Is import duty charged on the price I paid, or on something else?

On the value customs accepts, which is not necessarily the invoice. Customs builds its own figure — in Nigeria through the VIN valuation system, in Ghana from the VIN and model year, in Peru against an official reference table — adds freight and insurance to reach CIF, and then applies each charge to a specific base. Some lines sit on CIF, some on the duty figure only, some on FOB, and VAT sits on everything stacked above it.

Why can a duty rate not be quoted as a single percentage?

Because the tariff in these markets moves with the HS code, the engine capacity, the model year and sometimes the vehicle age. Ghana bands duty by engine size and adds a separate overage penalty by age. Nigeria adds a Green Tax that is nil below 2,000cc and 4% at 4,000cc and above. A single headline percentage is wrong for most of the cars actually being shipped.

Which of these markets is cheapest to clear?

The Gulf. GCC duty is 5% of CIF across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, and Qatar and Kuwait have no VAT at all. Saudi Arabia’s 15% VAT is the highest tax line in the group, and its five-year age rule is the tightest restriction. West Africa is more expensive but far deeper in volume: Nigeria stacks duty, levy, Green Tax, surcharge, ETLS and VAT, and Ghana adds eight separate charges on top of a banded duty.

What is the largest avoidable cost in these markets?

The age penalty. Ghana charges 5% of CIF on a passenger car above ten years and 20% above twelve, so the same model can cost materially more to clear simply because of its model year. Nigeria’s 12-year cap is a hard barrier rather than a penalty: a unit over the line does not clear at any price. Buying to the year, rather than to the price, is what protects the margin.

Tools

Import duty and landed-cost calculator

Work out what a car actually costs once it lands. Pick the destination, enter the FOB price, freight and the vehicle details, and the calculator applies that country’s charge stack in the order its customs system does.

Your figures

Country

FOB price (USD)

Freight and insurance (USD)

Insurance (USD)

Engine size (cc)

Vehicle age (years)

Customs duty rate (%)

Editable on purpose: the duty band moves with HS code, engine and age, so use the rate your clearing agent confirms.

12 years. Nigerian Customs works to a hard 12-year cap; some agents still quote a 10-year reading, so the year is confirmed before money moves.

Estimated landed cost

CIF value: $13,620
Customs duty (20%): $2,724
Import levy (used vehicles) (5%): $681
Surcharge (7%): $191
ETLS levy (ECOWAS) (0.50%): $68
CISS / FOB levy (1%): $120
VAT (7.50%): $1,305
All charges except duty: $5,089

Landed cost$18,709

37.36%% of CIF — Age limits, certification routes and duty lines are taken from published rules and reviewed by our team, but customs assesses each vehicle individually. Treat anything here as a planning input, not as an assessment.

