has cleared, so sequencing errors cannot be repaired by spending more.
The timeline is longer than the sailing. ACL's weekly ConRo rotation lifts from Halifax, New York, Baltimore and Norfolk into Liverpool in seven to fourteen nights — seven from Halifax, fourteen from New York. Southampton and Portbury are reached on feeder connections, and Gulf or West Coast origins add to the crossing. Around it sit US collection, the export filing, customs entry, NOVA, approval and registration. Three to six weeks door to door is the honest range, and the V5C takes longer still. Our shipping desk plans backwards from the date the car must be on the road.
Sequence
The eight stages, and where each one fails
In order. The failure mode matters more than the task.
Classify before you buy
As at 2026 a standard used car takes 10% duty and 20% import VAT; one HMRC accepts under tariff heading 9705 takes 0% and an effective 5%. Fails when 9705 is read as an age rule: thirty years is one limb of three, alongside original state and a model no longer in production.
Gather the paper in America
Title, bill of sale, seller identification, dating and build evidence. Fails when the title is branded, held by a lienholder, or in another name. Paper chased after sailing costs storage, and thin dating evidence produces Q marks.
Clear the US export
Electronic Export Information is filed in AES, and the ITN, VIN and title reach the CBP port of export 72 hours before lading, by a US resident. Fails when the window is missed — the commonest cause of a lost sailing.
Choose the method
RoRo needs a runner, keys stay with the vessel, personal effects are prohibited and the deck is open to salt air. A container removes all four. Fails when booked on rate alone: on a 40ft the door aperture, about 7ft 8in wide, binds long before the payload does. Compare the methods.
Sail
The date that binds is the terminal cut-off, not the departure. The eastbound rotation is weekly, so a missed cut-off usually costs a week rather than a day. Marine cover should incept before the car leaves the seller. The 24-hour Import Security Filing and USDA undercarriage cleaning belong to the westbound leg into the United States, not to this one. Fails when the vessel rolls: a booking is not a sailing date.
Lodge the UK customs entry
Duty and import VAT are paid or deferred before release, the VAT charged on price plus accessories, delivery, other charges and the duty. Fails when the value is thinly evidenced: examination costs storage. Classification is the authority's call at entry.
Notify HMRC within 14 days
The arrival is reported through NOVA. Fails when it is left as administration for later. DVLA will not register the vehicle until the notification has been processed, so a late NOVA does more than risk a penalty.
Approve, then register
Complete IVA, MSVA, GB Conversion IVA or an age exemption, obtain a UK MOT where required, then apply on form V55/5 with DVLA's first registration fee, £55 as at 2026. Fails when the car is used before the plates arrive.
Money
What a US to UK import costs
The line items, the basis each is charged on, and where each lands. Freight moves per lane and per sailing, so it appears as a position, not a price.
| Cost | Basis | Typical position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean freight | Per vehicle, by method and lane | RoRo at the market floor; shared container 10–20% above; sole-use or enclosed roughly double | Season moves it; three to four weeks of lead time in peak. |
| Marine cargo insurance | Percentage of insured value | Around 1.5–2.5% for vehicles | Institute Cargo Clauses (A), agreed value. Invoice plus 10% is wrong for an appreciating car. |
| UK customs duty | Percentage of the customs value | 10% standard; 0% where HMRC accepts heading 9705 | Per the UK Integrated Online Tariff as at 2026. Rates change. |
| Import VAT | Percentage of value plus duty plus freight | 20% standard; an effective 5% under 9705 | From the reduced valuation in section 21(4) VATA 1994. |
| Clearance and agent fee | Flat fee per entry | A few hundred pounds | Paid to a licensed customs agent, who files the entry. |
| Port and handling | Flat fees raised at the terminal | Handling, documentation, examination where queried | Storage accrues once free time expires. |
| IVA test where required | DVSA fee, plus remedial work | The fee is modest; the remedial work is not | E-mark lighting, beam pattern, rear fog lamp, mph speedometer. |
| DVLA first registration | Flat fee | £55 | Paid with the V55/5. Vehicle tax is separate. |
As at 4 September 2026. Rates and fees are set by HMRC, DVSA and DVLA and change; classification is determined at entry.
