What customs clearance costs in Moldova: four worked examples

What the total is made of

An individual importing a car into Moldova now makes two payments, and only one of them depends on the price of the car:

• excise — charged per cubic centimetre of engine, based on displacement, age and fuel type. Usually this is almost the whole total;
• the 0.4% customs procedures fee no longer applies — Customs Code No. 95/2021 abolished it;
• luxury tax — only if the contract value starts at 600,000 MDL.

Example 1. Petrol hatchback 1.4 l, 2018

An ordinary city car: 1,395 cc, petrol, eight years old, contract price 180,000 MDL.

Excise comes to about 21,800 MDL, and that is the whole bill: the customs procedures fee no longer exists. Noticeable, but not the kind of figure that changes your mind about the car.

Example 2. Diesel wagon 2.0 l, 2015

A bigger, more expensive car: 1,968 cc, diesel, eleven years old, priced at 200,000 MDL — only twenty thousand more than the first one.

The payments, however, are nothing alike: around 130,000 MDL of excise, and that is the whole bill. Nearly six times the first example, while the purchase price differs by a tenth. The reason is that the excise rate climbs with displacement and age at once, and diesel has its own, higher table.

Example 3. Electric car, 2020

An EV at 300,000 MDL — the most expensive car in this set.

There is no excise at all: electric cars are exempt. And the customs procedures fee no longer exists, so there is nothing to pay at customs for this car — against 130,000 MDL for the diesel wagon. Hybrids gain too, if less dramatically: a regular hybrid gets a quarter off the excise, a plug-in half. That same 1.8 petrol hybrid from 2019 would come to about 30,000 MDL instead of 39,000. This is how it works until the end of 2026: from 1 January 2027 electric cars pay excise based on their weight, and excise on petrol and diesel cars goes up by 10%.

Example 4. A 1990 classic, 2.5 l

The car is 36 years old with a large engine — by the usual logic the excise should be enormous.

But cars over thirty years old are not charged by displacement: a flat amount applies. From 30 to 39 years — 40,000 MDL, from 40 to 49 — 30,000, older than that — 20,000. About 40,000 MDL in total. A twist that catches people out: a big-engined classic clears customs cheaper than a ten-year-old diesel.

What this means in practice

In short: do the maths before you buy, not after. Three conclusions that save money:

• the price of the car barely affects the payments — displacement, age and fuel type do;
• the gap between petrol and diesel of the same size can be several-fold, so run both through the calculator;
• an electric car or a hybrid gives the clearest saving on clearance, and anything over thirty years old is charged at a flat rate.