How to drive a car from Lithuania to Ukraine yourself and how much it will cost

The Lithuanian automobile market is one of the largest markets in Europe, represented by the sale of both new and used (used) cars and spare parts for them! On it you can find cars imported from the American market (USA), Asian market (South Korea, in rare cases China), and of course from European countries: Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Poland, Switzerland, Holland and many others . Lithuania is no less famous for the dismantling of spare parts cars imported from the UK, Japan and the USA, where used cars, including damaged ones, are cheap.

Brands of cars presented on the Lithuanian market:

AC, Acura, Alpina, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Citroen, Fiat, Ford, Genesis, Honda, HTM, Hyundai, Infiniti, Isuzu, Iveco, Jaguar, Jeep, KIA, Land Rover, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot, Porsche, Ravon, Renault, Skoda, Smart, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Venturi, Volkswagen, Volvo, VW and many others.

Both new and used cars are in demand. If the age of the car does not exceed three years, it is considered to be new. Among new cars, the leader in sales is the Fiat brand, especially the Fiat 500, Fiat Doblo models, followed by Toyota, Jeep; Volkswagen, Dacia, Skoda. The leading brands in the premium segment are BMW, Audi and Mercedes. Both new and used cars are brought from Lithuania to Russia; most often they buy cars whose age ranges from 3 to 5 years, since this category of car age is optimal for customs clearance. In Lithuania, you can buy a car at specialized car markets in Siauliai, Kaunas, Klaipeda and the largest in the city of Vilnius. Another popular way is to find the desired model on the Internet and contact the seller to discuss the terms of purchase. Car delivery from Lithuania is somewhat easier than from European countries; Lithuania is located much closer to Russia and has common borders with the Kaliningrad region and Belarus. These are important points to consider if you plan to buy an inexpensive car. Despite fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate, car prices in Lithuania are lower than in Russia. A car wears out significantly less on European roads, which allows you to be confident in its quality.

Not only cars, but also auto parts are imported from Lithuania to Russia. Spare parts include all elements of cars, which, as a rule, have individual serial numbers:

• gearboxes (automatic or manual transmission);
• diesel and gasoline internal combustion engines;
• bodies and their elements;
• chassis and cabins;
• elements of car interiors;
• suspension elements;
• brake elements;
• and many other auto spare parts.

Customs clearance of spare parts for a car can be done at regular (non-excise) customs.

Vintage cars over 30 years old, which are of cultural and historical value, are imported from Lithuania to Russia. The technical condition of such vehicles must meet special requirements. Customs clearance of vintage cars should be carried out at customs posts specifically designed for cultural property, and not at posts for vehicles. PTS is not issued for such cars! Vintage cars are not intended to be driven on public roads; they should be treated like museum pieces.

Car buyers must select a car, purchase it and deliver it to Russia. At the same time, it must be cleared through customs, receive a PTS and register with the traffic police.

Important! Cars whose environmental class is lower than Euro-4 cannot be imported into Russia! With the exception of cultural values!

Methods for importing cars to Russia from Lithuania:

1. At your own pace, you can either personally drive or be an accompanying person. Often used by individuals. This method is considered the most accessible and cheapest;
2. By a motor carrier on a car carrier or in the back of a truck;
3. By sea in a container from the port of Lithuania to the ports of Russia: St. Petersburg, Novorossiysk, Vladivostok. The method is not fast and not always cost-effective;
4. Air delivery. The method is fast, but expensive;
5. By rail, in a carriage or on a platform, this method is not the most popular.

The delivery method is selected individually, taking into account: the buyer’s wishes, the cost of the car, and the risk associated with delivery.

Cars imported from Lithuania to Russia must be cleared through customs. Passing customs clearance is a mandatory stage of importing a car, after which you can obtain license plates (numbers). Customs clearance of a car is carried out at customs posts specially designed for this purpose. To ensure that customs clearance is not long and does not require unnecessary costs, you need to know customs rules well. If you do not have the necessary knowledge and experience or you feel unsure, then it is better to contact our specialists who will help you complete customs clearance without delay!

