The 2026 excise rules: why a car up to six years old costs you less

The most common mistake when picking a car to import into Georgia sounds perfectly sensible: buy something older to save money. At auction it really is cheaper. But excise at customs is calculated on age and engine size, not on price. Past the seventh year the older car starts costing more than the newer one, even with $2,000–$3,000 between the two hammer prices.

How the excise rate is built

Georgian excise is charged per cubic centimeter of engine displacement. Age isn't counted from the purchase date or the import date: you take the year the customs declaration is filed and subtract the year of manufacture. Under the rules in force since April 2, 2026, a passenger car aged zero to six years inclusive is charged 1.5 GEL per cc, and anything over six years old 4.5 GEL per cc. That is exactly three times as much, and the increase isn't gradual: between six and seven years there's a cliff.

A few cases sit outside that pair of rates. A car recognised as a classic under the Law on Motor Transport (Art. 1 and 8⁶) is charged 1 GEL per cc: it has to be over 30 years old, but age alone doesn't give it that status. Left-hand-drive electric cars pay no excise at all and right-hand-drive ones pay a fixed 3,000 GEL: displacement doesn't apply to them. The much-discussed ban on importing cars over six years old was never introduced; a higher excise replaced it. Cars whose transport documents were issued before April 2, 2026 fall under transitional provisions at the old rates. For cars moved by road or rail or driven in, there was a second condition: entry in Georgia's Interior Ministry database before July 1, 2026.

Where the line falls

The practical benchmark: in 2026 the mild band covers cars from model year 2020 onward. A 2.0-liter engine (2,000 cc) makes the math easy. Up to six years inclusive the excise comes to 3,000 GEL; over six years, 9,000 GEL. That's 6,000 GEL on the excise line alone, and with VAT, which is charged on the excise too, the gap reaches 7,080 GEL, around $2,600 at roughly 2.7 GEL to the dollar, for one calendar year of age.

The example the press picked up when the amendments were announced: a 2018 Toyota Prius with a 1.8-liter engine. Its excise used to be about 1,440 GEL; now 1,800 cc times 4.5 GEL comes to 8,100 GEL. So if the price gap between two lots is smaller than the excise gap, buy the newer one. On top of that, a younger car holds its resale value better in Georgia, carries less risk of hidden wear, and is easier to find parts for.

Engine size works together with age

Age sets the rate; displacement sets the base it's applied to. So a seven-year-old car with a 1.6-liter engine costs 1,600 × 4.5 = 7,200 GEL in excise, while a 2021 car with an honest 3.5 comes to 3,500 × 1.5 = 5,250 GEL. The big new engine works out cheaper than the small old one, so calculate age and displacement together. Another trap is rounding in listings. The seller writes 2.0, the VIN spec says 2,049 cc, and the rate is charged on the actual figure.

• Age = the year the customs declaration is filed minus the year of manufacture, not the purchase or import date
• Zero to six years inclusive: 1.5 GEL per cc; over six years: 4.5 GEL, exactly triple
• Right-hand drive: triple rate in every age band (4.5 GEL per cc on recent cars, 13.5 GEL on anything over six years old)
• A left-hand-drive hybrid up to six years old inclusive gets 60 percent off (0.6 GEL per cc); over six years there's no break at all
• The excise base is the exact displacement in cc from the VIN, not the rounded number in the ad

What else is on the bill besides excise

On top of the excise comes VAT at 18 percent, charged on the car's customs value and the excise combined. Then the fixed processing charges (customs fee, inspection, declaration and technical passport), around 272 GEL in total; they don't move with model or year. Because VAT is charged on the excise too, any age-bracket mistake multiplies: overpay 6,000 GEL on the age step and you automatically overpay another 1,080 GEL in VAT on top of it.

How to run the numbers before the bid, not after the ship

• Pull the exact model year and displacement from the decoded VIN, not from the lot listing
• Multiply the displacement in cc by your rate: 1.5 GEL up to six years inclusive, 4.5 GEL over six
• Add the excise to the customs value and take 18 percent VAT off the total
• Add around 272 GEL of fixed processing charges, plus container shipping, auction fees, port and terminal
• Compare the total against a comparable car already on the market in Tbilisi or Rustavi

A live example. A car with a 2.5-liter engine and a customs value of $12,000 (32,400 GEL). If it's a 2019, the excise is 2,500 × 4.5 = 11,250 GEL, VAT is 18 percent of 43,650 GEL, or 7,857 GEL, plus 272 GEL of fees: 19,379 GEL in total. The same car from 2020 gives 3,750 GEL of excise, 6,507 GEL of VAT and 10,529 GEL all in. One model year of difference is worth 8,850 GEL, about $3,280. You can run the exact figure for a specific car in our customs calculator.

Only after that arithmetic can you tell whether a lot is actually a good deal. In our experience, roughly one in three cars a client picks out on their own gets eliminated at exactly this step. The rates above have been in force since April 2, 2026, but the total can still come out different: customs sets the dutiable value from its own database, not from the figure on your invoice. That's why we run the numbers on a specific lot before the bidding starts and show the full landed cost in Tbilisi, broken out line by line.