Registration & IVA
Landing the car is the easy half. This is the part where imports get stuck — approval testing, HMRC notifications and DVLA paperwork — and it is the part we do in-house.
Before anything else can happen, the arrival has to be notified to HMRC through NOVA — the Notification of Vehicle Arrival. It records that the vehicle has been imported and that the duty and VAT position has been settled.
This is the step that gates the rest: the DVLA will not register a vehicle without a completed NOVA. We file it as part of the customs clearance, so it is not something you have to chase.
Which approval route the vehicle takes comes down to its age. This is why the quote form asks for the year: it changes both the process and the cost.
Under 10 years old
The vehicle must pass an IVA test before the DVLA will register it. The test checks it against UK construction and use requirements — lighting, emissions, glazing, speedometer, structure.
We run our own private IVA testing lane for passenger cars, so the timetable is ours rather than a queue for a DVSA slot.
Over 10 years old
No IVA required. The vehicle instead needs to pass an MOT, so it has to be demonstrably roadworthy, but it is not assessed against the full approval standard.
A simpler and cheaper route — one of the reasons an older American car is often a more straightforward import than a new one.
American vehicles are built to US federal standards, which differ from UK and European requirements in a handful of predictable ways. We carry this work out in our own workshop rather than subcontracting it.
US beam patterns are aimed differently. Headlights usually need replacing or converting so the beam does not dazzle oncoming traffic on UK roads.
Required in the UK and not fitted to US vehicles, so one has to be added and wired in.
Many US vehicles lack the side indicator repeaters UK requirements expect.
Usually no work needed — US vehicles already read in miles per hour. This is one area where an American import is easier than a Japanese or European one.
Newer vehicles tend to cost more to convert than older ones, because integrated lighting units and bonded assemblies are harder to change than separate lamps. We tell you the conversion cost in the original quote rather than as a surprise once the car is here.
With NOVA done and the approval test passed, we submit the registration application to the DVLA. They issue a V5C registration document in your name, and we fit UK plates before the vehicle goes back to you.
You will need insurance and vehicle tax in place before you drive it away. Insurers ask for more detail on an import than on a UK car — the VIN, the exact specification, the year of manufacture and of UK registration, and any modifications declared accurately.
Vehicles under ten years old need Individual Vehicle Approval before the DVLA will register them. Vehicles over ten years old do not need IVA, but they do need to pass an MOT so they can be shown to be roadworthy.
NOVA is the Notification of Vehicle Arrival to HMRC. It records that the vehicle has been imported and that the duty and VAT position has been dealt with. Without a completed NOVA the DVLA will not register the vehicle, so it is the step that gates everything else.
Lighting is the common one — headlight beam pattern, a rear fog lamp and side repeaters. US vehicles already read in miles per hour, so the speedometer change that affects European and Japanese imports usually does not apply.
Not on the road. Until the vehicle is registered it has no UK number plate for a normal insurance policy to attach to. Laid-up cover protects it off the road in the meantime, which is one reason we push imports through registration as quickly as we can.
If your American import has landed and the paperwork has stalled, we take these on as standalone jobs — customs, IVA and registration without the shipping.
