You’ve found the car. The photographs are right, the documents check out, the price is agreed. Now comes the part nobody explains: getting an Italian-registered classic out of Italy and onto your driveway in Ohio, Rotterdam or London.
It isn’t difficult. It is specific. There’s a sequence, each step has a document attached to it, and doing them in the wrong order costs weeks.
This is the whole process, with the real numbers. We do this regularly from Ceva, an hour from the port of Genoa, so what follows is what actually happens rather than a summary of a government webpage.
Step one: taking the car off the Italian register
Before an Italian car can be registered anywhere else, it has to be formally removed from the Italian system. This is the radiazione per esportazione — deregistration for export.
It cancels the car’s entry in the PRA, the Pubblico Registro Automobilistico managed by ACI, and in the Motorizzazione’s national vehicle archive. From that moment the car can no longer be driven in Italy on its Italian plates, road tax obligations end, and the insurance can be cancelled with a refund of the unused premium.
Where it’s done: At a Sportello Telematico dell’Automobilista (STA) — an ACI office, a Motorizzazione office, or a licensed vehicle paperwork agency. Since the PRA and Motorizzazione steps were merged, it’s now a single administrative procedure rather than two.
What it costs. The statutory charges are modest. For the deregistration itself, under the ACI tariff:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| ACI emolumenti | €13.50 |
| Imposta di bollo (stamp duty) | €32.00 |
| Motorizzazione diritti | €10.20 |
| Statutory total, deregistration | €55.70 |
Add the export plate — €26.20 for a foglio di via with a cardboard targa provvisoria, or €33.16 for a targa EE — and the statutory cost of getting a car legally out of Italy comes to somewhere around €82 to €89.
What you will actually pay is roughly double that. Those figures are what reaches the state. Almost nobody pays only them, because most people file through an ACI Delegazione or a vehicle paperwork agency rather than queuing at a public counter, and those charge a service fee with 22% VAT on top.
For a recent export we paid €196.46 at the ACI office in Cuneo — deregistration and export plate together, all in.
So the figure to budget for the Italian paperwork is around €200, not €56. Anyone quoting you €60 is quoting the tariff, not the bill.
Timing: allow about a week. The deregistration itself isn’t the bottleneck — the export plate comes through the Motorizzazione, and that took roughly seven days.
Three things that stop the process dead:
An expired revisione. The car must have a valid roadworthiness certificate. If the revisione has lapsed, or the first mandatory test was never done, the application is refused. Sort it first.
A fermo amministrativo. An administrative hold — usually from unpaid fines or taxes — blocks deregistration entirely. It has to be cleared and paid before the application will be accepted.
A registered lien. If there’s a mortgage on the vehicle, the creditor’s written consent must accompany the request.
One sequencing point worth understanding. If the buyer registers the car abroad before the Italian deregistration is complete, the Italian owner stays on the register — still liable for road tax and still carrying civil, criminal and administrative responsibility for the vehicle. Deregistering afterwards then requires a copy of the foreign registration document. It’s fixable, but it’s a mess. Do the radiazione first.
What you receive is a Documento Unico marked as not valid for circulation, annotated with the cessation of the vehicle from circulation for export to an EU or non-EU country. That annotation is the document the destination country’s registration authority wants to see.
Step two: getting the car out of the country
Three routes, depending on what you’re doing with the car.
Route A: put it on a ship
Most transatlantic buyers. Once deregistered, the car goes on a truck to the port on a transporter and is loaded. It never drives on Italian roads again, so no plates are needed. Straightforward. Costs are further down.
Route B: drive it home — foglio di via and targa provvisoria
If you’re within driving distance, you can take a deregistered car out of Italy on temporary plates.
The foglio di via is a temporary circulation permit issued alongside a targa provvisoria — a white cardboard plate with black characters, fitted to the rear of the car only, with a coloured expiry panel on the right. It’s issued by the Motorizzazione Civile or an ACI counter, and the paperwork must be carried in the car at all times.
