Germany takes more US vehicles through Bremerhaven than any other European port, and German buyers face the most demanding homologation process on the continent. Both facts argue for the same thing: know exactly what the car is before it leaves the United States.
German import brokers quote a rule of thumb of roughly 1.4 times the US purchase price to land a car registered in Germany. The stack is customs duty on the vehicle value plus freight, then import VAT on that whole amount including the duty, then shipping from the US port (brokers quoted around $900 to $2,250 in 2026 depending on port and container versus roll-on/roll-off), then the German side: Vollgutachten, any lighting or emissions conversion, plates and insurance.
Pickups are the trap. If customs classifies the vehicle under the truck heading, the duty rate is 22% rather than 10%. Confirm the classification before you bid on an F-150 or a RAM.
A TÜV or DEKRA engineer issuing a §21 Vollgutachten is certifying that the specific vehicle is roadworthy. A US salvage title, a flood brand or a rebuilt title does not automatically block that, but structural damage found on the lift does, and the cheapest way to know whether the car was written off is the American record, not the German inspection. Carfax Europe reported that of roughly 2.15 million used cars imported from the US into Eastern Europe between 2001 and 2021, 82.5% carried a salvage title. Many of those cars were later resold westward with the history stripped.
German consumer-law firms now publish guidance on "getarnte Totalschäden", disguised total losses, imported from the US. The dispute in those cases always turns on what the American record said at the time of sale.
Searching "Copart" from Germany surfaces Copart Deutschland GmbH, which auctions German insurance write-offs from yards near Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Mannheim, Berlin, Munich and Hamburg. That is domestic salvage. US inventory is on copart.com, bought through an international-buyer account or a licensed broker. The lot page shows the current auction's photos only; a car that has been through auction before, or that was auctioned and then repaired and relisted, has a prior record you need to look up separately by VIN.
Every guide in this hub ends the same way because every destination shares the same blind spot. Germany'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.
Clean, salvage, rebuilt, flood, junk. Issued by a US state, invisible in every European registry.
How it is checkedCopart and IAAI intake photos, damage codes and sale price, from every sale the car went through, not only the current lot.
How it is checkedReadings at US titles, registrations and inspections in date order. A reading below an earlier one is a rollback.
How it is checkedThe standard EU rate for passenger cars is 10% of the customs value (vehicle price plus freight and insurance to the EU border). Import VAT of 19% is then charged on the value plus duty. Pickups classified as trucks attract 22% duty. Vehicles over 30 years old that qualify as collector's items enter at 0% duty and 7% VAT.
Yes. A vehicle without EU type approval needs an individual approval under §21 StVZO, issued by TÜV or DEKRA after a full inspection. Lighting, indicators and sometimes emissions equipment must be converted to EU specification first.
There is no rule that bans it outright, but the §21 inspection will fail a vehicle with unrepaired structural damage, and a rebuilt car is only as good as the repair. The American record tells you what was damaged; the inspection tells you whether it was fixed. Check the first before paying for the second.
No. The Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil II is issued fresh at first German registration. Nothing from the US title, insurance or auction record carries over. Only a VIN-based history report shows it.
Enter the VIN to see which US and Canadian records exist. The preview is free; the report is $19.99, once.