Every week someone in Grenada, or on their way here, asks the same question: is it cheaper to ship a car in from the UK, the US or Japan than to buy one on the island? The honest answer is that it depends on the car, but for most everyday vehicles the taxes are high enough that a used car already in Grenada wins. This guide walks through the rules and the numbers so you can work it out for your own case before you commit to a shipping quote.
One thing before we start: import duties are set in the annual Budget and can change. The figures below reflect the rates published by Grenada Customs and by shipping agents as of 2026, but always confirm the current numbers with the Customs and Excise Division or a licensed broker before you buy a car overseas.
The 10-year rule: check this first
Grenada bans the import of vehicles that are 10 years old or older. The ban came in under SRO 43 of 2020 and took effect on 1 July 2020, and Customs issued a public reminder in early 2025 that it is still being enforced. Age is counted from the year of manufacture, so in 2026 anything built in 2016 or earlier is a problem. If you are looking at a bargain on a UK auction site or a Japanese export portal, look at the build year before anything else. Some overseas exporters still advertise “no age limit” for Grenada; that information is out of date.
Left-hand-drive vehicles from the United States are on Grenada’s roads and are generally accepted for import, but we drive on the left here, so a right-hand-drive car from the UK or Japan is the more practical choice and tends to resell more easily.
How the taxes stack up
This is where most people get a shock. Grenada does not charge one import duty. It charges several taxes, and some of them are calculated on top of each other, which is why the total can exceed the value of the car. The components are:
- Common External Tariff (CET): the CARICOM import duty, charged on the CIF value (the price of the car plus insurance and freight). The rate varies by vehicle type and engine size, from 5% up to 40%; for a typical passenger car it is in the 25% to 40% range.
- Environmental levy: 2% of CIF on vehicles one to four years old, rising to 30% of CIF on vehicles five years and older. This is the single biggest reason an older car costs so much more to bring in.
- Customs service charge: 5% to 6% of CIF.
- Excise tax: 40%, calculated not on the car’s price alone but on the price plus the CET, the environmental levy and the service charge.
- VAT: 15%, calculated on the total of everything above.
A worked example
Take a five-year-old hatchback bought overseas for the equivalent of EC$ 40,000 including shipping and insurance, with a 25% CET rate:
| Item | Rate | Amount (EC$) |
|---|---|---|
| CIF value (car, insurance, freight) | 40,000 | |
| CET | 25% of CIF | 10,000 |
| Environmental levy (5+ years) | 30% of CIF | 12,000 |
| Customs service charge | 5% of CIF | 2,000 |
| Excise tax | 40% of the above (64,000) | 25,600 |
| VAT | 15% of the above (89,600) | 13,440 |
| Total taxes | 63,040 | |
| Landed cost | 103,040 |
That is taxes of about 158% of the car’s value, which matches what local importers have been quoting for years. On the same car under five years old, the environmental levy drops to 2% and the total tax comes down to roughly 110% to 130% depending on the CET rate. Either way, an EC$ 40,000 car becomes an EC$ 85,000 to EC$ 105,000 car before you have paid a broker, bought insurance or registered it.
Electric and hybrid vehicles have been offered a 50% concession on duty and taxes since the 2020 Budget as an incentive to cut emissions. If you are considering an import at all, a hybrid under five years old is the case where the numbers are most likely to work. Confirm the concession is still in place and how it applies to your vehicle before you commit.
The returning nationals concession
If you are a Grenadian national who has lived abroad continuously for seven years or more and you are coming home for good, the Returning Nationals Programme lets you bring in one vehicle at a substantial discount. The main conditions are:
- One vehicle per person, and you can only claim once under the programme.
- The vehicle must be imported from the country you were living in.
- It must be under five years old.
- You still pay the customs service charge (6%) and a reduced environmental levy.
- You cannot sell, give away or otherwise dispose of the vehicle within three years without paying the duties you were spared. After three years it is yours to sell freely.
Applications go through the Returning Nationals Facilitation Bureau at the Ministry of Finance in St George’s. You will need your passport, proof of Grenadian nationality, evidence of your time abroad, a one-way ticket, and details of the vehicle. Get the concession letter approved before the car ships, not after it arrives.
The import process, step by step
1. Get a landed-cost estimate first. Before you pay for a car overseas, give a Grenada customs broker the make, model, year, engine size and purchase price and ask for a full estimate including all taxes and their own fees. Two long-established brokers are Geo. F. Huggins & Co. and Jonas Browne & Hubbard, and there are several smaller agents in St George’s.
2. Apply for an import licence. Motor vehicles need an import licence from the Ministry of Trade before they arrive. Your broker can handle this.
3. Arrange shipping. Roll-on roll-off (RoRo) is the usual method from Japan and the UK and takes roughly four to six weeks to St George’s. Container shipping costs more but lets you send household goods in the same box, which matters for returning nationals. The vehicle arrives at the port in St George’s; Grenville can also receive vehicles.
4. Have your documents ready. Customs will want the original bill of lading, the purchase invoice, the overseas title or registration document, the insurance certificate, the import licence and a value declaration form. If there is no invoice, Customs uses its own valuation, which is rarely in your favour.
5. Clear customs and pay. Your broker lodges the entry, Customs assesses the taxes, you pay, and the car is released. Budget for port handling and storage charges on top; delays at the port cost money by the day.
6. Insure, inspect and register. Take out Grenada motor insurance, have the vehicle inspected by the Royal Grenada Police Force, then register it at the Inland Revenue Division licence office in St George’s with your customs entry, invoice and insurance certificate. The annual licence fee runs from EC$ 125 for engines up to 1000cc to EC$ 300 for engines over 3800cc.
So should you import or buy locally?
Run the numbers honestly. Once you add 110% to 160% in taxes, shipping, a broker’s fee, port charges and the weeks without a car, a mid-range used vehicle imported from overseas rarely undercuts the same car bought here. The cases where importing does make sense are a specific model you cannot find on the island, a newer hybrid where the concession applies, a returning national using the programme, or a higher-value vehicle where the seller in Grenada is pricing well above the landed cost.
For everything else, a car that is already here has already paid its duty, already has Grenada plates, and can be test driven on the roads it will spend its life on. That is exactly what the listings on Island Motors are for. If you do decide to import and later sell, remember that a car with duty paid is worth more to a local buyer than one still tied to a concession, and listing it here is free.
Rates and rules in this article are drawn from Grenada Customs and Excise, the Returning Nationals Programme, and published shipping-agent guidance as of 2026. They change at Budget time. Confirm the current figures with Customs or a licensed broker before buying a vehicle abroad.