How to Import a Race Car into the USA from Europe

A large share of the world's race cars, rally cars and historic competition cars is for sale in Europe, often with deeper spares packages and longer paper trails than what turns up at home. Buying one from the US is entirely doable, but the import has rules of its own: two federal agencies care about whether the car could ever be driven on the street, the tariff picture has changed several times since 2025, and a car that is perfectly legal in Europe can be impossible to bring in on the terms you expect.

This guide goes deeper on the US case than our general guide to buying a race car from another country. It is written for a US buyer, but European sellers will find the list of what their buyer needs from them useful too.

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules and tariff rates change, and the right treatment depends on the specific car. Use a licensed customs broker and confirm the position in writing before you commit.

The first question: race car or road car?

Every car entering the US is declared to two regulators at once:

• NHTSA, the safety regulator, on DOT Form HS-7. Road vehicles under 25 years old must comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), which European cars almost never do.
• The EPA, on EPA Form 3520-1. Road vehicles must meet US emission rules unless an exemption or exclusion applies.

Which declarations you can make depends on what the car is, not on what it is used for today. In broad terms, a European competition car falls into one of three cases:

The car	Safety (NHTSA, Form HS-7)	Emissions (EPA, Form 3520-1)	Public roads in the US
Built for competition only — a single-seater, a sports prototype, a GT car built by the manufacturer as a racer and never road-registered	Declared as not manufactured primarily for use on public roads, so not a "motor vehicle" for the safety standards	Racing-vehicle exclusion, code L, with a written EPA approval letter attached	Never
Road-based competition car under 25 years old — a rally or touring car built from a production model, especially one with road registration	A motor vehicle: competitive-racing import only with NHTSA's written permission, and the car must leave or be destroyed afterwards	Needs its own EPA approval, which a road-registered car will struggle to get	Never
At least 25 years old	Exempt from the safety standards under the 25-year rule	Exempt at 21 years or more only in original, unmodified configuration; a modified competition car usually goes through code L instead	Only if it clears EPA as a road vehicle and your state will register it

A licensed customs broker ticks the matching box on the HS-7 and the matching code on the 3520-1. Your job is to know which case your car is in before you pay, and to get the documents that prove it.

Competition-only imports: what the EPA and NHTSA want

The EPA racing-vehicle exclusion

The EPA treats a genuine racing vehicle as excluded from its road-vehicle rules, but it decides what counts as one, car by car:

• Approval comes first. The EPA requires pre-approval before a nonconforming vehicle is shipped to the US. Contact the EPA Imports Hotline with the car's technical specifications, photographs and evidence that it is used only for racing — your competition license and the car's logbook help.
• What the EPA looks for is proof that the vehicle cannot be safely and practically driven on streets and highways. A slick-shod single-seater makes that case on its own; a car with headlights, a horn and a European registration certificate does not.
• At the border, the entry includes Form 3520-1 with code L — "racing vehicle as determined by EPA" — and the EPA letter of approval attached.
• For good. A code L vehicle may not be registered or licensed for use on, or operated on, public roads or highways. Converting it into a street car later without EPA certification is a Clean Air Act violation. If a seller tells you the car "can be made road legal in the US," that is not how this works.

NHTSA and the safety standards

• Purpose-built race cars are declared on the HS-7 as not manufactured primarily for use on public roads. They are then not "motor vehicles" for the safety, bumper and theft standards, and no NHTSA approval is needed. The manufacturer's build documentation, homologation papers and the absence of any road registration all support that declaration.
• Road-based cars under 25 years old are motor vehicles even after a full competition build. The competition route for them requires NHTSA's written permission, and the importer must provide proof of export or destruction within 30 days after the end of the period for which the car was admitted. It is a way to race a car in the US, not to own it there indefinitely.
• Converting it to US standards through a NHTSA-registered importer, under a bond of 150% of the car's dutiable value, exists on paper but is rarely realistic for a competition car.

Road cars and the 25-year rule, briefly

A car manufactured at least 25 years ago is exempt from the US safety standards. On the emissions side, the EPA exempts or excludes vehicles at least 21 years old (counted as the year of importation minus the calendar year of manufacture) — but only in original, unmodified configuration, and with an engine of the same model as the one originally fitted.

That last condition matters for competition cars. Most historic race and rally cars have been modified, often heavily, so even a 40-year-old car may not qualify as an original road vehicle. In that case the competition route (code L) is usually the cleaner answer, with the same no-road-use consequence. The car's FIA Historic Technical Passport and period documentation are what show the EPA and your broker what the car actually is.