Do you need to clear your car through customs? – We will help you!

Features of customs clearance of cars (vehicles) from Lithuania to Russia in 2020 by individuals

A special feature of customs clearance of cars imported by individuals from Lithuania to Russia is the need to connect to the GLONASS system. Connection documents must be presented to customs along with the submission of the customs declaration. When clearing customs, individuals must pay customs duties established by Decision of the EEC Council dated December 20, 2017 N 107, which consist of customs duty, recycling fee and a single duty rate, the amount of which depends on the age of the car, its cost and engine size. Individuals do not pay excise tax!

Documents and information for customs clearance of a car in Russia by an individual:

1. Contract of sale;
2. Passenger car buyer's passport;
3. Technical certificate;
4. Payment of a deposit at customs in advance (if the car is planned to be imported under its own power);
5. Documents for installing GLONASS;
6. OTTS or SBKS depending on the age of the car;
7. Payment of recycling fee.

How to buy at the Lithuanian car market

There are four large car dealerships in Lithuania:

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They are all outdoors, but work according to a specific schedule. You need to go there when the market is open and choose the right car. Its windshield usually bears the price, mileage, owner's contact information, and a phone number. By calling it, you can arrange a meeting and discuss other important details.

Typically, sellers require a deposit of 100-200 euros, after which they deregister the car. They also help check vehicles at service stations; there are police stations near the markets where they check the car for legal purity. Further:

1. a purchase and sale agreement is concluded with a notary and a customs declaration is drawn up;
2. buy car insurance;
3. register the vehicle in the state institution “Regitra” (like the Russian traffic police) to obtain a Lithuanian vehicle title and transit numbers.

Car market in Lithuania

Features of customs clearance of cars (vehicles) from Lithuania to Russia in 2020 by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs

One of the features of customs clearance of cars from Lithuania by legal entities or individual entrepreneurs (IP) is checking the presence of the manufacturer’s mark in the ROIS (register of intellectual property). Copyright holders enter trademark names into the ROIS to protect their interests; if a car trademark is included in the ROIS, then you need to obtain permission - a power of attorney from the copyright holder in the Russian Federation.

Register of Intellectual Property Objects (ROIS)

The amount of customs duties paid by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs is significantly larger than those paid by individuals. They consist of customs clearance fees, import duties, excise taxes, VAT and recycling fees.

Documents and information for customs clearance of a car in Russia by a legal entity or individual entrepreneur:

1. Contract of sale;
2. Invoice for payment of the vehicle;
3. Registration of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur with customs;
4. Technical certificate;
5. Payment of a deposit at customs in advance (if the car is planned to be imported under its own power);
6. Documents for installing GLONASS;
7. OTTS or SBKS depending on the age of the car;
8. Payment of recycling fee.

Customs payments for customs clearance of a car by an individual

The amount of customs duties for customs clearance of a car by an individual is determined by Decision No. 107 of December 20, 2017, and there is no need to pay excise tax.

Table 1 shows the uniform rates of customs duties and taxes payable.

Table 1. Customs duties on cars from Lithuania for individuals

From the table we can conclude that customs clearance of used cars from Lithuania, aged from 3 to 5 years, is most profitable!

The recycling fee when importing a car is paid once. It is intended for disposal of the vehicle after removal from service. For individuals, the size of the recycling fee depends on the age of the car.

Table 2. Recycling fee for cars from Lithuania for individuals

Customs duty is paid for processing the customs declaration; its amount for individuals depends on the value of the car.

Table 3. Customs duty on cars from Lithuania for individuals

Lithuanian used car website Autogidas

The Lithuanian website for used cars Autogidas has the following coordinates:

With its help, you can buy not only used passenger cars of European brands, but also trucks, agricultural machinery, trailers, motorcycles, as well as purchase spare parts, repair vehicles, and perform tuning.

