Import a car from US to Poland

we are trying to find desperately a fact how it goes. How much we need to pay taxes to customs etc. We are EU citizen (but not polish) and lived 3 years in US and moved 1 month ago to Poland. We will work here maybe 1-2 years. Does anyone know where to find relevant facts in English?

Is the car you're importing actually your own car that you've owned in the US (and can prove you owned) or are you going to buy a car in the US and then import it?

There is a huge difference in cost for these two scenarios, the first scenario where it is actually your own car should incur no taxes and duties but you will have to specify how long the car will be residing in Poland for and prove you owned it beforehand.

The second scenario incurs all the taxes, roughly 50% of the value of the car when you add it all up but it depends on the age of the car and engine size to be exact.

I just imported a car using blueskyauto.pl and they were very good.

thanks db1874! the car is our own which we have owned 2 years in US. your scenarios are just what we are wondering and our agency is not sure yet how it goes (with huge taxes or not).... it seems now we have found other agency who knows how we can do it without taxes (like we hope of course!).

Thanks for blueskyauto. pl link. I will keep in mind if still needed.

This is how i would do it....there is a ruling in the UK that you do not have to pay taxes on a car that you import if this car is 6 months old and that you have had it for this length of time.....so import it to the UK......then drive it to Poland....like i did

hi again db1874

do you know official name/procedure (temporary custom clearance?) of your 1 scenario (no taxes, no duties), for whom you need to provide owner etc documents and who can do it (some agency or ourselves) ?

our customer clearance agents don't know about this kind of procedure or they don't want to tell it or do it... they are telling us that only way is to pay full taxes...

Thanks a lot in advanced!

I don't know sorry, I would get in touch with Blueskyauto, I did scenario 2 but Jerzy at BlueSky knows scenario 1 very well.

Talos, did you then register the car in Poland?

How is this 50% estimate calculated?

Im a US citizen, If I purchase a car in the US how long do i have to wait b4 I can export it to Poland so that taxes wont be included?

This doesnt add up to me. I plan to call the Polish embassy in Washington D.C. to see if they can help with these questions, if not I will have my family in Poland call the Polish Customs Agency. I will try to post what I find out here.

Also, is there a Polish website which estimates the value of cars? In the USA we have ww.kbb.com... You enter the year, make and model of a car and it estimates a value (price).

And, what are the most popular websites for buying/selling cars?

There is a fairy tale going around that "a lot" of polish people are buying cars here and ship them to Poland to their family. With the tax of 50%, how could it possibly be worthed? I never met an actual person, who did it.
Yes, the cars are less expensive to buy here, but if you add the shipping charges and the 50% tax, it makes no sense.
I'd really like to know.

There was a report on the BBC, a week or two ago, about Americans selling their cars because of the rise in fuel prices. The report focussed on SUVs
Anyone selling an SUV at a significant loss would possibly make it the Polish guy's gain.
From what was suggested on the news, there might be some truth in the story, and profit, for the enterprising Pole.
There are people who imported cars from Germany. Maybe they have seen an opening in the states.



The most popular paper would be Auto Giełda. So you could try their website.

Ok I spent the last 2 days researching this subject and this is what I found out. You can export a car to Poland but if you didnt own it for at least 6 months in the USA you will have to pay 3 taxes: 10% Customs Tax, 22% VAT Tax and 30% (Border) Tax if the engine size is greater than 2.0 liters, 3% if the Engine Size is less than 2.0 liters.

There is more bad news. I have yet to confirm this, but apparently you cannot sell the car for a minimum of 1 year after the car is picked up in Poland.

And more: Every Customs Agency in Poland is different and some require strict Technical evaluations where exhaust and Tailights of American cars will fail. And, the car could sit on the Customs lot for 1 day or 1 month, depending on the attitude and work ethic of the people working there at the time.

Its pretty bleak for the business entreprenuer.

Lenny, where were you able to find that information, if you don't mind me asking. also, would you know where i could find information on sending other items/amounts with their corresponding rates???