The permit states the route, the duration and any technical conditions. The Motorizzazione has confirmed that its validity isn’t limited to Italian territory up to the border — it covers the whole journey to the foreign destination, since contracting states allow temporarily registered vehicles to circulate.
Cost: €26.20 in total — €10.20 in diritti and €16.00 in stamp duty, paid by postal slip or PagoPA.
Duration: By law the maximum is 60 days, though for a straightforward export the permit is often written for a short window matched to the route — sometimes just a few days. Different offices practise this differently, so ask when applying. It isn’t renewable; an expired permit means a fresh application.
Requirement: For an export-deregistered car, the revisione must have been passed. The permit can be issued in the name of the registered keeper or of the buyer, who then declares themselves owner.
Penalty for getting it wrong: Driving without the plate or the permit carries a fine, so don’t improvise.
Route C: the targa EE — Italian plates for a foreign owner
The targa EE — Escursionisti Esteri, “foreign excursionists” — is the more elegant option, and almost nobody outside Italy knows it exists.
It’s a genuine Italian registration plate, with an Italian carta di circolazione, issued to foreigners passing through and to Italians registered as resident abroad (AIRE). The car keeps the status of foreign goods under temporary importation, and is treated as exported at the moment of registration. Plates read “EE” followed by a serial number, with a red expiry sticker showing the month and year.
Duration: Up to one year, with extensions possible. Non-EU citizens in certain categories may be limited to four months.
Cost of the plates themselves: €33.16 for cars, €18.37 for motorcycles, €19.32 for trailers, plus the application documents. Requirements include a valid passport or ID with a photocopy, Italian tax code, and a certificate of conformity for the vehicle.
Why it matters: If you want to actually use the car in Europe before shipping it — drive it home over the Alps, do a rally, keep it at a holiday house in Liguria for a summer — the EE plate is how you do that legally for up to a year without permanently registering it in Italy.
And yes, you can insure it. This is the question we’re asked most. An EE plate is an Italian plate with an Italian registration document, and it can be insured with an Italian insurer.
Being straight with you: it’s occasionally awkward. Some insurers are unfamiliar with EE plates and hesitate, and some will write third-party cover readily but resist adding theft and fire. Others handle it without blinking. It’s a matter of going to a broker who has done it before rather than to whoever comes up first online — which is precisely the kind of thing we sort out for buyers, because we know which brokers in Cuneo province say yes.
Exporting to the United States
The largest single destination for Italian classics, and the one with the most moving parts.
The 25-year rule
A vehicle at least 25 years old is exempt from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. At 21 years it’s exempt from EPA emissions requirements. That’s what makes a 1969 Fiat 500 or a 1985 Alfa GTV importable.
The 25 years run from the date of manufacture, not the model year. A car built in late 2000 and sold as a 2001 model becomes eligible earlier than one built in January 2001. Customs checks the build date against the documentation, and mismatches between the declared date and the export paperwork are the single most common reason a car gets held at the port.
This is where Italian documentation earns its keep. Where a build date isn’t on a permanent manufacturer’s label, CBP accepts documentation establishing the vehicle’s age — an original invoice, a registration document showing registration at least 25 years ago, or a statement from a recognised vehicle historical society. An ASI certificate, with its dating and identification section, is exactly that kind of evidence. If you’ve read our guide to ASI certification, this is one of the places it quietly pays for itself.
The forms
Three federal filings, normally prepared by your customs broker:
- CBP Form 7501 — the entry summary, declaring value, origin and duty codes
- NHTSA Form HS-7 — Box 1 checked, confirming the vehicle is at least 25 years old and therefore outside FMVSS
- EPA Form 3520-1 — Box E, the age-based emissions exemption
An ISF filing (Importer Security Filing) is required before the vessel sails. Miss the window and penalties apply, so this is one of the things worth having a broker manage rather than attempting yourself.
Duty: read this part carefully
The base duty on passenger cars is 2.5% of the CBP-appraised value, plus a Harbor Maintenance Fee of 0.125% and a Merchandise Processing Fee of 0.3464%.
