How do you import a car from the Czech Republic to the UK?

To import a car from the Czech Republic to the UK, get two things from the seller: the original Czech registration certificate, which everyone calls the techničák (officially osvědčení o registraci vozidla), and a signed purchase contract (kupní smlouva) or invoice. From the moment the car arrives, we do the customs declaration, NOVA and the DVLA paperwork. A qualifying historic car pays 0% duty and 5% VAT. Anything else pays 20% VAT, and 10% duty unless you can prove it was manufactured in the EU.

Deregistration in the Czech Republic, any export plates and the export paperwork are handled by the seller. If you need it, we arrange the transport to the UK, and we handle the customs declaration, NOVA and the DVLA paperwork.

Czech sellers talk about the malý and the velký techničák, and since January 2024 only the ORV is issued, so a car bought today can arrive with one of them or both. Either way, match the VIN on the papers to the car.

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How the UK taxes a Czech car

Being bought in an EU country does not make a car duty free. The rate follows the car's classification and its manufacturing origin.

A historic collector's vehicle is over 30 years old, in its original state with no substantial changes, and of a model no longer in production. HMRC's classification guidance allows repair and restoration but excludes modernised or modified cars. When a car qualifies, origin stops mattering: 0% duty and 5% VAT.

For every other car, origin is about where the car was made. A modern Škoda assembled in Mladá Boleslav can qualify for 0% duty, but only with proof of origin, which private sellers rarely have. A car built in Czechoslovakia before the Czech Republic joined the EU in 2004 is a question we look at case by case. Without proof, plan for 10% duty on top of the 20% VAT. Our guide to paying import duty and VAT shows how the two combine.

Škoda, Tatra and Czech historic cars

Czech motoring history is mostly home-built. Škoda in Mladá Boleslav produced the rear-engined 1000 MB, the 100 and 110 family, the 105, 120 and 130 saloons and the 110 R coupé before the front-drive Favorit. Tatra in Kopřivnice built large rear-engined, air-cooled V8 saloons such as the 603 and 613. Older names such as Praga and Aero, and Jawa and ČZ motorcycles, complete the picture. Unmodified examples over 30 years old, of models no longer in production, are typical candidates for the 5% rate.

A car on the Czech register of historic vehicles carries a průkaz historického vozidla (historic vehicle card). Ask for a copy: it is good evidence of originality, although HMRC still applies its own test. And if the registration date on the techničák is later than the build year, for example after a re-registration, a dating letter can prove the real age to the DVLA, and we obtain it for you.

Four UK steps

• Import declaration: we clear the car through UK customs and pay the duty and VAT.
• NOVA notification: we tell HMRC the car has arrived, within 14 days.
• MOT, if the car needs one: it can be tested in the UK on its Czech plates. Cars built or first registered more than 40 years ago with no substantial changes are exempt and use a V112 declaration instead.
• DVLA registration: we fill in the V55/5; you post it with the original techničák, photo ID, proof of your UK address, the £55 first registration fee and road tax.