The search for the desired car is carried out on the main page of Autogidas. There is also information about cars already offered for sale. When you click on the photo of the selected vehicle, more complete information about it opens, as well as the seller’s contact phone number.

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The site does not sell cars. This is just a platform for posting advertisements for their sale. And to purchase you need to contact the owner.

The price of customs clearance of a car from Lithuania in 2021 by a legal entity

The cost of customs clearance of a car from Lithuania for legal entities is significantly higher than for individuals. The basis for calculating payments is the customs value of the car. Customs payments for customs clearance of a car from Lithuania consist of:

• VAT (value added tax), the amount of which is 20%.
• Customs duty , the amount of which depends on the age of the car, its cost, type and engine size. From 05/04/2020 to 12/31/2021, a zero rate (0%) of import customs duty was established for electric vehicles with the HS code 8703800002, according to the decision of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission No. 29 of March 16, 2021.
• Excise tax is calculated based on the age and power of the car.
• Customs duty (fee for customs clearance of a car) depends on the customs value of the car.
• The recycling fee depends on the age of the car, power and engine size.

Disposal fee is not paid:

• when importing vintage cars, if they meet the requirements: they have original parts and have been restored;
• for temporary import into Russia, for example, for display at an exhibition.

Table 4. Recycling collection for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs

1 – coefficient ( k ). The base rate of the coefficient is 20,000 rubles. The amount of disposal fee is calculated by multiplying the Base rate by (k) - coefficient.

My story of a trip to pick up a car in Lithuania

Car in Lithuania

I went and borrowed a few bucks from my mother-in-law—at that time it was a normal amount. There are no options: I think I’ll go buy a car, drive it, give it a quick push, and then everything will be fine - an ideal business plan for those years.

I’m going to Radviliskis, a town near Siauliai, there are no direct trains, I buy a ticket from Moscow to Gudogai. Gudogai is the Belarusian-Lithuanian railway crossing. There you get off and change trains to Vilnius.

Sitting in it, you go through passport control of Belarusians, border guards and customs officers inspect you, the train starts moving, reaches Shumskas - this is Lithuania, there is an inspection of Lithuanian border guards and customs.

Then take the train to Vilnius, transfer to the Siauliai train to Radviliskis, everything is simple - the early 90s, there is no language barrier - just a few years ago we lived in the same country, everyone speaks Russian.

Gudogai, crossing the Lithuanian – Belarusian border

Buy a car in Lithuania

I woke up early in the morning at the border, got on the train, sat there, didn’t bother anyone, the border guards came up and presented my documents for inspection. “On the way out,” they say.

“What is it?” I ask.

– Your visa has expired.

I looked - exactly, I was one day late. The train left without me, I went to the border guards: “Help, brothers.” They shrugged their shoulders in response and went home. I went to the buffet, drank coffee, they served Russian rubles and Belarusian bunnies (there were hares depicted on Belarusian banknotes), I thought what to do, not go back... Oh, I wasn’t, where ours didn’t disappear!

I approached the taxi driver and said: “I need to go to Lithuania,” and I went for 15 American rubles. We got into a taxi: I, the taxi driver and the grandfather who had come from God knows where, drove for about 15 minutes, the taxi driver dropped me and my grandfather off in the forest, took the money, wished me good luck and left.

It was a dry spring, let's go, my grandfather led me along the railway, almost along the tracks. Morning, fog, birds singing, I feel something is wrong. “Why are we walking in plain sight?” I ask. - Dry. It’s wet in the forest,” answers the old horseradish with a Polesie accent.

Cars from Lithuania

At my insistence, we move away from the railway, move towards the border, walk for about fifteen minutes. I look - there is a patrol of Lithuanian border guards at the edge of the railway station, next to them a couple of people like us were detained for illegally crossing the state border, then no one took this seriously yet.

The old devil led me straight to them - they’ll take the money, go home, otherwise they’ll arrest me and put me in prison. I have a stern face, a gold chain as thick as a finger around my neck, the horseradish became sad and began to swear that he had no intention.

