Costs

Do imported cars pay road tax in the UK?

Yes, but only the same vehicle tax as any UK car. The first payment is £10 to £5,690 depending on CO2 for a car first registered on or after 1 April 2017, then a standard £200 a year. Older cars pay £20 to £790 by CO2 band or £230 to £375 by engine size, and a car built before 1 January 1986 can be free if you apply.

Published 13 October 2026 · 5 min read

Working out the cost of bringing a car in? Get a free quote for your car import →

1. When do you pay road tax on an imported car?

You pay it when you register the car with DVLA, together with the one-off £55 registration fee. GOV.UK says you must tax the vehicle when you register it (GOV.UK, registering an imported vehicle). Before that you have already paid customs duty and VAT, and told HMRC through NOVA. Vehicle tax is a separate bill from those import taxes; our guide to how many taxes you pay importing a car lists all of them in order.

The rate is not higher because the car is imported. DVLA works it out from the details on your application: the date the car was first registered, the CO2 figure and, for a modern car, the list price (DVLA, guide to filling in the V355/5 application).

2. What does the tax cost in 2026?

These are the rates that apply on or after 1 April 2026 (DVLA, V149 rates of vehicle tax; GOV.UK, vehicle tax rates for cars registered on or after 1 April 2017). The table shows a single 12-month payment for a petrol car.

Diesel cars that do not meet the RDE2 emissions standard pay a higher first-year rate than petrol in the 2017 scheme, for example £1,410 against £560 at 131 to 150 g/km. A car with a list price over £40,000 pays a supplement of £440 a year, so £640, for 5 years from the second payment.

Worked example: a petrol car first registered in 2019 at 125 g/km pays £455 for its first 12 months, then £200 a year. The same car first registered in 2015 at 125 g/km sits in band D and pays £170 a year.

3. Which rate applies to your car?

The date decides. DVLA asks for the date the car was first registered, in any country, not the date it reached the UK (DVLA, V355/5 guide). When the 2017 scheme started, DVLA said a used import first registered abroad before 1 April 2017 stays on the older rules, and one registered abroad on or after that date moves to the new ones (DVLA blog, new vehicle tax rules and imported vehicles).

In practice, find the first registration date and the CO2 figure on the car's papers before you buy, and look the rate up in the table above. DVLA works it out from your application.

4. Where does the CO2 figure come from?

From the approval paperwork. On the V355/5 application the combined CO2 figure is taken from the Certificate of Conformity or the equivalent approval certificate (box 36 for the NEDC value, box 37 for the WLTP figure). In 2017 DVLA said a used import with no CO2 figure on its approval certificate stays in the private light goods class, which is taxed by engine size. A car over 10 years old needs no vehicle approval, so ask us before you buy if yours has no certificate.

Our guide to registering an imported car with DVLA covers the rest of the application, and the MOT guide for imported cars covers the test you may also need.

5. Can an imported car be free of road tax?

Yes, if it was built before 1 January 1986. GOV.UK says vehicles built before that date can stop paying vehicle tax from 1 April 2026, and where the build date is unknown, a vehicle registered before 8 January 1986 also qualifies (GOV.UK, historic vehicles: MOT and vehicle tax). You must apply for the historic tax class; it is not automatic and it is not tied to the 30-year customs rule. Our historic vehicle tax checker tells you if your car is eligible.

A car can therefore be a classic for customs (0% duty and 5% VAT, which needs over 30 years, original condition and a model no longer in production) and still pay road tax if it was built in 1990. The two tests are separate. See how to work out if a car is a classic.

Once registered, the car must be taxed, even at £0, or declared off the road with a SORN (GOV.UK, vehicle tax).

We handle the customs declaration and NOVA, and we prepare every DVLA form, you just sign and post. Vehicle tax is paid to DVLA at registration.