Importing a Car from the USA to Georgia — Poti, Excise and Checking the Auction History by VIN

USA to
Georgia

Georgia imported about 154,000 passenger cars from the United States in 2024, more than half of all its car-import value, and re-exported more than 93,000 vehicles in the first ten months of 2025, mainly to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Poti handles most of it. Copart publishes an official Georgian-language landing page. This is a professional market, and the history check is part of the trade.

At a glance

Import taxes
Excise calculated from engine size and vehicle age; VAT and customs fees per the Revenue Service schedule
Port
Poti handles more than 70% of Georgia's car imports; Batumi is secondary
Registration
Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Scale
US cars were 53.9% of Georgia's car-import value in 2024 ($1.9 billion)
Re-export
Car exports were 37% of Georgia's total exports in 2024

Why the Georgian market is different

Most European buyers import one car for themselves. Many Georgian buyers import for resale, often to buyers in Central Asia who will run their own VIN check before paying. That makes the history report a selling document as much as a buying one. Georgian resellers of Carfax and ClearVIN reports exist, and the free archives (stat.vin has a Georgian interface, bid.cars counts Georgia as its top country) are used constantly.

Cut cars

Georgia has a practice with no Western European equivalent: cars cut in half in the US to ship as parts and avoid duty, then welded back together locally. Georgian buyers search for it by name. The original auction photos are the only reliable way to tell whether a car arrived whole, because the weld is invisible after paint.

What the free archives leave out

A Georgian reseller's own site notes that Copart shows only the current auction's photos and that earlier auctions must be found through Bidfax or AutoAstat. That is true, and the same limit applies to those archives: they hold the auction, not the title. The state title brand, the odometer readings between auctions, and rental or fleet use are in the US title and registration record, which a full report reaches by VIN.

What to check

  • Every prior auction, with photos and damage codes, to compare against the car as it stands.
  • Title brand and state.
  • Odometer sequence in miles.
  • Recalls, which matter when the buyer is in a country where manufacturer support is thin.

The same check, wherever the car is going

Every guide in this hub ends the same way because every destination shares the same blind spot. Georgia's registry, inspection and customs process each verify something real, and none of them reads the American title, the insurer's total-loss declaration or the auction record. Enter the VIN above to see which of those records exist for the car you are looking at. The preview is free; the report is $19.99, once.

Three things to check before money moves

  1. 1

    The US title brand

    Clean, salvage, rebuilt, flood, junk. Issued by a US state, invisible in every European registry.

    How it is checked
  2. 2

    Prior auction records and photos

    Copart and IAAI intake photos, damage codes and sale price, from every sale the car went through, not only the current lot.

    How it is checked
  3. 3

    The odometer sequence in miles

    Readings at US titles, registrations and inspections in date order. A reading below an earlier one is a rollback.

    How it is checked

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to bring a car from America to Georgia?

The US purchase price and auction fees, inland transport to the port, ocean freight to Poti, then Georgian excise (by engine size and age) and fees. Georgian brokers and the media publish calculators; the figures change with the excise schedule, so use a current one.

Can I check the history in Georgian?

The free preview and report on this site are in English. Several Georgian resellers sell Carfax and ClearVIN in Georgian; what they resell is the same US data. The photos and damage codes need no translation.

Does the report show cars re-exported from Georgia?

The report shows the US and Canadian history. Georgian registration is not included. For a car that has already been registered in Georgia, the American history is still the part that describes the damage.

Check the vehicle before you pay

Enter the VIN to see which US and Canadian records exist. The preview is free; the report is $19.99, once.