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 Hombre 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 mechanical condition affect duty?

No. A damaged Hombre 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 Hombre meets the condition for the customs preference. The check is free, needs no account and can be repeated for every lot you consider.

Isuzu Hombre from the Shreveport plant and 0% duty

American assembly covers 98% of the Hombre cars in our database, and their numbers open with 1GG. That helps you sift listings, but the 0% rate cannot be pinned to a model — only the plant read for one specific VIN says whether the car meets the origin condition.

Where is the Isuzu Hombre assembled?

The Isuzu Hombre 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
Shreveport	United States	1GG	65	0% duty

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 Isuzu Hombre 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 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 Hombre 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 cost of importing a Isuzu Hombre 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

Zero-duty paperwork is our half of the job. We read the assembly plant from production data, prepare the customs declaration and deal with the agency on your behalf. You pick a Hombre and bid — we run the procedure.

What to watch for when buying at auction

Before you raise your bid, look at the damaged area. On a Hombre 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	23
Rear end	14
Normal wear	7

From the USA or from Europe?

The difference comes down to what you add and what you get back. Buying a Hombre 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: Isuzu Hombre