But 2.5% is no longer the whole story for European cars. Vehicles 25 years and older sit outside the Section 232 automobile tariff under HTS heading 9903.94.04 — which is good — but that also means they are not covered by the Section 232 exemption from the newer tariff layers. Following the Section 301 action effective 24 July 2026, EU-origin goods pay the higher of 10% or the existing rate. In practice, for a classic car from Italy at the 2.5% base rate, the all-in duty at entry currently works out at around 10%.
Country of origin now determines the duty line. These rates have moved repeatedly since 2025 and there is no expiry date on the current action. Confirm the exact figure with a licensed customs broker for your HS code before you commit to a purchase, because on a €40,000 car the difference between 2.5% and 10% is €3,000.
Shipping from Genoa
Genoa is Italy’s largest port and the natural departure point for northern Italy, with both container and roll-on/roll-off services to US ports.
Shared container (LCL) — the car is secured inside a container alongside others. Best protection for the money, and the usual choice for classics. Costs are shared across the vehicles in the container.
Sole-use container (FCL) — your car alone. More expensive, worth it for a genuinely valuable car, and available with climate control and enhanced handling.
RoRo — the car is driven onto the vessel and parked in what amounts to a very large floating car park. Cheapest, weekly sailings, and generally faster than shared container. The trade-off is exposure: less protection, and the car must be a runner.
What it costs. For a small classic in a shared container out of Genoa to the US East Coast, budget from around €1,800 for the ocean freight. Larger cars, West Coast destinations, sole-use containers and enclosed handling all cost more — a realistic range across the market runs to roughly €2,500–4,000 for container shipping, and typical Genoa to New York transit is around 18 days.
That figure is ocean freight. It is not the landed cost. Set against the total, expect:
| Cost element | Typical |
|---|---|
| Deregistration + export plate at ACI(Export plate not needed, only if you want it) | ~€200 (we paid €196.46 in Cuneo) |
| Inland transport, Piedmont to Genoa | under an hour |
| Ocean freight, shared container, small car | from ~€1,800 |
| Marine insurance | ~1.5–2.5% of declared value, typically |
| US customs brokerage | A few hundred dollars |
| Import duty | ~10% for EU-origin classics at time of writing — verify |
| HMF and MPF | 0.125% and 0.3464% |
| US port and terminal charges | Varies by port |
| Domestic delivery in the US | Varies by distance |
And then the state, which is a separate matter
Clearing federal customs does not register your car. Each state sets its own rules, and they differ sharply.
California is the strictest — smog testing is generally required for 1976-and-later vehicles even where they’re federally exempt, and there is no blanket 25-year smog exemption. New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Oregon may require emissions or safety inspection. Montana, Florida and Texas are among the more straightforward. Several states offer historic or collector plates for cars used for exhibition rather than daily transport.
Check your own DMV’s requirements before you buy the car, not after it lands. It’s the cheapest research you’ll ever do.
How we handle it — and what we charge
We’ll take the whole thing off your hands. Here is exactly how that works, because we’d rather you knew the arithmetic than trusted us blindly.
Third-party costs are passed through at cost. ASI fees, the radiazione at ACI, temporary plates, inland transport, ocean freight, marine insurance, brokerage. You get the invoice from the supplier, at the number the supplier charged. We do not add a margin to any of it and we do not take commission from the parties we book. If a transporter quotes €2000, you pay €2000.
We charge a stated fee for our own time. Coordinating an export properly means office visits, forms, chasing the Motorizzazione, arranging inspection, packing and protecting the car, booking the sailing, assembling the document pack for the broker, and being available on the phone when a question comes from the other side of the Atlantic. That’s real work and we charge for it — as one agreed figure, quoted in advance, before anything starts.
You get the arithmetic in writing. A single sheet: every pass-through cost itemised with the supplier named, our fee on its own line, and the total. No “handling”, no “administration”, no bundled numbers that can’t be taken apart.
The reason we work this way isn’t nobility. It’s that the alternative — quoting one all-in figure with our margin hidden inside the freight — makes it impossible for you to check whether the shipping quote was any good. We’d rather you could. Our passion is providing authentic classic cars and not doing paperwork.
