What does it cost in terms of import duties, VAT, other taxes to
import a car into Gemrany, Austria, Switzerland and France form the
United States.


Which U.S. insurance companies will offer a policy that will cover a
car with U.S. dealer plates while in Europe.

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Request for Question Clarification by websearcher-ga on 18 Apr 2005 09:34 PDT

Hello cwall:

Thanks for the interesting questions. You really have two questions
here. I have been able to find the information to answer your question
on import duties.

However, I was not able to find any information on even *whether* you
can drive a car with US dealer plates in Europe, much less which
companies might provide insurance for such driving.

Would you be willing remove the second question from this request (and
maybe make a new question for it) and accept an answer to your first
question only? (If you feel that the fee should be lowered to reflect
the split, you could also do that.)

Let me know what you think.

Thanks. 

websearcher

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Clarification of Question by cwall-ga on 18 Apr 2005 10:53 PDT

I know that AIG does offer policies that cover U.S. plated cars in
Europe. In theory, dealer plates should change little. If you can find
info on companies that do offer insurance that would be great. If not,
lets just stick with the first part of the question.

Thanks,

cw

Hi cwall:

Thanks for the clarification. What I'll do is post the answer to the
first question here and then work some more over the coming days to
try and find you the information you require about the dealer plates.

I was able to find the information on duties/tariffs and taxes that
you requested at website of the International Trade Administration
(ITA) which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce:

International Trade Administration (ITA)
URL: http://www.ita.doc.gov/

The page in particular that is key to this information is:

Tariff and Tax Information

Country and Regional Tariff and Tax Resources 
URL: http://www.ita.doc.gov/td/tic/tariff/country_tariff_info.htm

If you click on the country names for Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
and France, you'll see that each of them follow the January 2004
Tariff Schedule set out by the European Union:

The International Customs Journal
URL: http://www.ita.doc.gov/td/tic/tariff/EuropeanUnion.pdf

This is a very lengthy document, but if you scroll down to page 350,
you'll see what I believe is the relevant section for what you are
trying to do:

8703 - Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for
the transport of persons (other than those of heading 8702), including
station wagons and racing cars.

As you can see from the far right-hand column, the rate of duty for
your cars should be 10%. These duties are defined as "ad valorem" or
according to value.

Going back to the original ITA document, you can see that each of your
four countries has different value added tax rates:

Germany: "TAX: There is a value added tax of 16 percent for most
products. Some products, such as basic necessities and foodstuffs,
qualify for a reduced rate of 7 percent. The tax is applied on CIF +
duty."

Austria: "TAX: There is a value added tax of 20 percent for most
products. Some products, such as basic necessities and foodstuffs,
qualify for a reduced rate of 10-14 percent. The tax is applied on CIF
+ duty."

Switzerland: "TAX: There is a 7.6 percent value added tax for most
products. There is a reduced rate of 2.4 percent on certain products,
often basic necessities and food stuffs."

France: "TAX: There is a value added tax of 19.6 percent for most
products. Some products, such as basic necessities and foodstuffs,
qualify for a reduced rate of 2.1-5.5 percent. The tax is applied on
CIF + duty."

So, what does CIF mean. CIF = Cost, Insurance, Freight:

Duty and Tax Calculation Methods
URL: http://www.trade.gov/td/tic/tariff/calculate_duty.htm
Quote: "CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight) A pricing term indicating that
the cost of goods, insurance, and freight are included in the quoted
price."

On this last page there is also a very nice example of how to
calculate all this out based on a test case of C = $932, I = $16, F =
$52. Of course, you would have to fill in your own particular values.

However, the following are formulas you can use based on unknown CIF values:

Germany:
CIF + DUTY + VAT = (CIF*1.10)*1.16
                 = 1.276*CIF

Austria:
CIF + DUTY + VAT = (CIF*1.10)*1.20
                 = 1.32*CIF

Switzerland:
CIF + DUTY + VAT = (CIF*1.10)*1.076
                 = 1.1836*CIF

France:
CIF + DUTY + VAT = (CIF*1.10)*1.196
                 = 1.3156*CIF

So, in conclusion, the *added* cost (calculated on CIF) for cars
imported into those countries are:

Germany     = 27.6%
Austria     = 32.0%
Switzerland = 18.36%
France      = 31.56%

Search Strategy (on Google):
* automobiles "import duties" Germany Austria Switzerland site:.gov
* cif tax

I hope this helps. I will continue to look for the other information
on dealer plate insurance and will let you know what I find.

Thanks. 

websearcher

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Clarification of Answer by websearcher-ga on 20 Apr 2005 08:40 PDT

Hi cwall:

Just a quick update. I still have not been able to find out any
further information about driving in Europe with US dealer plates.

websearcher

Hi, 
Dealer plates:  have you looked at the regulations for dealer plates
in your state?  They vary considerably, but there are only 400+ hits
if you search, and many less, no doubt, if you add a state's name. 
Here is one from Michigan:

http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1631-62752--,00.html

This is only an opinion, but I doubt that the insurance for cars
driven with dealer plates would cover driving in Europe, since the
principle of dealer plates is to allow cars to be test driven and
driven under the dealer's control. Similarly, it seems unlikely
dealers plates would be recognized in Europe.

You ask about importing, bringing the car into a European company
permanently, to which Websearcher provided a good answer.
Is this what you mean, since you ask about insurance while the car is in Europe?

If you want to import cars which will eventually be registered in a
European country, you should know that the car will have to meet the
national standards (unless maybe it qualifies a "classic").  This is
possible at a price, and there may be models sold in the States that
fulfill these requirements.

I hope you don't mind my suggesting other points on the subject.