The dual-purpose trap: a rally car with European plates

Many European rally cars are road-registered, because national rallies use public roads between stages. That is an asset in Europe and a problem in the US:

• To NHTSA, a car built from a production model and registered for the road is a motor vehicle. If it is under 25 years old, it does not meet the safety standards and cannot be declared as "not manufactured for public roads."
• To the EPA, a European registration certificate is evidence that the car can be driven on public roads — the opposite of what the racing exclusion requires.
• The realistic options are a competitive-racing import with NHTSA permission (temporary, with export or destruction at the end), or waiting until the car reaches 25 years. Deregistering it in Europe before export does not change how it was manufactured.

If you are buying a modern road-registered rally car for US events, talk to a broker who has done this exact type of car before you sign anything. If the answer is no, a car built for competition only from the start is often the better buy.

Customs entry: CBP, the broker and the bond

The import itself is handled by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). For a vehicle, CBP asks for the carrier's original bill of lading, the bill of sale, the foreign registration (if the car has one) and any other documents describing the car, together with the HS-7 and the 3520-1.

CBP allows you to file the entry yourself, and its officers cannot do it for you. In practice, a licensed customs broker is worth the fee:

• they classify the car and calculate the duty;
• they arrange the customs bond needed for a formal entry;
• they file the Importer Security Filing (ISF), which ocean cargo needs — CBP treats roll-on/roll-off vehicles as break-bulk cargo, which still requires an ISF;
• they make sure the EPA and NHTSA paperwork matches the chassis number on every other document.

Choose one before you pay a deposit and ask for a written landed-cost estimate for your specific car.

Duty and tariffs in 2025–2026

This is the part that has moved most. As of October 2026:

• Classification. Cars classify in HTS heading 8703, which covers motor vehicles for the transport of persons and expressly includes racing cars. The general duty rate for cars is 2.5% of the customs value.
• Section 232 auto tariff. Since 2025, an additional tariff applies to imported passenger vehicles. CBP confirms it covers used vehicles too — except those manufactured in a year at least 25 years before the year of entry.
• EU-built cars: 15% all-in. Under the US–EU framework, passenger vehicles that are products of an EU member state pay a combined 15% (in place of the 2.5% plus the Section 232 tariff) for entries on or after August 1, 2025.
• Origin is where the car was built, not where it is sold. A British-built single-seater or a Japanese-built rally car sitting in Belgium is not an EU product, and a different rate can apply. Your broker determines origin from the build documentation.
• Cars 25 years and older fall outside the Section 232 tariff and start from the 2.5% general rate. That rate is not always the whole duty. Other surcharges on these cars have been introduced and withdrawn several times in 2025–2026, so confirm the total for your entry date.
• Customs value is generally the price paid for the car. International freight and insurance are normally left out when they are invoiced separately — another reason to keep shipping on its own invoice.

Two federal fees come on top of the duty:

• Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF): 0.3464% of the value on a formal entry, with a minimum of $34.58 and a maximum of $670.86 per entry (CBP's current table; the limits are adjusted each fiscal year).
• Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF): 0.125% of the value for cargo arriving by sea.

Some states also charge sales or use tax on a vehicle brought in from abroad, even one that will never be registered. Check with your state's tax department.

Shipping: RoRo or container

Option	How it works	Good for	Watch out for
RoRo (roll-on/roll-off)	The car is driven onto a vehicle-carrying ship	Cheapest per car, for cars that run and steer	Low splitters and ramps, non-runners, loose spares, limited insurance
Shared container	Your car shares a container with two or three others	Lower cost with container protection	Waiting for the container to fill; handling at consolidation
Exclusive container	A 20 ft or 40 ft container for your car alone	Race cars, non-runners, cars with spares, wheels and tools	Higher cost; fuel and battery rules for vehicles in containers
Air freight	The car flies on a pallet	An event deadline	Several times the cost of sea freight

For most race cars, a container is the safer choice: the car is strapped down in a sealed box, and the spares, wheels and data logger travel with it. As a rough guide, the Atlantic crossing takes about two to four weeks port to port, and four to eight weeks door to door once collection, consolidation and clearance are included — longer to the West Coast. Prices move with fuel, season and demand, and the figures in the cost example below are only indicative. Get at least three quotes from forwarders who move competition cars regularly.

Ask every quote what is included: collection in Europe, the EU export declaration, port and terminal charges at both ends, the ISF, customs clearance and delivery to your shop.