An hour from Genoa
Our showroom is in Ceva, in the hills between the Langhe and the Ligurian coast. The port of Genoa is under an hour away.
That proximity is worth more than it sounds. It means we can put the car on the transporter ourselves, follow it down, and hand it over at the port in person.
What that gives you:
- Documented handover. Photographs of the car at the terminal, on the day, before it leaves our hands — condition recorded at the point of transfer rather than described from memory afterwards.
- Signed proof of delivery from the receiving party at the port, with date and reference, sent to you.
- A last check. Fluid levels, battery, fuel quantity for the shipping line’s rules, keys, and the documents physically in the right place — the small things that turn into expensive phone calls when a car has been handed to a driver two hundred kilometres away and nobody looked at it since.
- Someone in the room if there’s a problem. Loading queries, paperwork discrepancies and terminal questions get resolved that morning, by a person who is standing there, rather than over three days of email.
Most sellers hand the car to a transport company and hope. We drive it to the boat.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to deregister the car before exporting it?
Yes. Italian law requires the vehicle to be cancelled from the PRA before — or at the same time as — registration in the destination country. Skipping it leaves the Italian seller on the register, liable for road tax and legally responsible for the car.
Can I drive the car home on Italian plates?
Not on its original plates once it’s deregistered. You can drive it on a targa provvisoria with a foglio di via, which costs €26.20 and covers a stated route, or register it on a targa EE for up to a year if you qualify as a foreign resident.
Can a targa EE be insured?
Yes. It’s an Italian plate with an Italian registration document. Some insurers are unfamiliar with EE plates and a few resist theft and fire cover, so use a broker who has done it before.
How long does the whole process take, and what does the Italian paperwork cost?
Allow about a week for the Italian side — deregistration plus the export plate coming back from the Motorizzazione — and budget around €200 for it. After that the determining factors are the sailing schedule and roughly 18 days of transit from Genoa to the US East Coast, plus customs clearance at arrival. Four to eight weeks door to door is realistic.
What is the import duty on a classic car from Italy to the US?
The base passenger-car rate is 2.5%, but EU-origin goods currently attract an additional layer that brings the all-in figure to around 10% for classics. Rates have changed repeatedly — confirm with a customs broker before buying.
Does the 25-year rule use the model year?
No. It runs from the actual month and year of manufacture. Verify against the manufacturer’s data plate or documentation, not the model designation.
Does clearing US customs mean I can register the car?
No — state registration is separate, and requirements vary considerably. Check with your own DMV before purchase.
Can you ship to countries other than the US?
Yes. Within the EU it’s simpler still, since the car moves in free circulation and only needs deregistration here and registration there. The UK, Switzerland, Australia and the Gulf each have their own rules and we’re happy to work through them.
In short
Exporting an Italian classic runs on a sequence: valid revisione, deregistration at ACI, then either a ship or a set of temporary plates. The costs are knowable — around €200 at the ACI counter for the deregistration and export plate together, and about a week to have them in your hands. The ocean freight is the real expense.
The part that catches people is timing and order of operations. A lapsed revisione blocks the deregistration. A foreign registration filed too early leaves the seller stuck on the Italian register. A missing ISF filing costs a penalty. None of it is hard. All of it is sequential.
We’re in Ceva, an hour from Genoa, and we handle this end to end — at cost for everything we book on your behalf, plus one agreed fee for our time. If you’re buying a car in Italy, ours or anyone else’s, and you want the export handled by somebody who will drive it to the port and hand it over in person, get in touch with us.
Sources
- ACI — deregistration for export: aci.it
- Portale dell’Automobilista — MIT
- US Customs and Border Protection — importing a motor vehicle
- NHTSA — importing a vehicle
- Italian Highway Code, Articles 99 and 134
Last reviewed August 2026. Tariffs, tariff layers and administrative fees change frequently — the US duty position in particular has moved several times since 2025. Confirm current rates with a licensed customs broker before committing to a purchase. General information, not legal, tax or customs advice.
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