Twenty-five years, measured from the build plate

The provision runs to a single line. A motor vehicle 25 or more years old may be imported into the United States without regard to whether it conforms to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. No model list, no application, no discretion. Age alone opens the gate.

It is declared to US Customs and Border Protection on DOT form HS-7, box 1. Boxes 2A and 2B cover vehicles that conform or are confirmed as conforming by the manufacturer; box 3 covers entry by a Registered Importer under bond. The HS-7 is a federal declaration, not a formality.

Now the part that costs people money. Age runs from the actual month and year of manufacture — the build date on the door-jamb sticker or chassis plate. Not the model year. A car built in March 2001 becomes eligible in March 2026, not on 1 January 2026, and a 2002 model year car built in September 2001 waits until September 2026.

The gate is rolling, monthly, car by car. Listings speak in model years; NHTSA reads the build record. Buyers conflate the two routinely. The correction is expensive: a car that lands before its eligibility month is not admissible under box 1, and it sits at the port accruing storage. More under vehicle sourcing.

Safety is only one agency. As at 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency excludes vehicles at least 21 years old from federal emission requirements, provided they remain in original unmodified configuration. It is declared as code E on EPA form 3520-1. The arithmetic differs from NHTSA's: EPA subtracts the calendar year of production from the year of importation. Years, not months.

Original unmodified configuration is doing real work. A replacement engine defeats the exclusion. The exception is narrow: the same model as the engine originally installed, or a certified engine with its aftertreatment from a vehicle no older than the one imported. Engine-swapped Japanese and European cars fail here, usually after the money has moved.

Then the trap: the two clocks do not align. A 22-year-old car is EPA-clear and DOT-blocked. For road use the binding constraint is always the 25-year DOT gate; the EPA gate matters only where a vehicle enters under some other DOT route.

Two gates, in order. First, NHTSA must already have made an import eligibility determination for that make, model and year. The test is whether the vehicle is substantially similar to a US-certified vehicle, or capable of being modified to conform. Where no determination exists, a Registered Importer must petition for one. The agency decides, and many petitions fail.

Second, the work, which only a Registered Importer may perform. As at 2026, under 49 CFR 592.6, the RI furnishes a conformance bond equal to 150% of the dutiable value of the vehicle at importation. It must then bring the vehicle into conformity with all applicable FMVSS within 120 calendar days of entry.

The consequence if it cannot be done, in CBP's own terms: a vehicle that does not conform must be brought into compliance, exported, or destroyed. CBP warns that the modification may be so extensive and costly as to be impractical. The route suits a few European-market cars with close US-certified siblings, rarely a low-volume exotic.

In force since 1999. NHTSA may permit the import of a vehicle of genuine historical or technological significance that was never certified to FMVSS and could not practicably be conformed. Limited production is central to the assessment — around 500 units is cited as indicative, not as a written threshold.

Approval carries conditions. On-road use is restricted, and 2,500 miles a year is the figure applied in practice. Petitions go through NHTSA's VISTA portal, then an application for permission to import. NHTSA maintains a published eligibility list.

Two assumptions to abandon. Show or Display does not relieve EPA obligations: the vehicle must still be 21 or more years old in original configuration, or pass through an Independent Commercial Importer. And no adviser can obtain an approval — the determination belongs to the agency.

Base rates first, as at 2026 and as published by CBP. Under the Harmonised Tariff Schedule the most-favoured-nation duty is 2.5% on passenger cars of heading 8703. Light trucks and cargo vans of heading 8704 carry 25%, the 1964 measure still known as the chicken tax. Classification rather than badge decides the line.

Since April 2025 a Section 232 automobile tariff has sat on top of that for passenger vehicles and light trucks. The provision that matters to a collector is HTS 9903.94.04: CBP's guidance excepts used vehicles manufactured in a year at least 25 years prior to the year of the date of entry. Note the difference from NHTSA's test: Section 232 counts whole years, the FMVSS exemption the actual date of manufacture.

Those figures explain a mechanism. They are not a quotation, and this page carries no rate table by design. The Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA reciprocal tariffs on 20 February 2026, and refunds were still being processed months later. Section 232 was untouched by that ruling.

What governs is the position on the day of entry. We confirm classification and duty in writing with a licensed customs broker before shipment; we instruct brokers rather than file entries ourselves. Mode and lane matter too — see RoRo versus container and shipping from the UK to the USA.