Importing and Registering a Car in Georgia: Duty, Excise and Paperwork

Since April 2, 2026, what you pay to clear a car through Georgian customs depends on its age, its engine size and which side the steering wheel is on. Most of the bill is a separate excise tax, with a small import duty added to it. Once the car clears customs, the Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs registers it and issues Georgian plates.

Import Duty: Based on Engine Size, and No VAT

Most goods imported into Georgia carry a duty of 0%, 5% or 12% of their value. Passenger cars have a formula of their own: 0.05 lari per cubic centimeter of engine volume, plus 5% of that amount for each year the car has been in use. There is no 18% VAT, since the Tax Code exempts passenger cars imported under customs code 8703, and electric cars pay no import duty at all.

A car goes through the same customs steps as any other shipment, from filing the declaration to hiring a broker, as set out in the import and export rules in Georgia.

Excise: The Biggest Cost

Georgia's new excise law for imported passenger cars came into force on April 2, 2026, in place of a ban on cars older than 6 years that had been under discussion. Excise is charged per cubic centimeter of engine volume, and cars up to 6 years old pay 1.5 lari. A car's age is the year of the customs declaration minus its model year.

Once a car is older than 6 years, the rate triples to 4.5 lari per cubic centimeter. That works out to 6,750 lari for a 1.5-liter engine, 7,200 lari for 1.6 liters, 9,000 lari for 2.0 liters and 11,250 lari for 2.5 liters, and that is just the excise, before any import duty.

Hybrids and electric cars get lower rates, and classic cars over 30 years old have a reduced rate of their own. Rates in lari per cubic centimeter of engine volume:

The 60% hybrid discount applies only to left-hand-drive hybrids up to 6 years old. To count as a classic, a car must be over 30 years old and meet criteria set by the Georgian government.

Customs takes the engine volume directly from the car's registration document or the manufacturer's certificate. If that paperwork doesn't match the car, clearance can stall.

Consider a left-hand-drive car built in 2018 with a 2.5-liter engine (2,500 cm³), bought for 12,000 lari and cleared in 2026 at 8 years old:

The taxes come to almost as much as the car itself, and nearly all of that is excise. Age and engine size make the biggest difference: the same engine in a 2020 car cleared in 2026 would pay 3,750 lari in excise, not 11,250.

Right-Hand Drive: Three Times the Excise

Right-hand-drive cars, along with cars whose steering has been moved to the other side, pay three times the base excise in both age groups. Up to 6 years old, that means 4.5 lari per cubic centimeter instead of 1.5. Older cars pay 13.5 lari instead of 4.5.

Georgia doesn't formally ban right-hand-drive cars, but it has charged them triple excise since 2017. The new law kept that rule, so a right-hand-drive car older than 6 years with a 2.0-liter engine now pays 27,000 lari in excise, compared with 9,000 lari for a left-hand-drive one.

Transition Rules: Who Still Pays the Old Rates

The new law doesn't apply retroactively to cars that were already on their way when it came into force on April 2, 2026. If the shipping documents, such as a bill of lading or a CMR waybill, are dated earlier, the old excise rates apply. The same goes for cars whose registration in Georgia began before that date.

The first draft, debated in February 2026, would have banned cars older than 6 years outright. After protests and criticism, parliament swapped the ban for a higher excise and pitched the change as a clean-air measure.

Moving to Georgia Permanently: One Car Free of Duty and Excise

If you are moving to Georgia for good, your family can bring in one car with no import duty and no excise. For a left-hand-drive 2018 car with a 2.5-liter engine, that means 0 lari instead of 11,425 lari, and the exemption sets no limits on the car's age or engine size.

The exemption is set out in Article 199 of the Tax Code of Georgia, and you prove your eligibility with a Georgian citizen's ID card or a permanent residence card. A temporary residence permit, whether it is based on work, investment or property, does not qualify, and a car brought in on one pays the standard rates.

Minor children of Georgian citizens and parents of minor citizens get permanent residency right away. Other foreigners reach it after years of living in the country on a temporary residence permit in Georgia.

What customs checks:

• The car: one per family, for personal use only, not for taxi work or any other business
• Ownership: the car must have been registered in your name for at least 6 months before the day you became entitled to permanent residence
• Timing: the declaration and the car itself must reach customs within 90 days of getting that right or of applying for it
• Documents: a customs declaration marked with the exemption, proof that the car is registered to you, and a Georgian ID card or permanent residence card; no purchase contract is needed

If your permanent residence card isn't ready yet, customs can release the car against a guarantee from a Georgian resident covering the taxes, and you bring the document within 90 days of applying. The current rules don't forbid selling a car imported this way.

From January 1, 2028, the new Customs Code is due to take effect with stricter terms: a car imported under the exemption may not be sold or rented out during the first 12 months after import.

Registering the Car: Documents, Fees and Where to Go

A car brought in from abroad for registration in Georgia must be registered within 60 days at a registration center of the Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Cars on foreign plates that stay in the country longer than 90 days need temporary registration with the same agency.

For a first registration, bring your ID, proof of ownership, the customs transit document and receipts for the fees. You fill in the application form on site, and the agency inspects the car before issuing plates.

The inspection costs 20 lari, plates 80 lari and the registration certificate 100 lari. Special or personalized plates cost from 150 to 10,000 lari, depending on the combination.

The agency has offices in Tbilisi and other cities. One of the busiest is in Rustavi, at 8 Aleksandre Lobzhanidze Street, next to the largest car market in the Caucasus, and many buyers drive straight there from the market. With all the documents in order, registration usually takes about an hour.

Visitors can drive their own car on foreign plates in Georgia for up to 90 days without clearing customs or registering it. They do need Georgian third-party liability insurance, which costs from 30 lari for 15 days to 295 lari for a year, and driving without a policy means a 100 lari fine.