His business is small, to take people here and there. I pretended to believe it. He took me to a bus stop near the town of Shumskas. I looked at this sign for 20 minutes, I was nervous. It dawned on me that I had gotten carried away, but I couldn’t go back.

Local peasants came up and drank a Russian-Lithuanian mixture, at least I understand them. Maybe due to the swearing, swear words are mixed with their “curva”. A bus arrived, I got on, and the controller was an aunt. I gave her five bucks, there was no less. She, without saying a word, gave change in litas. We arrived at the Vilnius train station.

To Lithuania for a car

That's it, you can relax. I went to the exchanger, then they and we had them at every turn. I had a hearty snack - I love their zeppelins (these are boiled potato pies with meat filling).

I got to Radviliskis without incident. At the station I took a taxi and came to Eric’s garage, a typical Soviet one. I must say that the whole town was engaged in the auto business, the imported cars fed everyone.

Some brought trucks with European junk, others assembled one out of two or three cars, others painted them, fourths bought Zhigulis, fifths were the elite, drove the cars to Moscow and sold them at the Lyubertsy car market. He still works to this day, he has become handsome and civilized.

Being in Lithuania for the fifth or sixth time, I stocked up on alcohol for the trip, and across the border brought two 0.75 liter bottles of Stolichnaya, it was valued there. The whole country was sitting on cheap Polish swill of disgusting quality.

Lithuanians are thrifty guys, but they drink a lot, the main thing is without harming the family, and they have enough health. It’s not customary for them to make moonshine, maybe I just haven’t come across it.

When they saw me, I knew almost everyone in Moscow, they stopped work and started working on Stolichnaya. First they drank in Lithuanian style: one poured himself a drink and drank it, passed it to another, who poured it and drank it, and so on in a circle. I say, we won’t manage it until the morning, let’s do it in Russian. They agreed. Then we went to a tavern, a local pub.

It must be said that in Lithuania, although it has always been Russophobic, and the last “forest brothers” came out of the forest in the late 80s, discriminatory laws against Russians and Russian-speaking people living on its territory were not adopted. All residents received full citizenship without any conditions.

The next day - May 9 - the holiday spent in Lithuania will be remembered forever by me, if you are not interested, skip the next chapter. I wrote it to better understand the attitude towards Russians. Here I have never encountered a negative attitude towards myself and Russia in my person, unlike Estonia and Latvia, but more on that separately.

May 9 in Radviliskis

Used cars from Lithuania

The street is full of police in the morning, there are a lot of red flags. Eric explained to me that some of the old people in the city fought in the Red Army, and the other were the Lithuanian Legion, the SS, the Forest Brothers, the OUN, the Home Army and other bastards. The beginning of the 90s - veterans were 70-75 years old, vigorous old men.

Each side meets in the morning in their taverns. Then they go to a demonstration at the Town Hall. Of course, I immediately expressed my desire to watch and support our team. Eric diplomatically dissuaded me, but accompanied me around the city.

At lunchtime, two columns stretched towards the center of the town from two opposite sides. I walked next to my grandfathers in Red Army caps, caps, real tunics with orders and medals, and went out to the central square.

There were already SS men standing there in German, Polish, and Lithuanian uniforms and caps. Eric pulled me aside. The square was blocked off by police officers wearing helmets and carrying shields.

The old Red Army soldiers tried to break through the police cordon in order to stuff the legionnaires' snouts. An understandable desire - for the first time in my life I saw living fascists, real SS men, concentration camp guards, executioners, Vlasovites and forest murder brothers.

Stones, crutches and bottles flew in the air, thick with hatred. The police did not tie anyone up, they only forced them out of the square. The entire ninth of May passed in skirmishes between veterans. If it weren’t for the police, there would probably have been several dozen corpses - the intensity of hatred was off the charts on both sides.

