Does mechanical condition affect duty?

No. A damaged Tempo 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 Tempo 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 Tempo 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 Tempo 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 Tempo cars from the same model year can carry different rates, 0% and 10%, because they came off lines on different continents.

Does a Ford Tempo qualify for zero duty

The answer depends on the car: the Ford Tempo 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 Ford Tempo assembled?

Tempo cars off American lines carry the VIN prefixes 1FA in our database. A prefix shows the manufacturer and the country, but the 0% rate is decided by the final assembly plant read for the specific number. The table shows how many cars from each plant have passed through us.

Plant	Country	VIN prefix	Cars in our database	Duty
Kansas City	United States	1FA	37	0% duty
Oakville	Canada	2FA	22	10%

Made in USA • Tax 0%

How do you check a specific car?

The check runs on the VIN, not on the auction description. You enter the number of a Ford Tempo and you get the assembly plant plus whether the origin condition is met. The lot description, the seller's country and the yard location say nothing about where the car was built.

How much will you save?

The zero rate works in two places at once: 10% of duty disappears and the base for 23% VAT falls with it. That is why the difference across the whole bill on a US-assembled Tempo is larger than duty alone. The result follows customs value, so put yours into the calculator.

Work out the import cost

What the import cost is made of

The cost of importing a Ford Tempo 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

Before you raise your bid, look at the damaged area. On a Tempo it is most often features.lots.characteristics.damage_type.front_end, 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
Front end	10
Normal wear	8
Side	6

From the USA or from Europe?

The difference comes down to what you add and what you get back. Buying a Tempo in Europe, you skip the ocean crossing and the clearance; buying in the States you add both, but on a car from an American line duty is 0% instead of 10%. Your choice depends on how much paperwork and repair you take on.

See current listings: Ford Tempo