How to import an American muscle car to the UK

Importing an American muscle car to the UK means shipping it across the Atlantic, clearing customs and paying the tax, then registering it with the DVLA. The good news for muscle car buyers: most of the icons are now old enough to be classics, and a muscle car over 30 years old pays 0% duty and just 5% VAT. A first-generation Mustang, a classic Camaro, an old Charger: all sit firmly in the cheap-to-import bracket. Here is the whole process.

The muscle car appeal

American muscle has a following in the UK that never faded: the big V8s, the long bonnets, the sound. And unlike a lot of American cars, the classic muscle era is exactly the period buyers here want, which is the same period that now qualifies as classic for tax.

That overlap is what makes muscle cars such good value to import. The cars people most want are also the cars that pay the least tax.

What it costs: the classic advantage

The single biggest factor is age. A muscle car over 30 years old and original is treated as a classic, which brings the reduced rates.

So a classic muscle car over 30 pays 0% duty and just 5% VAT. On a $30,000 Mustang that is a fraction of what a modern car would pay. A muscle car under 30 years old is a standard American import: up to 10% duty and 20% VAT, which stack together. Our guide on paying import duty and VAT shows how.

The muscle cars everyone wants, the 1960s and 1970s icons, are exactly the ones old enough to pay almost no tax.

Newer muscle cars

A modern muscle car, a recent Mustang or Challenger, is under 30 years old, so it pays the standard American rates: up to 10% duty and 20% VAT. Still very doable, just not the near-free tax bracket the classics enjoy. If you are weighing a modern against a classic, the tax difference is worth putting into the decision. See how to check the line in our guide to working out if a car qualifies as a classic.

The steps

Shipping from the USA is the long leg at the front, then the process is the standard one.

1. Buy and book shipping. The car is bought and booked onto a vessel from a US port, usually by container or RoRo.
2. Ship it over. Atlantic sea freight takes a couple of weeks.
3. Clear customs and pay the tax. The car is declared, the duty and VAT settled, and it is released.
4. Notify HMRC and register. HMRC is told it has arrived, then the DVLA registers it and issues plates.

Left-hand drive

American cars are left-hand drive, and that is entirely legal to register and drive in the UK. It does not change the import tax. Many muscle car buyers actively want the car left-hand drive, as it came from the factory, and there is no requirement to convert it. Shipping options are covered in our guide to shipping a car to the UK.