Calculator
What importing from China actually costs
10% customs duty, 21% Romanian VAT, shipping, RAR type approval. Put in your own figures and see where the money goes. The calculation can be passed on as a link, and we ask nothing in return.
The purchase price at source, without shipping. The FOB value on the invoice.
The container to the European port, plus insurance on the way. Usually €2,000–3,000.
Individual RAR type approval, the file, the plates. Around €1,200 for a car.
23% of the total goes to the state. Customs duty and VAT come to €10,758 of the total above. That is why a €30,000 car in China does not cost €30,000 on your drive.
Our fee is €1,500, flat, and it is already in the total. It does not rise with the price of the car, because the work does not either: here it comes to 3% of the final sum.
Already found the car? If you have the source and a negotiated price, we handle only the import: inspection, shipping, customs, type approval, registration, at the same fee. The figures above still hold, without the searching.
Why your sums do not add up
Four things people get wrong
- 01
VAT is not charged on the price of the car
It is charged on the customs value plus the duty. So you pay VAT on the duty as well. On a 30,000 euro car, the wrong sum comes out nearly 700 euro short of reality.
- 02
Shipping counts towards the taxable base
The customs value is the price of the car plus shipping and insurance, not just the invoice from the seller. So shipping is taxed twice: once by duty, once by VAT.
- 03
Individual type approval is not a formality
It is the procedure by which a car imported on its own earns the right to be driven in Romania. It takes time, it costs money, and it is where do-it-yourself imports get stuck. Not the shipping.
- 04
The Chinese price is not the Chinese price
Many listings show the domestic price with Chinese taxes already included or, the other way round, the export price with nothing in it. Before any calculation, you need to know exactly which one you are looking at.
The next step
The sums are the easy part
The hard part is finding the right car, checking it is what the listing says, and getting it through customs and RAR. That is what we do, for a fee, at a price fixed before you pay anything.
- Customs duty
- 10% of the customs value (the car plus shipping)
- VAT
- 21% of the customs value plus the duty
- Mileage of our cars
- 500–15,000 km, barely used, not brand new
- From order to plates
- 8–16 weeks, of which 5–7 are the sea crossing alone