Does mechanical condition affect duty?

No. A damaged E-150 clears at the same rate as an intact car from the same plant, because what counts is the country of final assembly. Condition does affect the purchase price, and through it the customs value and the taxes charged on it.

How long does a VIN check take?

A matter of seconds. You enter the number and get the country and city of the assembly plant plus the answer to whether that E-150 meets the condition for the customs preference. The check is free, needs no account and can be repeated for every lot you consider.

Does a sale in the USA mean assembly in the USA?

No. American sales also move cars built in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Where a car was auctioned has nothing to do with the origin condition, which is why the assembly plant of a E-150 is checked separately, on the VIN.

Who deals with customs clearance?

We do. We put together the proof of origin, prepare the customs declaration and keep contact with the agency. For a E-150 that qualifies on its VIN we apply for the 0% rate, and the customs office decides on the documents.

What about models built in two countries at once?

That is a common case, and it is exactly where the VIN becomes essential. Two E-150 cars from the same model year can carry different rates, 0% and 10%, because they came off lines on different continents.

Where the Ford E-150 is assembled

US-assembled Ford E-150 cars usually reach us from the plant in Lorain. If your car came off that line, duty is 0% instead of 10%; if it came from a plant in another country, the preference does not apply. The split runs by single VIN, not by model.

Where is the Ford E-150 assembled?

The Ford E-150 comes out of plants that do not always sit in the same country, and those plants set the rate. A car from an American line enters the EU at 0%, a car from a plant elsewhere at 10%. Every row here is built from real cars in our database, not from a manufacturer's plan.

Plant	Country	VIN prefix	Cars in our database	Duty
Lorain	United States	1FD, 1FT	37	0% duty
Avon Lake	United States	1FD, 1FT	9	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 Lorain plant, that E-150 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?

The gap is 10% of customs value, plus a side effect: 23% VAT is charged on the value with duty added, so a zero rate also lowers the tax base. On a E-150 assembled outside the USA neither effect fires. Work the result out in the calculator — the rates are fixed, the customs value is not.

Work out the import cost

What the import cost is made of

The structure is the same for every car and only the first line differs. A E-150 off an American line comes in at 0% duty, a car outside the preference at 10%; after that comes excise by engine size (3.1% or 18.6%) and 23% VAT. Customs value follows the hammer price and transport.

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

Before you raise your bid, look at the damaged area. On a E-150 it is most often features.lots.characteristics.damage_type.normal_wear, and then the key question is whether the body structure was disturbed. Origin is a separate check, run on the VIN — the two things are independent of each other.

Damage	Cars in our database
Normal wear	11
Front end	9
Rear end	9

From the USA or from Europe?

The comparison only means something after a VIN check. The same Ford E-150 bought in the States can come in at 0% or 10% depending on the assembly plant, so a car from the USA is not one cost category. On the European side clearance falls away, and usually so does the choice of versions.

See current listings: Ford E-150