Shipping a car to Cyprus from the UK

Last verified 22 August 2026

Cyprus drives on the left, so your UK car fits the island perfectly; the question is whether the sums fit. The answer differs sharply by side: the south is a standard EU import with a valuable relief for people genuinely moving, while the north is reached via Turkey and taxes permanent imports heavily. Both routes are covered here, with the honest caveat that import maths changes often enough that you should confirm the current figures before booking anything.

To the south: UK to Limassol

Cars ship from Southampton (roll-on roll-off) or Tilbury (container) to Limassol, taking roughly ten days to two and a half weeks. At the time of verification, RoRo cost in the region of £650 to £900 and a container from around £950, plus destination costs at Limassol, port handling, customs clearance and broker fees, that typically add several hundred euros. RoRo is the sensible default for an ordinary running car; containers earn their keep for valuable cars or when you are shipping belongings in the same box.

The tax question decides whether any of this makes sense. Since Brexit, a UK car entering Cyprus is a third-country import: EU duty of 6.5% on the vehicle’s value, then Cypriot VAT of 19% on the value plus duty. On a £15,000 car that is roughly £4,000 before the ferry fare, which kills the case for shipping most ordinary cars.

What rescues it is transfer of residence relief. If you are genuinely moving your normal home to Cyprus, have lived outside the EU for at least twelve months, and have owned and used the car for at least six months before the move, you can bring it free of duty and VAT, with conditions on selling it afterwards. For a retiring couple bringing a good car they already own, the relief is the difference between sensible and absurd, and the paperwork deserves care: apply properly, keep evidence of ownership and UK residence, and use a clearing agent at Limassol unless you enjoy customs halls.

After clearance the car needs Cypriot registration through the Department of Road Transport: inspection, the V5C, registration fees, then local plates and road tax. Budget time as well as money; the whole process from ship to plates is comfortably a month.

To the north: via Turkey

There is no direct car route from the UK to the north. Vehicles arrive on the roll-on roll-off ferries from Mersin or Taşucu on the Turkish mainland into Famagusta or Kyrenia, which means your car first has to get to southern Turkey, either shipped from the UK or driven across Europe, an adventure in itself and not a cheap one.

Once there, the regime depends on your status. Visitors can bring a foreign-plated car under temporary import, with customs paperwork at the port and compulsory local insurance; the permitted duration is applied inconsistently in published sources, so treat the customs officer’s answer as the rule. A temporarily imported car cannot be sold or locally registered. Permanent import, for people settling, carries combined duties widely reported around half the vehicle’s value, and the north’s vehicle age rules have changed twice in recent years, so check the current position with the authorities in the north before shipping anything. Cleared cars take local plates through the Traffic Department.

The blunt advice for the north: run the numbers against simply buying a car there, or long-term hiring, before committing. Import duty at those levels means shipping only makes sense for cars with a reason to travel.

Can the imported car cross the line?

A south-registered car crosses north the same way a southern hire car does, by buying third-party insurance at the crossing; the mechanics are in our hire car crossing guide and apply to private cars equally. North-registered cars can insure for the south at the Ayios Dometios crossing, as thousands of commuters do. The awkward case is a car still under temporary import status on one side being driven to the other; that mixes two customs regimes, and you should ask both sides’ customs before trying it rather than discovering the answer at the barrier.

One more thing worth knowing before you ship: whichever side the car lands on, that side’s system becomes its home for tax, inspection and insurance purposes. Choose the side where the car will actually live, not the one with the easier port.