Duty data

Duty and age limit by destination

Reviewed 24 September 2026

Country	Age limit	Duty data
NigeriaWest Africa	Used vehicles carry a hard 12-year age cap, assessed at the port on arrival (some clearing agents still work to a 10-year readi...	Published charge stack
GhanaWest Africa	Ghana Standards Authority rules apply by shipment date: vehicles shipped on or after 1 October 2026 need inspection in the coun...	Published charge stack
Ivory CoastWest Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles and a COC or equivalent certificate of conformity must be in place before shipment.	Published charge stack
SenegalWest Africa	An age limit applies, and in practice units much older than about eight years are not accepted.	Published charge stack
Burkina FasoWest Africa	Clearance happens at the port of entry — Lomé, Abidjan or Tema — and the unit arrives by road.	Published charge stack
TogoWest Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles and a conformity certificate is required before shipment.	Published charge stack
GuineaWest Africa	An age limit applies and a conformity certificate is required before shipment.	Published charge stack
BeninWest Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles.	Published charge stack
MaliWest Africa	Clearance takes place at the port of entry, most often Abidjan, Dakar or Tema, and the unit then travels by road to Bamako.	Published charge stack
Sierra LeoneWest Africa	Used-vehicle admission is relatively open, with a conformity certificate required.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
Cape VerdeWest Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles, and island logistics push the landed cost up sharply.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
LiberiaWest Africa	Used-vehicle admission is relatively open.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
GambiaWest Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
MauritaniaWest Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
Guinea-BissauWest Africa	Used-vehicle admission is relatively open.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
NigerWest Africa	Clearance takes place at Cotonou or Lomé and the unit continues by road to Niamey.	Published charge stack
UAEMiddle East	There is no hard age cap, though older units face stricter inspection and some insurers and re-export buyers will not take them.	Published charge stack
Saudi ArabiaMiddle East	Used vehicles must be no more than five years old excluding the year of import, so a unit imported in 2026 has to be model year...	Published charge stack
JordanMiddle East	A November 2025 rule bans the import of accident-damaged cars, and electric vehicles carry a three-year age cap.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
IraqMiddle East	Federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region apply different rules, and the Kurdish region’s gates in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah are the l...	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
QatarMiddle East	Used vehicles generally need to be within about five years old, and conformity certification is required.	Published charge stack
KuwaitMiddle East	Used vehicles are generally subject to an age cap of about five years and a conformity certificate is required.	Published charge stack
OmanMiddle East	An age limit applies to used vehicles and a conformity certificate is required.	Published charge stack
LebanonMiddle East	Age and compliance thresholds are relatively permissive compared with the GCC.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
YemenMiddle East	Import thresholds are low, but there is no functioning letter-of-credit channel.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
BahrainMiddle East	An age limit applies to used vehicle imports and conformity certification is required.	Published charge stack
TurkeyMiddle East	Used-vehicle import requires authorisation and carries a high tax burden, so a used-car programme is only realistic where a spe...	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
SyriaMiddle East	Sanctions affect banking and shipping.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
IranMiddle East	Sanctions constrain banking and shipping arrangements.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
PeruSouth America	Used vehicles are admissible within age and mileage limits — about five years in practice — and the vehicle must be left-hand d...	Published charge stack
BoliviaSouth America	Light vehicles up to six years and heavy vehicles up to eight years are admitted under DS 29836; accident-damaged and petrol-to...	Published charge stack
VenezuelaSouth America	There is no single published age limit.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
EcuadorSouth America	An age limit applies to used vehicles, about five years in practice, and safeguard and quota measures change by decree.	Published charge stack
ParaguaySouth America	Used passenger cars up to ten years old are admitted under Ley 4333/2011.	Published charge stack
BrazilSouth America	Used-vehicle import is not a practical route.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
ArgentinaSouth America	Resolution 293/2025 is the opening to work with: 4x4 off-roaders and the specified industrial categories.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
ColombiaSouth America	Used imports require qualifying for an exception and are quota-constrained, so a used-vehicle programme only makes sense where ...	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
ChileSouth America	Used vehicles cannot be registered.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
UruguaySouth America	Used vehicles are admitted only by exception under Decreto 266/013, which requires a statement of necessity.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
DR CongoCentral Africa	Import requires compliance review through several agencies plus a full supporting document set.	Published charge stack
CameroonCentral Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles and a conformity certificate is required before shipment.	Published charge stack
CongoCentral Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles, and the CEMAC tariff applies on top of the conformity requirement.	Published charge stack
Equatorial GuineaCentral Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles and island logistics add to the cost.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
GabonCentral Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles, with conformity certification required.	Published charge stack
ChadCentral Africa	Clearance happens outside the country and the unit arrives by road; inland transit insurance is confirmed before dispatch.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
Central African RepublicCentral Africa	Clearance takes place at Douala and the vehicle travels on by road, with the inland route subject to the security situation.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
AlgeriaNorth Africa	Two channels exist.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
LibyaNorth Africa	A local import permit is required and every order runs on advance T/T.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
EgyptNorth Africa	Used-vehicle import is constrained by age and licensing thresholds, so this is treated as a new-vehicle market.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
MoroccoNorth Africa	Used-vehicle import is closed apart from a small number of exceptions; treat the market as new-vehicle territory.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
TunisiaNorth Africa	Used-vehicle import is heavily restricted; the market is served with new vehicles.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
SudanNorth Africa	An import licence is a prerequisite and hard-currency availability shapes what can be ordered.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
AngolaSouthern Africa	An age limit applies to used vehicles — about five to eight years in practice — and conformity certification is required.	Published charge stack
MadagascarSouthern Africa	Used vehicles are admitted with a conformity certificate required.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff
EthiopiaOther LHD markets	Fuel-burning vehicles cannot be imported.	Confirmed per unit against the current tariff

Age limits, certification routes and duty lines are taken from published rules and reviewed by our team, but customs assesses each vehicle individually. Treat anything here as a planning input, not as an assessment.

Straight answers

How these charges actually work

Four things decide the bill: what customs says the car is worth, what it is built on, how old it is, and how the destination stacks its levies. The rest is arithmetic.

Is import duty charged on the price I paid, or on something else?: On the value customs accepts, which is not necessarily the invoice. Customs builds its own figure — in Nigeria through the VIN valuation system, in Ghana from the VIN and model year, in Peru against an official reference table — adds freight and insurance to reach CIF, and then applies each charge to a specific base. Some lines sit on CIF, some on the duty figure only, some on FOB, and VAT sits on everything stacked above it.
Why can a duty rate not be quoted as a single percentage?: Because the tariff in these markets moves with the HS code, the engine capacity, the model year and sometimes the vehicle age. Ghana bands duty by engine size and adds a separate overage penalty by age. Nigeria adds a Green Tax that is nil below 2,000cc and 4% at 4,000cc and above. A single headline percentage is wrong for most of the cars actually being shipped.
Which of these markets is cheapest to clear?: The Gulf. GCC duty is 5% of CIF across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, and Qatar and Kuwait have no VAT at all. Saudi Arabia’s 15% VAT is the highest tax line in the group, and its five-year age rule is the tightest restriction. West Africa is more expensive but far deeper in volume: Nigeria stacks duty, levy, Green Tax, surcharge, ETLS and VAT, and Ghana adds eight separate charges on top of a banded duty.
What is the largest avoidable cost in these markets?: The age penalty. Ghana charges 5% of CIF on a passenger car above ten years and 20% above twelve, so the same model can cost materially more to clear simply because of its model year. Nigeria’s 12-year cap is a hard barrier rather than a penalty: a unit over the line does not clear at any price. Buying to the year, rather than to the price, is what protects the margin.