Ford F-150 import guide

The F-150 is the truck America buys more than any other, and every so often someone decides they want one on a British driveway. It can be done, and it is done often. The questions are usually about size, weight and tax rather than whether it is legal, and once you have the truck's label and build date in front of you, most of them answer themselves.

Shipping from the USA

From £1,450, shipping only

Time at sea

Around 2 to 4 weeks

Key number

3,500kg gross weight

Test

IVA under 10 years, MOT over

Living with one in the UK

Be honest with yourself about the size first. A crew cab F-150 is long and wide by British standards, and it stays left-hand drive. Open roads and motorways are fine. Multi-storey car parks, narrow lanes and tight supermarket spaces take more thought.

Measure your drive and any garage before the truck is on a ship, and think about where it will live at work too. Our guide to left-hand drive cars in the UK covers the everyday side of driving from the "wrong" seat.

Which F-150, and what it means

The build date decides the test and the tax. Here is how the trucks people usually ask about fall, worked out from today, 12 October 2026.

The aluminium-bodied generation that started with the 2015 model year straddles the 10-year line, so check the build date on the door label. Anything from the current generation, sold from the 2021 model year, needs an IVA test. That includes the Raptor and the electric Lightning.

Weight and plating

This is the number that matters most. The gross vehicle weight on the truck's certification label, the most it is allowed to weigh fully loaded, decides which test it takes and which licence you need to drive it.

The light vehicle IVA covers trucks up to 3,500kg, and a category B car licence stops at the same figure. Many F-150s sit under it, but the heavier versions are the ones to check, and the label is the only answer that counts. Above the line, a truck is treated as a heavy goods vehicle, with its own approval route, annual test and licence.

Car or light goods vehicle?

Once it is here, how the truck is classed affects what you pay each year. Vehicle tax follows how the DVLA classes it. GOV.UK lists a flat yearly rate for light goods vehicles registered since March 2001 and up to 3,500kg, which is £360 for 12 months at the time of writing.

Company car tax is a separate question. From 6 April 2025, HMRC treats most double cab pickups as cars for benefit in kind, whatever their payload. If a business will own the truck, speak to your accountant before you buy. Our guide to importing a pickup truck goes into both sides, and road tax for imported cars covers how the yearly tax is set.

What to check before you buy

Modifications matter on a newer truck because they are looked at during the IVA test, so tell us about them early. For buying in general, see buying a car abroad safely, and if the truck is at auction, read buying a car from a US auction first.

IVA for newer trucks

An F-150 under 10 years old needs UK approval before it can be registered. American trucks were never built for the European market, so that usually means an IVA test. We run one of only seven privately operated IVA centres in Great Britain, so the truck is prepared and tested on our own lane in Castle Donington. There is more in the IVA test explained.

Lights and speedo

The DVLA registers left-hand drive vehicles without the steering being moved, so the work is mostly lighting. A US truck usually needs amber rear indicators, as many flash red at the back, side markers at the front of the doors, a rear fog light, and headlights adjusted or replaced for driving on the left. The speedometer already reads in mph.

We do this on site before the test. Our guide to converting an American car for UK roads goes through each change.

Container or RoRo

From the USA, trucks go by shared container or RoRo. RoRo is generally a little quicker, but the truck has to run and drive and should be empty. A container keeps it sealed the whole way and comes straight to our site to be unloaded by our own team. Whether an F-150 goes in a container depends on its exact size, so give us the cab, bed length and real height, including any lift or roof rack. Our guide to container, RoRo or air compares the options.

As a guide, built from a year of real jobs, shipping a car from the USA starts from £1,450, shipping only. A full-size truck takes far more room than a typical car and is priced that way, so expect a quote above that figure. We ship mainly from New York, Savannah, Houston and Oakland. East Coast sailings take around 2 weeks and West Coast around 4, with about 2 weeks before that for paperwork and loading.

Import tax

An F-150 from the USA pays 10% import duty and 20% import VAT, worked out on the price plus the shipping, with the VAT charged on top of the duty. A truck over 30 years old that qualifies as historic pays 5% VAT and no duty instead. If you are moving here and qualify for Transfer of Residence, there may be no tax at all. The import tax calculator will run your numbers.

ULEZ and clean air zones

Most F-150s are petrol, and the ULEZ asks for Euro 4 on a petrol vehicle. The catch is that American trucks were never given a Euro rating, and TfL goes on declared emissions, not age. A newer petrol truck may well meet the standard, but you need evidence, such as a manufacturer letter or an emissions certificate from an independent test centre. Our guide to ULEZ and imported cars explains how to get it.

Questions people ask

Found your F-150? Send us the listing and a photo of the door label on the quote form and we will price it all the way to UK plates.