Does mechanical condition affect duty?

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

Where the Saturn VUE is assembled

US-assembled Saturn VUE cars usually reach us from the plant in Spring Hill. 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 Saturn VUE assembled?

VUE cars off American lines carry the VIN prefixes 3GS, 5GZ 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
Ramos Arizpe	Mexico	3GS	1,911	10%
Spring Hill	United States	5GZ	1,485	0% duty
Springhill	United States	3GS, 5GZ	1,056	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 Saturn VUE 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 VUE 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 VUE: 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 VUE and bid — we run the procedure.

What to watch for when buying at auction

The most common damage on a VUE in our database is features.lots.characteristics.damage_type.front_end, so start the photos and the report there. Repairing that area can eat the whole advantage of 0% instead of 10%, which is why you count it together with duty rather than separately.

Damage	Cars in our database
Front end	1,242
Side	282
Rear end	269

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 VUE cars from American lines. Decide after the VIN check, not before it.

See current listings: Saturn VUE