Buying a car at the car market in Siauliai and leaving for Russia

The next day Eric and I went to the Siauliai car market. It still exists today, after wandering around and looking for something cheaper, we took a VAZ 2101, red-crimson, for $400. I applied for it using my international passport and immediately received transit numbers. The registration procedure is standard, without problems.

Then we had to act according to plan “A”: leave the country in this car legally, although Eric suggested crossing the border with Belarus along forest paths, but this was not a solution to the issue.

Used Lithuanian cars

I had my Russian passport with me, and in the morning I went to the police and wrote a statement that my bag with documents was stolen. They were fussing all day, they checked my invitation and it really was there. If I stay in Lithuania, I have a week to leave the country.

Everything is legal - you can’t complain. There was no single computer database; a protocol was drawn up in two languages. It’s good that almost all the police studied in the USSR, wrote and spoke Russian fluently.

They gave me a paper, and with it I went to our embassy in Vilnius. It’s great that I had my civil passport with me; everything was processed in two days. Otherwise, I would have had to wait a month, but then I wouldn’t have gotten into this topic.

For the future: take your Russian passport with you when going abroad, stash it away, with a passport the embassy will treat you differently, attentive and sensitive. While I was waiting for two days for the documents, one event occurred that seriously overshadowed my trip.

It was someone from the garage company having a birthday. I hardly drank - everything was foreign, you couldn’t relax. Everyone got drunk, and they asked me to register, I went and bought more. The company quickly caught up.

At the end, when everyone had already begun to leave, the young guy Kyastas (name changed) takes a full, 0.5 liter bottle of Polish chatter, pours it into a beer mug and drinks it on a dare, without looking up. He drank and didn’t wince.

We all went home together, he was escorted to the porch. In the morning I went to Vilnius to get documents, at the embassy I received a certificate of the loss of my international passport with all the stamps about entry into the country and the right to leave, everything was in order in five minutes.

I returned, and they immediately told me that Kyastas died during the night. They said he entered the house, fell in the hallway and passed out. In the morning his mother found him already cold, such an absurd death.

Used cars from Lithuania for sale

Houses in the Lithuanian outback and in ours are heaven and earth. Almost all of their houses are two-story brick, 200-300 square meters, although even then many turned off the central heating in their houses - it was very expensive, our gas was no longer available. I gave Eric $100 for my stay, which was very good for that time.

The next day I went home and joined the driver, the pro, Arunas. We drove non-stop, I could barely keep up with him, we rested only at the borders. We got home without incident, only my generator fell off while driving. Thank you, Arunas the master somehow propped him up with a stick, made it to Moscow, and even worked.

At the border I was released from Lithuania without any problems, in Belarus the border guards looked at my paper for a long time, called somewhere, scratched their turnips. My civilian passport helped a lot. In Russia they let me in without any problems.

In Moscow, I pushed a car with transit license plates at the Lyubertsy market by proxy for 1,500 greens in a couple of hours. He didn’t go back to buy the car for sale; he told his friends how to buy a car in Lithuania and gave him the coordinates for help. He himself started a business at the Solntsevsky car market, but that’s another story.

Customs clearance services for cars from Lithuania in Russia

Our customs broker (representative) offers you prompt customs clearance services for cars of all types and brands. We will help you clear a car during customs when importing or clear customs when exporting at any customs posts in Russia:

• at airports
• in seaports
• at automobile checkpoints (MAPP, DAPP)
• at railway checkpoints

We work with any participants in foreign trade activities:

• Individuals
• Legal entities
• Individual entrepreneurs

Terms and cost of services for customs clearance of cars from Lithuania

On average, customs clearance of a car from Lithuania to Russia takes 1 day!

In our company, the price or cost of “customs clearance of cars” imported from Lithuania to Russia is discussed individually depending on the tasks and place of customs clearance and is the minimum on the market. On average it is:

• for individuals: from 5,000 rubles;
• for legal entities or individual entrepreneurs (IP): from 10,000 rubles.

We are confident that we will become your reliable partner at customs!