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 3 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 3 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 3 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 3 cars from the same model year can carry different rates, 0% and 10%, because they came off lines on different continents.

Can I check a car before the auction ends?

Yes, and that is the point of doing it. Enter the VIN from the lot while bidding is still open, read the assembly plant, and you know whether to count on 0% or 10% before you set the highest figure you are willing to go to.

Does a Polestar 3 qualify for zero duty

American assembly covers 80% of the 3 cars in our database, and their numbers open with 7SY. 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 Polestar 3 assembled?

The Polestar 3 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
Ridgeville	United States	7SY	32	0% duty
Chengdu	China	YSR	8	10%

Made in USA • Tax 0%

How do you check a specific car?

Type in the VIN of your 3 and we read the country and city of the assembly plant from the manufacturer's data. A plant in the States means the car qualifies for 0% duty; any other country means 10%. Do it before you bid, because the rate moves the sensible limit.

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 3 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

Three tax lines and one variable. Duty follows the assembly country of your 3: 0% for an American line, 10% for any other. Excise goes by engine size — 3.1% or 18.6%. VAT at 23% is worked out last, on customs value with duty and excise added.

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 3 and bid — we run the procedure.

What to watch for when buying at auction

Cars end up at sales in the States mostly after damage, so the condition report matters more than the odometer. Check whether the damage touches structural parts or only panels, and price the repair before you bid. The duty rate ignores condition — a damaged 3 clears exactly like an intact one.

Damage	Cars in our database
Front end	14
Rear end	8
Side	7

From the USA or from Europe?

The comparison only means something after a VIN check. The same Polestar 3 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: Polestar 3