Documents You Need to Export a Vehicle from the USA (Complete Checklist)

The 4 core documents every export needs

Exporting a vehicle from the United States is a document-driven process. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not physically inspect most outbound cars — it inspects paperwork. If the paperwork is complete and consistent, your vehicle loads on schedule; if anything is missing or mismatched, it sits at the port accruing storage fees while the next sailing leaves without it. The good news: for most shipments, only four documents matter.

• Original Certificate of Title — the single most important document. CBP requires the original (or a certified copy, depending on port practice) before any self-propelled vehicle can leave the country. Photocopies and scans are not accepted for the export hold.
• Bill of sale or commercial invoice — proves the transaction and declares the vehicle's value. For auction cars, the auction invoice (Copart, IAAI, Manheim) works. The declared value drives the AES filing and the import duty calculation at destination, so it must match the sale documents.
• Government-issued ID or passport copy — identifies the exporter on the AES filing and the bill of lading. Foreign buyers use a passport; U.S. exporters can use a driver's license plus EIN or SSN, depending on how the export is filed.
• Packing list — only required if you load personal items or spare parts inside the vehicle. Every box must be itemized; undeclared goods found at inspection can hold the entire container, not just your car.

Title types: what each one means for export

Almost any title type can leave the United States — CBP cares that the title is genuine and matches the vehicle, not whether it is clean or salvage. What changes by title type is what happens at the destination: whether the car can be registered for road use, and under what conditions. Check the rules of your destination country before you buy, not after.

The 72-hour rule: how CBP clears your title

Under 19 CFR 192, U.S. Customs and Border Protection must receive the vehicle's original Certificate of Title — or a certified copy, where the port director accepts one — at least 72 working hours before the vehicle is loaded on the vessel. Weekends and federal holidays do not count, so in practice the title needs to be at the port the week before sailing. The export hold is processed at the port of departure by the port director's office, and your freight forwarder submits the title on your behalf along with the export paperwork.

During the 72-hour hold, CBP verifies one thing above all: that the Vehicle Identification Number on the title matches the VIN stamped on the car, character for character. Once the hold clears, the vehicle is approved for loading and the title travels back to you inside the destination document pack. Plan the title's journey early — if the auction mails it slowly or it gets lost, the 72-hour clock cannot even start.

AES filing: the electronic export declaration

Every used self-propelled vehicle leaving the United States requires Electronic Export Information (EEI) filed through AESDirect, the government's online export system, regardless of value. The filing reports who is exporting, what the vehicle is, its value, and where it is going. As a licensed forwarder, Seaway Export files AES for every vehicle we ship — here is what happens behind the scenes.

1. 1

   We collect the export data

   VIN, year, make, model, declared value from the invoice, exporter identification, and destination country — all pulled from the documents you already provided. No extra forms for you to fill out.

2. 2

   We file the EEI in AESDirect

   The filing must be accepted before the vehicle loads. The system validates the data against Census and CBP rules and flags errors immediately, so problems surface days before sailing — not at the dock.

3. 3

   AES returns an ITN number

   The Internal Transaction Number is the government's proof of filing. It is printed on the bill of lading and dock receipt; the carrier will not load a used vehicle without it.

4. 4

   The ITN links your whole file together

   CBP matches the ITN, the title on hold, and the manifest before releasing the vehicle for loading. When all three agree, the export clears — typically without you ever interacting with a government office.

What the destination side will ask for

Clearing U.S. export is only half the paper trail. At the destination port, the customs broker — ours or yours — needs the original bill of lading, the vehicle title, and the commercial invoice to start import clearance. These three travel in the document pack we courier or release electronically once the vessel sails, and the values on them must match the AES filing exactly.

On top of the universal three, some countries add their own layer: consularized or apostilled documents (common in parts of the Middle East and Latin America), an import permit issued before the vehicle ships (Egypt, Algeria, and others), or a pre-shipment inspection certificate from agencies like SGS or Bureau Veritas (several African destinations). These requirements are country-specific and change — our destination guides list the current document set for each of the 105 countries we serve, and we confirm the list for your lane before booking.