How to import a car to Russia

There are 2 options for importing an automobile into the Russian Federation in accordance with the rules of the Customs Union of the Eurasian Economic Union:

1. TEMPORARILY.
It is imported for a period of up to 1 year, during which the vehicle may be in Russia. Before the expiration of this period, you need to either declare the car for its export from Russia, or declare the car for its release into free circulation in the territory of the Customs Union (after which it may remain in Russia forever). When a car is imported into Russia temporarily, you are not to pay customs duties and recycling fees. You only need to pay security for the fulfillment of the obligation to pay customs duties, which is equal to the amount of customs duty on the car. And this security is repaid to the payer after the car is removed from Russia.

2. PERMANENTLY.
To do this, when importing a vehicle into Russia, you need to declare it to release it for free circulation in the territory of the Customs Union. The release of goods for free circulation is when goods imported into the customs territory remain permanently there and do not need to be removed from there.

To freely use an automobile, an individual must pay:
• customs duty for importing the car,
• customs fee,
• recycling fee for a car.

Note that sometimes the amount of these payments may exceed the initial and current cost of the vehicle.

CUSTOMS DUTY

The amount of customs duties depends on what category the car belongs to.
- Up to 3 years old
- From 3 to 5 years
- Over 5 years old

If a new car is imported, no more than 3 years old, then the COST OF THE CAR is taken into account. For example, if an automobile costs over €10,000, then the customs duty is 48% of its value, namely €4800.

If you are importing a car that has been manufactured for more than 3 years, then the ENGINE VOLUME is taken into account. Thus, if a car has been manufactured not more than 5 years ago and engine capacity of 1500 cubic centimeters, then custom duty is €2.5 are payable per 1 cm2 of engine displacement. In this case, from 1.5 liter the duty is 3750 euros.

If an old car is imported, more than 5 years old, then, again, the ENGINE VOLUME is also taken into account, but the cost of customs duty for the same engine is higher - 3.5 euros per 1 cubic centimeter of engine displacement must be paid. In this case, the fee for 1,5 l would be 5250 euros.

CUSTOMS FEE

The customs fee is much lower than the customs duties for importing a car into Russia or the territory of the Customs Union. E. g., for an automobile worth over 100,000 euros, the fee is €300.

RECYCLING FEE

A recycling fee has been introduced for vehicles imported into Russia, guaranteeing their owners free disposal. E. g., when importing an automobile older than 3 years with an engine capacity of more than 3.5 l, the recycling fee is about 1,600,000 rubles, even if the car is intended for personal use.

EXAMPLE

Let us take a Toyota Land Cruiser, 2018, engine capacity 4.5 liters, worth 45,000 EUR (https://dubai.dubizzle.com/motors/used-cars/toyota/land-cruiser/?year__gte=2018&year__lte=2018) as an example, and calculate how much totally you are supposed to pay to import it:

A. The customs duty for importing the car is about €25,000
B. The customs fee, €300
C. recycling fee: €17,000
Total: 43,000 EUR

The total cost (incl. the price of the car itself) will be 88,000 euros; and this does not include delivery costs! It would be apparently cheaper to buy such a car in Russia: the price as of today, June 2024, is 70,000 euros.


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