Buyers ask us for a landed-cost breakdown on nearly every inquiry, and the fastest way to explain it is to walk through one complete example from start to finish, with every number shown. Below is the exact formula we use, applied to a single illustrative vehicle, so you can see where each dollar in the final total comes from.

The Formula

Total Landed Cost = FOB price + freight + insurance + import duty + VAT + clearance, where CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight) = FOB + freight + insurance, duty is calculated on CIF, and VAT is calculated on CIF plus duty. Freight and clearance are fixed costs we apply per shipment; insurance, duty, and VAT are percentage-based and depend on the vehicle's FOB price and the destination country's rates.

Worked Example: $25,000 FOB Vehicle

For this example we're using an indicative FOB price of $25,000, a 20% import duty rate, and a 15% VAT rate. These duty and VAT rates are illustrative only - they are not a specific country's actual rates - chosen simply to show how the formula flows from one line to the next. Your actual duty and VAT rates depend entirely on your destination country; see our market-specific duty guides for real rates in your country before budgeting an order.

  • Step 1 - FOB price: $25,000. This is the vehicle's factory export price before any shipping, insurance, or destination-country costs are added.
  • Step 2 - Freight: $1,450 fixed. This is our standard fixed ocean freight cost per unit, applied regardless of destination.
  • Step 3 - Insurance: 1.1% of FOB = $25,000 x 0.011 = $275. Marine cargo insurance is calculated as a percentage of the vehicle's FOB value.
  • Step 4 - CIF value: FOB + freight + insurance = $25,000 + $1,450 + $275 = $26,725. CIF is the customs-recognized value your destination country will use as the base for calculating duty.
  • Step 5 - Import duty: illustrative 20% of CIF = $26,725 x 0.20 = $5,345. Duty is charged by the destination country's customs authority on the CIF value, not on the FOB price alone - this is why freight and insurance indirectly increase your duty bill too.
  • Step 6 - VAT base: CIF + duty = $26,725 + $5,345 = $32,070. Most countries calculate VAT (or an equivalent import/sales tax) on the CIF value plus the duty already charged, not on CIF alone.
  • Step 7 - VAT: illustrative 15% of $32,070 = $4,810.50. This is the destination-country tax charged on top of the duty-inclusive value.
  • Step 8 - Clearance: $650 fixed. This covers our standard customs clearance and documentation handling fee per unit.
  • Step 9 - Total Landed Cost: $25,000 + $1,450 + $275 + $5,345 + $4,810.50 + $650 = $37,530.50.

What Each Line Actually Means for Your Budget

The FOB price is the number most buyers focus on first, but as this example shows, it's only about two-thirds of the final landed cost once duty and VAT are added - duty and VAT together added over $10,000 to a $25,000 vehicle in this illustration, more than the freight, insurance, and clearance combined. That's the main reason we always push buyers toward a full landed-cost calculation before comparing BYD export prices to other sourcing options: comparing FOB prices alone systematically understates the real cost difference once destination-country charges are included.

Freight and clearance are fixed per unit in our pricing, so they scale down as a percentage of total cost on higher-value vehicles and up as a percentage on lower-value ones - this is worth remembering when comparing landed cost across different BYD models. Insurance, by contrast, always scales with FOB price at a fixed 1.1%, so it moves proportionally regardless of which model you're ordering.

Duty and VAT are where the real variation between destination countries shows up. A country with a 10% duty rate and a 12% VAT rate will produce a meaningfully lower landed cost on the same $25,000 FOB vehicle than the 20%/15% rates used in this illustration; a country with higher rates will produce a higher one. Because these two lines compound - VAT is charged on CIF plus duty, not on CIF alone - even a few percentage points of difference in either rate can shift the total by well over a thousand dollars on a single vehicle.

Applying This to Your Own Order

To run this calculation for your own order, you need three inputs specific to your situation: the FOB price of the model and trim you're ordering, and your destination country's import duty rate and VAT (or equivalent tax) rate for imported passenger vehicles. Freight ($1,450), insurance (1.1% of FOB), and clearance ($650) stay constant across destinations in our pricing, so once you have your country's duty and VAT rates, you can run the same nine steps shown above with your own numbers.

We publish market-specific duty and VAT guidance for the destinations we ship to most often, and we calculate the exact landed cost for your specific model, trim, and destination country as part of every formal quote - so you're never working from an illustrative rate when it's time to place an order.

BYD Global Export is an independent export trading company and is not an authorized dealer or representative of BYD Auto Co., Ltd.

Message us on WhatsApp with your target model and destination country, and we'll run the full landed-cost calculation with your market's actual duty and VAT rates.