Importing a Classic Car to Saudi Arabia

The 5-year cap, and the exemption nobody can confirm

SASO states the 5-year manufacture-date cap on its own import page, corroborated by the US government's trade.gov guide. A car built in 2021 or earlier is effectively shut out of the standard import route in 2026.

A separate claim circulates on shipping-broker sites: cars 30 years or older can enter duty-free for non-public-road use, citing an unverifiable 'Customs Regulation Article 55.' We could not confirm this in official SASO or ZATCA material, and trade.gov's own guide describes the 5-year limit as applying without exception. We will not present the 30-year claim as settled fact, and you should not accept it from anyone without seeing the regulation itself.

Classic cars clearly do get onto Saudi roads: the Tuwaiq Rally runs cars from 1979 and earlier across roughly 3,400km of public route, and Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam all have working classic-Mercedes dealers. Some legal pathway exists; we just cannot point to the regulation behind it, and neither, as far as we can tell, can most brokers advertising it. Confirm the exemption directly with ZATCA, SASO or a licensed broker before you ship on the strength of it.

For a market where this pathway is fully documented, see our guide to importing into the UAE, or our import services overview for how all four markets compare.

Shipping into Jeddah or Dammam: container, RoRo or air

Jeddah Islamic Port, on the Red Sea, handles both container and RoRo traffic. King Abdulaziz Port at Dammam, on the Gulf coast, is primarily RoRo. Vendor estimates put transit at roughly 16 to 22 days from the UK to Jeddah, 18 to 24 to Dammam.

Industry guidance draws the same line as elsewhere in the Gulf: RoRo for an ordinary running car, enclosed container once the car is genuinely collectible or cannot drive onto the vessel. See our enclosed container vs RoRo comparison for the full cost and risk breakdown. SASO's SABER conformity certification applies regardless: we found no classic-specific carve-out.

Five stages: from inspection to plates

We handle this as five stages, always in the same order:

1. Pre-purchase inspection abroad. An independent inspector checks the car before you commit: matching numbers, rust, service history.

1. Marine insurance. The car is covered for the voyage itself, separate from Saudi road insurance arranged after registration.

1. Shipping. Container or RoRo into Jeddah or Dammam, per the comparison above.

1. Customs clearance via a licensed broker. SABER certification and ZATCA clearance go through a broker who works this route regularly and can give you a real answer on the 30-year exemption question.

1. Registration and plates. No distinct classic-vehicle plate category exists that we could find: the car registers on standard Saudi plates once customs releases it.

Costs: what's confirmed, what's quoted per car

VAT is fixed and confirmed at 15%, in effect since July 2020, tripled from an original 5% in 2018. Standard customs duty runs approximately 5% of CIF value under the GCC Common External Tariff; verify the exact HS code with ZATCA. One uncorroborated source claims an added excise tax on engines over 4.0 litres, which we treat as unverified.

Freight, marine insurance, broker fees and SABER certification are quoted per car and route, depending on declared value, origin port and condition. We do not publish placeholder numbers. Once we know your car, we get real figures from our contacts. Owners who complete the process often browse classic cars for sale in Saudi Arabia next.