ISF Filing for Importing Cars and Vehicles into the United States

Importing cars, trailers or other non road vehicles into the United States still requires the ISF to be filed. If your car or vehicle is shipped on a RORO vessel, the latest time to file your ISF is 24 hours before arrival if your carrier has obtained special exemption for this rule under break-bulk vessels.

As the Importer of Record, if you are not certain that your carrier has obtained this exemption, it is recommended to follow the 24 hours before loading rule.

For the 10 ISF data elements regarding car imports on RORO vessels, there is 1 ISF data field which is different than normal containerized goods. This data field would be the container stuffing location.

Since there are no containers involved with RORO vessels, the container stuffing location would be the address of the port terminal where the RORO has on-loaded the vehicles into the ship. For importers who are using a container to ship their car, the 24 hour before loading rule would apply and the container stuffing location would be the facility where the car was loaded into the container.

Summary of ISF Filing for Car and Vehicle Imports

1. Container Stuffing Location for RORO's is the Port Terminal Address.

2. 24 Hour Before Arrival Rule applies if the carrier is granted permission, if unsure follow 24 hour before loading rule.

3. For the Manufacturer, ask your seller to provide the factory name and address of where the vehicle was built. Most often, they will not include this information on the Bill of Sale or Invoice. This is usually provided by email.

4. Car and Vehicle imports fall under Chapter 87 in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule.