USA Car Import: Dealer Guide 2026

The importer knows this moment. The phone rings about a car that “should be in port”, the trader has a note on the phone, the buyer sent VIN by e-mail, and Excel still has the status “in transport”. Client's asking for a deadline. The band's guessing.

This is the most common way to import cars from the USA when the company grows faster than its processes. In the beginning, this can be wrapped in messages, sheets and people's memory. Then every other car increases chaos. Not because the import itself is inconclusive. The problem is the lack of one orderly process from buying at auction to selling a finished car.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Import of cars from the USA – Chance for profit or operational chaos?
• Step 1: Choose a car and auction – How to wisely bid on Copart and IAAI
  • What's a real dealer doing?
  • How to evaluate the bid before bidding
• Step 2: Logistics in the USA – From payment to loading on ship
  • After winning, the pace counts
  • Where money is the most common
• Step 3: Customs procedures, VAT and excise duty – Traps in port
  • Which to charge without guessing
  • Errors that stop the car at the port
  • How to reduce risks even before the port
• Step 4: Approval and registration in Poland – Last simple
  • Which is most often to be done
  • Documents worth preparing earlier
• Calculation of costs – How much does it cost and how to calculate profit?
  • Full cost list, not only auction price
  • Check table for dealer
• How do you order this chaos? Practical import management in CRM
• FAQ: The most common questions about car import from the USA
  • Is importing cars from the US more profitable to a dealer than buying a car in Europe?
  • Is it better to buy by yourself or by broker?
  • What are the easiest cars in the United States to sell?
  • When should a trader start collecting leads?
  • What's most likely to spoil the import margin?
  • Can it be managed without a specialized system?

Introduction: Import of cars from the USA – Chance for profit or operational chaos?

Importing cars from the US gives the dealer a real advantage. Access to other specifications, more powerful motor versions, richer equipment and models that customers in Europe seek for months. The problem begins when the company looks at imports exclusively as the transport of a car across the ocean.

In practice, it's a full operational process. Buyer picks the car. Someone else is paying the auction. The carrier is picking up the car. Customs needs documents. The workshop is waiting to decide what to do. The merchant is already collecting the lead on a car that hasn't even left the ship yet. If each stage operates separately, the margin disappears between delay, mistake and unclosed follow-up.

It's not a niche that lives by accident. In 2020, despite the pandemic, imports of cars from the USA to Poland increased by 7% year-on-year, while overall imports decreased by over 22%. Nearly 235 thousand cars from the USA have been driving on Polish roads, which shows the durability of this import direction as described in the data IBRM SAMAR and Carfax Europe.

A dealer who wants to enter this model seriously should not just ask "how to buy a car". He should be asking:

• Which cars make commercial sense
• At which stage it is easiest to lose the margin
• How to control the status of each VIN
• How to combine stock, logistics and sales

Only then the import ceases to be a series of individual actions and starts to act as a predictable pipeline. That is why companies that grow in this area not only order shopping and logistics, but the whole circulation of information, contacts and status. Such an operational order can then be tied in one place, for example in solutions built for dealers like carBoost.

The biggest mistake of new importers is not the wrong choice of one car. It is that they do not see the whole process as one chain of decisions.

Step 1: Choose a car and auction – How to wisely bid on Copart and IAAI

The first decision sets everything. You don't buy an "U.S." You buy a specific VIN with a specific history, risk and potential for resale.

What's a real dealer doing?

The new importer often looks at the low call price first. It's a bad starting point. What matters is not how cheap you buy, but whether at all costs and time the car will still be attractive to the end customer.

This is well seen by the structure of the market. In the first half of 2024, imports of second-hand cars from the USA to Poland increased by 65% year-on-year and reached 32.5 thousand pieces. Among the popular models were Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chrysler Pacifica and Ford Mustang, which shows demand for SUVs and muscle cary on the Polish market, which he wrote about Autoblog based on Samar data.

That's a good tip for the dealer. Search for cars that meet three conditions simultaneously:

• They have a recognizable demand. The client knows why he's calling.
• They make sense.. Not only metal, but also electrically and formally.
• They don't block the capital for long.. Car standing for months is no longer an opportunity.

How to evaluate the bid before bidding

Before clicking "bid" you have to check more than pictures. In practice, the buyer should work on a short evaluation card.

Injury History
The auction description is not enough. We have to put together the photos, the type of damage and the history of the vehicle. Cars after flooding are particularly risky, even if they look good in pictures.

Property title
Salvage, clean, rebuilt, certified. These markings affect not only the purchase, but also later formalities and sales.

Completeness of vehicle
No lamp or bumper visible immediately. No pillows, no modules, no interior elements, no electronics comes out later and then takes the margin.

Car Location
A square far from the port means additional organizational complications. If you buy several cars a month, the location starts to be as important as the state of the car itself.

Good buyers practices are usually simple:

1. Reject cars whose damage cannot be clearly estimated.
2. Don't bid under emotion.
3. Set the maximum purchase cost before the auction starts.
4. Leave a margin for surprises after unloading.

In operations, it is also worth watching how other dealers arrange the process of research and selection of cars. Useful industry materials are collected on blog carBoost.

Below is a material that shows well the reality of working with auctions and evaluation of offers:

Good bidding starts the day before. At the time of the auction, you should just confirm the decision, not just make it.

Step 2: Logistics in the USA – From payment to loading on ship

Winning an auction doesn't end work. From this point on, the stage begins where time, fluidity and nerves are the easiest to lose. This is not about "whether you bought a good car", but whether you can quickly run it through the American part of the process.

After winning, the pace counts

Payment first. The auction house and broker operate on terms, not according to the buyer's convenience. If documents, transfers and confirmations don't go immediately, the car starts generating a problem.

The model of action should be simple:

• Buyer confirms the purchase and set of documents,
• the operating department has ordered payment,
• the carrier receives the receipt order,
• The team's making sure the car gets off the square and goes to the port.

Most errors occur when these activities are scattered between emails, communicators and phones. The company's owner often learns about the delay only when you have to pay something or explain the delay to the customer.

Where money is the most common

At this stage, they don't lose the margin. They only lose the big failures. She's lost by little things that make up more cost.

Late payment
If someone fails to meet the deadline, parking charges will appear. This is a typical cost example that can be avoided by the discipline of the process itself.

Bad choice of domestic carrier
Not every carrier is equally efficient. One will give you a quick status update, the other will disappear for a few days. With a few cars, it's irritant. With a larger volume, it's a real operational problem.

No document control
Title, sales confirmation, receipt. If one item is incomplete or disagrees with the rest, the car is standing.

No common status view
The trader promises the customer a deadline, the buyer thinks the car is on its way to the port, and logistics is still waiting for pickup from the square.

In practice, the best model works, in which each VIN has a simple status path. It's bought. Paid. Over. On his way to the port. It's loaded. In shipping. Without such discipline, the company does not manage the import, but responds to further surprises.

It is also useful to look at the process from the sales and operational side simultaneously, not only logistics. Such materials are also available on English-speaking blog carBoost.

Step 3: Customs procedures, VAT and excise duty – Traps in port

The ship has arrived, the customer is waiting, and the car is still not leaving the port. In practice, it is one of the moments where the dealer loses control of the margin and the term simultaneously. The problem is rarely due to one big mistake. It's usually a few minor turnarounds in documents, a lack of stage owner and chaotic communication between customs, accounting and sales agencies.

Which to charge without guessing

The basic set of charges is simple: duty 10%, VAT 23% and excise duty based on engine capacity, usually 3.1% or 18.6%. The difficulty begins with the calculation and classification of the vehicle. If you set the data wrong at the start, then you do not correct one field in the sheet. You correct the entire sequence of decisions, documents and settlements.

The dealer should check three areas before entering the car for check-in:

This is where the order counts. First verification of the documents, then confirmation of the value, at the end of the settlement and the filing. Many companies do the opposite because each department works on its own list of tasks. Then the trader asks if he can put out the car, the accounting is waiting for the set, and the customs agency does not have one attachment.

Errors that stop the car at the port

I usually see four sources of problems.

Invalid value in documents
If the value of the purchase document does not agree with the other documents, the office shall ask for clarification. This prolongs the briefing and blocks further action.

A incomplete set of documents
The lack of one document doesn't look dangerous until the car is in the square. Then every day starts to cost.

Wrong excise duty qualification
An engine capacity error, or a vehicle type, ends in correction, surcharge or additional questions from the office. With a larger volume, such mistakes are not an incident. It's a repetitive waste of time.

No single trial owner
If several people “look after” checks, usually no one is responsible for them. As a result, the status of the car lives in emails, phones and communicators.

And here comes the bigger problem. Import does not end with logistics. This is a sales and financial process that needs to be conducted systemically. Each VIN should have an assigned maintainer, a check-in status, a set of documents, a payment deadline and a blocker to be removed. Without it, the dealer doesn't manage the wallet of cars, he just puts out the fires.

How to reduce risks even before the port

A simple check-in is best done, but is done consistently for each car, not only for more difficult cases:

• VIN compatibility in all documents,
• consistency of purchase value and the details of the seller,
• confirmation of the correct rate of excise duty,
• a set of documents from broker, freight forwarder and carrier,
• one person responsible for the final review,
• clear status of the case available for sale and accounting.

On a small scale it can still be held manually. With more cars, the sheet begins to interfere instead of helping. It will not show you which cases are due to documents that are waiting for payment, and which can already be passed on to the sales preparation. Therefore, order in customs clearance is worth building like an operating process in CRM, with a checklist, responsibility and history of arrangements at each VIN.

The briefing is not a single formality. This is a checkpoint where the quality of the entire previous process is proven. If the company has a mess with data and communication, the port will show it very quickly.

A well-set process reduces not only response time. It also protects the margin, because it allows you to catch errors before they turn into a stop, corrections and a postponed sales date.

Step 4: Approval and registration in Poland – Last simple

At this stage, many importers make a simple mistake. They assume that since the car's already in the country, it's the hardest part of it. Meanwhile, this is where all the underestimations come from earlier stages.

Which is most often to be done

A car from the US market usually needs to be adapted to Polish and European requirements. It is most often about lighting and the elements necessary to pass the technical examination.

In practice, it is worth checking first and foremost:

• Direction indicators and rear lamps
  Red direction indicators are a classic theme in U.S. cars.

• Position and fog lamps
  Their layout and specifications often require modifications.

• Front reflectors
  Not all can be adjusted seamlessly. Sometimes it pays more to trade than to mix.

In the workshop, the scope of the work and responsibility for the end result must be established in advance. The dealer, who gives the car “to do” without a list of requirements, asks for corrections and delays.

Documents worth preparing earlier

Registration goes better when the documents are ready before the car hits the test. It's a cliché, but in practice, many importers only engage in papermaking after the technical work has been completed.

Most often needed are:

1. the purchase document,
2. customs clearance documents,
3. confirmation of payment of excise duty,
4. translation,
5. technical examination,
6. documents required by the communication department.

It is also good to keep your own internal vehicle card. It's not official. It's operational. It should contain the status of the work, the list of deficiencies, the person responsible and the date of the next step. This way, the trader does not ask the mechanic “or already” but sees the situation immediately.

This stage rewards predictability. This dealer is not winning, who will “somewhat” get it”, but the one who has a set circulation of documents and one queue of tasks for each car.

Calculation of costs – How much does it cost and how to calculate profit?

Dealer wins the auction, looks at the purchase price and sees potential earnings. After 6 to 10 weeks, the same VIN has already added commissions, transportation in the US, freight, port, customs, taxes, repairs, adaptation and cost of stopping. If the calculation was based only on the price of Copart or IAAI, the margin was usually an illusion from the beginning.

It is not enough to “count more”. You have to build a cost model for each car and keep an eye on it throughout the process, because the biggest losses do not come from one big mistake, only from many minor items written too late.

Full cost list, not only auction price

Profitability depends on the full cost of purchasing and preparing the car for sale. In practice, this means that one calculation card for VIN should include:

• Buying price at auction
• Procurement of the auction house and broker
• Land transport in the USA
• Sea freight
• Transport insurance
• Port charges
• Duty, VAT and excise duty
• Transport from port to destination
• Translations and documents
• Adaptation work
• Mechanical and metal fixings
• Technical examination and registration
• Cost of capital and stop time
• The planned margin
• Provision for unforeseen subsidies

The last position often determines the result. The car can reveal additional damage, missing items of equipment, or a problem with electronics. If the dealer does not assume a buffer before bidding, he starts saving the margin after buying, usually at the expense of the time or quality of preparing the car.

We must also be careful about tax changes and how to settle a particular transaction. Information on excise duties increases for parts of cars with a larger engine and on the impact of VAT deduction on the final cost must always be checked directly at the source and counted on the current data, as described in Route US-PL. One poorly adopted tax option can change the cost-effectiveness of the entire purchase.

Check table for dealer

An example of the calculation structure below. This is not a market price. This is an operating pattern that is worth counting each car separately and updating it after each stage.

Example of an import cost calculation (Ford Mustang GT)

With a few cars at the same time, the table itself is no longer enough. Each VIN lives its own rhythm, one is waiting for loading, the other for briefing, the third for the workshop's estimate, and the fourth is already being put up for sale. If the calculation functions in a separate sheet and the status of the car in messages and phones, the dealer loses control of the result before the car hits the square.

Therefore, the estimate should not be a separate document ‘for accounting’. He should be part of the sales process. The trader must see how much has already entered the car, the owner must see the forecast margin, and the person responsible for the import must immediately catch the deviations from the plan. Only then can decisions be made on time, such as stopping the bidding, changing the repair option or quickly exposing the car that starts generating the cost of the stop.

A similar logic of calculation is also worth comparing with another direction of import, for example in analysis the cost of importing a car from Canada.

The margin usually does not disappear in one large position. It disappears where the dealer does not have one, constantly updated total cost for each VIN.

How do you order this chaos? Practical import management in CRM

In practice, the mess begins not when the car arrives at the port, but much earlier. One trader promised the client a deadline that no one had confirmed. Someone paid for the transport, but didn't get the documents in the VIN file. The announcement went to the portal, although the car is still in the briefing. With one car, it's still possible to hand-wring the phones. At ten, the fires begin to extinguish.

The problem isn't Excel alone. The problem arises when the sheet is to replace the entire workflow, communication and margin control.

Most often in one file the dealer tries to hold simultaneously:

• stock cars,
• the status of checks and documents,
• tasks for the team,
• contact with customers,
• publication of notices and price control.

It's spreading because these areas live at a different pace. Buyer updates the purchase cost. The logistics person adds the port. The trader is already talking to the customer about availability. The owner looks at the margin from yesterday, not at the expense of the last adjustments. As a result, the company does not manage the import, but responds to the consequences of the lack of one source of truth.

This is particularly well seen with models that quickly appear in parallel on several portals. Material USA Import Auto describes the problem of duplication of offers and price pressure after winning the auction. If the dealer does not control the publication after VIN, he easily lowers the price of the car just because the market looks more saturated than it is actually.

Well-set CRM organizes import as a sales process. Each VIN goes through the next stages. Each lead is assigned to a particular car or group of cars. Each status change launches the next task instead of dying in the message on WhatsApp.

The practical layout should look like this:

This matters especially when the company divides roles between several people or branches. One team buys, the other imports, the third sells. Without a common system, each person works on their own version of the status of the car, term and cost. Then mistakes are not due to lack of commitment, but to lack of trial.

Therefore, in this industry, the tool built for the real work of the dealer works best. It's about a system that combines CRM for the car dealership, car sales management, vehicle inventory management, VIN tracking, tasks, announcements and contact history. Only then does import cease to be a collection of separate steps, and it becomes a predictable process from auction to car release to customer.

If you want to scale import, set one process for each VIN and each lead. Then the team controls the margin, deadlines and sales in one place.

FAQ: The most common questions about car import from the USA

Is importing cars from the US more profitable to a dealer than buying a car in Europe?

This depends on the model, specification, damage history and your work organisation. The advantage usually comes when the dealer is able to select the cars well, count the full cost and perform the formalities efficiently. Low buying alone isn't enough.

Is it better to buy by yourself or by broker?

With the first import broker usually reduces operational risk. Single action makes sense only when you have your own process, proven contacts and control of documents. If you don't have it, the seeming savings will quickly disappear.

What are the easiest cars in the United States to sell?

The most easily sold cars, for which there is clear demand and whose customer is actively looking. The recognisable SUVs, family vans and selected sports models work well. However, more important than the model itself is the quality of the calculation and the condition of the car after preparation.

When should a trader start collecting leads?

Not until after the full registration. A well-prepared dealer builds interest earlier, but provided he knows the real status of the vehicle and does not promise terms from the ceiling. Lead without operational control turns into a maintenance problem.

What's most likely to spoil the import margin?

Most often not one big mistake, but a small sum. Bad injury assessment, incomplete calculation, delay in documents, technical corrections, uncontrolled discount at the end of sales. Each of these elements looks harmless separately. They can eat profit together.

Can it be managed without a specialized system?

On a small scale for a while, yes. With more cars and lead, manual management usually ends with a lack of control over the status of vehicles, lost follow-ups and chaos between guns.

If you want to see how to organize import, stock and sales pipeline in one place, check carBoost. This is a solution created for dealers and importers who want to have a full view of VIN, leady, tasks and sales stages without the chaos of sheets and distributed communication.

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