The 14-day gate
NOVA, and why it blocks everything behind it
NOVA is the Notification of Vehicle Arrivals service. As at 2026, HMRC requires notification within 14 days of a vehicle arriving in the UK permanently, and the vehicle cannot be registered until that notification is processed. The only exemption is an engine of 48cc or less, or 7.2kW if electric.
It matters because of dependency. DVLA checks the NOVA position before processing a first registration, so a car with a cleared entry, a paid VAT bill and a valid MOT still cannot be registered. The clock runs from arrival, not from clearance or from when the owner turns to the paperwork.
HMRC needs the vehicle identified and the tax position evidenced: VIN, make, model, date of arrival, and confirmation that duty and import VAT are paid or not due. The customs entry reference ties the records together. Late notification can attract a penalty; the larger cost is the gate that stays shut behind it.
Approval
Which approval route a US car actually needs
GOV.UK sets out four routes and the wrong choice costs weeks. GB Conversion IVA is for a vehicle already approved and registered in the EU — a left-hand-drive car bought in Germany, not one bought in Texas. Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) is the general route for vehicles never registered, or holding no approval recognised in Great Britain. MSVA covers two- and three-wheelers and smaller four-wheeled vehicles. GB type approval is a manufacturer's instrument, not a private buyer's.
A US car normally needs IVA. It carries FMVSS certification rather than European type approval, and an American certificate is not recognised here. The test concentrates where the markets differ: E-mark lighting rather than SAE, beam pattern, a rear fog lamp, a speedometer in miles per hour, glazing and belts. The fee is not the expense; the remedial work is.
Age changes the answer. On DVSA practice as at 2026, an IVA certificate is not issued where the date of manufacture is more than ten years before the application. That is the practical basis of the over-ten-years route: older imports are registered instead on documentary evidence of identity and age, plus a UK MOT. The American 25-year rule works the same way in the other direction. Note too that the UK historic tax class and MOT exemption run on a separate rolling 40-year rule. From 1 April 2026 it reaches vehicles built before 1 January 1986. Neither is automatic: exemption from MOT also turns on the keeper's V112 declaration and on the vehicle not having been substantially changed.
Avoidable
Common and expensive mistakes
Buying before classifying
The gap between 10% plus 20% and 0% plus 5% turns on what the car is, not the invoice.
Assuming thirty years is enough
Age is one limb of three. Period-correct restoration is allowed; a modernised drivetrain is not.
Missing the 72-hour export filing
ITN, VIN and title to the CBP port of export three days before lading, filed by a US resident.
Letting the NOVA window pass
Arrival starts the clock. A late notification risks a penalty and holds the registration gate shut.
Booking RoRo without understanding it
Running car, keys with the vessel, no personal effects, salt air. Wrong for fresh paint.
Insuring at invoice plus ten percent
A clause built for cargo that depreciates. A collector car needs agreed value under Institute Cargo Clauses (A).
Arriving with thin dating evidence
A US title states a model year; DVLA works to the month and year of manufacture. Where age or identity cannot be established, it falls back to a Q mark. That is a value event.
Driving before registration
Customs release is not road legality. Tax, insurance and an MOT come first, bar a pre-booked test.
Questions
Asked most often
Three to six weeks door to door. The eastbound crossing into Liverpool is seven to fourteen nights port to port; Gulf and West Coast origins add to it. The V5C can then take up to six weeks.
As at 2026, HMRC applies 10% duty to the customs value, which includes freight and insurance, then 20% import VAT on that value plus the duty. A vehicle accepted under heading 9705 takes 0% and an effective 5%. That determination is HMRC's, at entry.
A penalty is possible, and the vehicle cannot be registered until HMRC has processed the notification. The cost is usually the delay.
Usually, if it is under ten years old, because US certification is not recognised in Great Britain. Older cars register on documentary evidence of identity and age plus a UK MOT.
DVLA decides on the evidence. Where age is proven, the mark issued is in the format current when the car was built; a Q mark is the fallback. The deciding work happens before the car ships.
RoRo is cheapest and needs a runner. A container gives control of loading, protection and the option to move a non-runner. Where value matters the premium is small. Full comparison.
Next
Send us the car
A VIN, a location and the date it must be on the road are enough. We set out the classification position we would take, the approval route and an honest timeline before anything is booked. Sourcing and shipping run as one engagement; our coverage lists the lanes.