Insurance in transit

• Buy marine cargo insurance for the car's full agreed value, from collection in Europe to delivery in the US, not port to port only.
• Check the terms: "all risks" or total loss only, the deductible, and whether a car that has to be winched or pushed is covered during loading.
• List the spares on the policy and the packing list. Wheels, gearbox ratios and spare bodywork are worth real money and are what goes missing.
• Agree in writing when risk passes from seller to buyer — at collection, at the port or on delivery — so there is no gap.

Paying safely

Race for Sale does not hold buyers' money, so the protection is in the order you do things:

1. Inspect the car, or pay a specialist local to it to inspect it for you. Our used race car checklist covers what to check.
2. Get your broker's view on the import route and a landed-cost estimate.
3. Sign a written sale agreement naming the seller, the chassis number, the price and currency, whether European VAT is included, what comes with the car, and when ownership and risk pass.
4. Pay by wire to an account in the seller's or the business's own name. Confirm the bank details by phone on a number you found yourself — payment-redirect fraud by email is the most common way cross-border buyers lose money.
5. Watch the exchange rate: a price in euros can move by thousands of dollars between deposit and balance. Fix the amount in the agreement.

Be wary of a seller who will not allow an inspection, asks you to pay a third party, or insists on a shipping agent you cannot verify.

Paperwork to request from the seller

If you are the European seller, this is the list your US buyer and their broker will ask for. Gather it before the car is collected:

• Bill of sale or commercial invoice with both parties, the price, the date and the chassis number (or VIN).
• Proof of ownership — the registration certificate if the car was ever registered, or the purchase invoices and build records if it never was.
• The logbook or technical passport, and the FIA Historic Technical Passport for a historic car.
• Homologation papers and the manufacturer's build documentation showing the car was built for competition — the core evidence for the EPA and NHTSA declarations.
• Proof of the date of manufacture, which decides the 25-year rule and the Section 232 exemption.
• The EU export declaration, lodged by the seller or the forwarder when the car leaves the EU. A business seller needs it anyway to sell without VAT.
• Photos and a full spares list, matching the packing list for the shipment.

Every document should carry the same chassis number. A mismatch is the most common reason a car sits at the port.

Step-by-step checklist

1. Identify the case: competition-only, road-based under 25 years, or 25+ years old.
2. Talk to a licensed customs broker with race car experience and get a written landed-cost estimate.
3. Inspect the car or have it inspected, and check the papers against the chassis.
4. Apply for EPA approval, and NHTSA permission if the route needs it. Do not ship until the letters are in hand.
5. Sign the sale agreement, with the currency, VAT position and transfer of risk spelled out.
6. Pay by wire after confirming the bank details by phone.
7. Book transport and insurance: collection, container or RoRo, marine cover from door to door.
8. Export from the EU: the seller or forwarder lodges the export declaration; the broker files the ISF before the ship sails.
9. Enter the car: HS-7, 3520-1 with the EPA letter, bill of lading, bill of sale and registration; pay duty, MPF and HMF.
10. Keep the import file with the car: future buyers and US race organizers will ask how it came in.

Cost example

Two illustrative imports, shipped in an exclusive container from northern Europe to the US East Coast. Freight, insurance, broker and trucking lines are typical ranges, not quotes; duty and fees use the rates described above.

	2019 EU-built GT4 race car	1990s historic rally car (over 25 years old)
Purchase price (customs value)	$150,000	$80,000
Collection to a European port	$800–2,000	$800–2,000
Ocean freight, exclusive container	$3,500–6,500	$3,500–6,500
Marine insurance	$1,500–2,250	$800–1,200
Customs duty	15% EU rate: $22,500	2.5% general rate only: $2,000
Merchandise Processing Fee (0.3464%)	$519.60	$277.12
Harbor Maintenance Fee (0.125%)	$187.50	$100
Broker, bond, ISF, port and terminal fees	$800–2,000	$800–2,000
US port to your shop	$500–2,500	$500–2,500
Approximate landed cost	$180,300–188,500	$88,800–96,600, at the 2.5% general rate

The gap between $22,500 and $2,000 is the Section 232 position, not the price. The $2,000 is only the 2.5% general rate: other surcharges have applied to 25-year-old cars through 2025 and 2026, so the duty on that car can be higher on the day it is entered. State sales or use tax, any such surcharge, and the cost of getting the car through tech inspection with your US sanctioning body come on top.

Listings on Race for Sale show where each car is, and you can contact European sellers directly from the US. Browse race cars, rally cars and historic race cars, then ask the seller for the paperwork above before you make an offer.