Is a VIN prefix enough to establish the rate?

No. The first three characters point to the manufacturer and the country, but one prefix can cover several plants. The rate needs the country of final assembly tied to the full number, and that is exactly the reading you get after entering a VIN.

What if the Regal came off a line in Canada?

Then the car does not use the preference and enters the EU at 10% duty. Canada and Mexico are the most common source of confusion, because cars from there reach sales in the States on equal terms with cars of American production.

Does zero duty also lower VAT?

Indirectly. VAT at 23% is charged on customs value with duty added, so 0% instead of 10% shrinks the tax base. Excise is worked out separately by engine size and comes to 3.1% or 18.6% either way.

Since when has the customs preference applied?

Since 2026-07-01, under the EU–US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade. It covers passenger cars finally assembled in the United States. Cars from plants in other countries keep clearing at 10%, whatever the market they were bought on and whoever sold them.

Does the model year change the assembly country?

Sometimes it does. Manufacturers move production between plants partway through a generation, so a Regal from two different model years can carry a different assembly country. That is why the rate is set for a VIN and not for a model name.

Does a Buick Regal qualify for zero duty

The answer depends on the car: the Buick Regal is assembled in several countries, and the preference goes only to one that came off an American line. That car enters the EU at 0%, the rest at 10%. Neither the model name, nor the build year, nor the auction location settles it — the plant country in the production record does.

Where is the Buick Regal assembled?

Most zero-rated Regal cars come from the plant in Pontiac (United States). Plants in other countries build this model too, and their cars clear at 10%. We read the plant from the production data of a single VIN, so the answer covers one car rather than the whole family.

Plant	Country	VIN prefix	Cars in our database	Duty
Oshawa #1 (Osh)	Canada	2G4	3,208	10%
Oshawa	Canada	2G4	1,653	10%
Ruesselsheim	Germany	W04	1,053	10%
Oshawa #2	Canada	2G4	968	10%
Russelsheim	Germany	W04	900	10%
Pontiac	United States	1G4	41	0% duty
Flint	United States	1G4	18	0% duty
Framingham	United States	1G4	3	0% duty
Fremont	United States	1G4	2	0% duty
Campbellfield (Broadmeadows)	Australia	4M4	1	10%
Arlington	United States	1G4	1	0% duty
Kansas City	United States	1G4	1	0% duty

Made in USA • Tax 0%

How do you check a specific car?

Enter the VIN and compare the result: if you see the Pontiac plant, that Regal came off an American line and qualifies for the 0% rate. Another plant means 10%, with no exceptions for version, equipment or model year. The check is free and needs no account.

How much will you save?

EU–US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade strips 10% of duty from cars finally assembled in the States and has applied since 2026-07-01. For a Regal that meets the condition, what is left on the bill is excise (3.1% or 18.6%) and 23% VAT. What that means for your car is a calculator job; here you get the rates.

Work out the import cost

What the import cost is made of

The cost of importing a Buick Regal splits into rates you know in advance and a customs value you do not. Fixed: duty at 0% or 10%, excise at 3.1% or 18.6% by engine size, VAT at 23%. Variable: the purchase price, transport and port charges.

Component	Rate
Duty — car assembled in the USA	0%
Duty — everything else	10%
Excise	3.1% up to 2.0 l, 18.6% above 3.5 l
VAT	23%

Rates, not amounts — the calculator works the sum out on current data.

Zero-duty paperwork — our job

You put nothing together yourself. We check the origin of the car by VIN, prepare the papers and run the clearance; if the production data points to assembly outside the USA, we declare it at 10% so the bill does not change when you come to collect.

What to watch for when buying at auction

Risk on a Buick Regal from auction sits in three places: the extent of the damage, the completeness of the paperwork and the history of earlier repairs. None of them touches the duty rate, which follows the assembly country alone, but all three decide what getting the car roadworthy really costs.

Damage	Cars in our database
Front end	19
Burn	6
Minor dent scratches	6

From the USA or from Europe?

You go to the States for choice and for versions never sold in Europe. On that side of the bill you add transport, clearance and post-damage repair; pulling the other way is 0% duty on Regal cars from American lines. Decide after the VIN check, not before it.

See current listings: Buick Regal