How to import a classic car from Canada to the UK

Importing a classic car from Canada to the UK sits in the same bracket as the USA: Canada is not in the EU, so duty depends on where the car was built and whether you can prove it, alongside 20% VAT. But the classic rule holds: a car over 30 years old, in its original state and of a model no longer in production pays 0% duty and 5% VAT, wherever it was built. Canadian cars are left-hand drive and legal to register here. Here is how it works, and the one thing to check.

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Canada is not in the EU

Like the USA, Canada is outside the EU. Duty depends on the car's actual origin and any trade agreement that covers it, and a preferential rate only applies when that origin can be proved.

Origin means the country where the car was built, not where it was sold or where you buy it, so a car registered in Canada may have been built in Canada, the USA, Japan or Europe. That origin sets the duty on a car that does not qualify as a classic.

What you pay

The shape of it looks like this.

So VAT is 20% on a car that does not qualify as a classic, and the duty is the variable. Our guide on paying import duty and VAT explains how the two combine.

Classics are the exception

For a classic, the picture is simple and cheap. A car over 30 years old, in its original state and of a model no longer in production pays 0% duty and 5% VAT, wherever it was built, so the origin question falls away. All three conditions must be met; age alone is not enough. See our guide to working out if a car qualifies as a classic.

For a modern Canadian car, origin decides the duty. For a classic over 30, original and no longer in production, none of that matters: 0% duty and 5% VAT.

Left-hand drive

Canada drives on the right, so Canadian cars are left-hand drive. That is entirely legal to register and drive in the UK, and there is no requirement to convert. Shipping is an Atlantic crossing, much like the USA; the options are in our guide to shipping a car to the UK.

The one thing to check

Canada has warm, dry summers but cold winters, and in many areas the roads are heavily salted against ice. Salt is the enemy of car bodywork, so the underbody and sills are worth checking carefully on a Canadian car, in a way you would not need to on one from a dry southern country.

Plenty of Canadian classics have been well cared for and stored over winter, but it is the specific thing to look at. A car kept off salted roads can be excellent; one driven through many Canadian winters needs a proper inspection underneath.