If you wish to take your car to the overseas country you’re moving to, then there are many important things you must be aware of first.
Shipping a vehicle overseas is a fairly complicated task. Luckily, an experienced international car shipping company will take care of all the details for you.
Follow this guide on how to ship a car overseas to understand your role in the entire international vehicle shipping process.
There are many reasons why you may be moving to another country – work, education, love, retirement, etc. Regardless of whether your international move is temporary or permanent, you may want to bring your car with you to the destination country.
Despite the fact that your international shipping company will take care of almost everything for you, you must understand exactly what your role will be in the car shipping process.
After all, shipping a vehicle internationally is a fairly complex operation that requires good planning and meticulous preparation.
This complete guide on how to ship your car overseas will break down the entire international vehicle shipping process and will give you all the important information you will need to know.
Ship your car overseas or buy a new one in the new country?
You’re moving to another country, so the big question is whether or not you want to bring your car with you.
Now, the decision whether to ship your car overseas or not must be an informed one – that is, one that you’ve reached after analyzing carefully your specific situation.
1. Sentimental value
Are you sentimentally attached to your car? If yes, how much?
Does your car have a lot of family history and great memories to look back on?
Is your car a specific make and model that you can’t buy in another country?
On the other side, you’ll also need to look at the practical side of your decision as well.
2. Time
Will you have enough time to sell your car during the hassle of the moving preparations?
Selling your vehicle urgently may force you to sacrifice its sales value.
Once you find yourself in the new country, will you have enough time, local knowledge (language, customs), and resources to shop for a new car?
3. Shipping cost
If your car is relatively new and in good condition, it might be worth shipping it to another country.
However, the cost of shipping your car overseas starts at about $700 and may reach $4,000 depending on a number of factors (see below).
How much will a new car cost in the foreign country?
Do the math and see what the initial calculations show.
4. Storage
Do you have a place to store your current car while you’re away?
If you need to pay for parking and storing your vehicle for the duration of your absence, then leaving your car behind may not be cost-effective at all.
On the other hand, if you have a good friend or a family member who can take care of your car while you’re gone, then it may be worth it to leave it behind, purchase a new car in the foreign country, and then try to sell it before you head back.
5. Car maintenance costs
Your specific car may be too difficult or too expensive to maintain in the country you’re moving to.
What if it breaks down while you’re there?
Be mindful that repair and replacement parts for a car manufactured in the United States may be pricey or hard to come by.
6. Duration of your overseas stay
Your decision whether to ship your car internationally or not will greatly depend on how long you plan to stay overseas.
If you do plan to stay in the new country indefinitely, then taking your car with you is a good option because you may not be able to find the same car model abroad, especially if you like it a lot.
Besides, you’ll have the comfort of driving your own car right after the move – that is, something familiar to cling to.
On the other hand, if you only plan to stay only a few months abroad, then it may be better to leave your vehicle behind with a friend or a family member.
In case your final decision is to ship your car to the country you’re moving to, then one thing is crystal clear: you’re going to need to find a reputable and experienced international car shipping service provider.
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How to find the best international car shipping company
Before your car can be shipped overseas, it will first need to be transported safely to one of the major U.S. seaports.
Once you’ve made the crucial decision that you’re bringing your car with you to the new country, then the very next step is to find one of the best international car shipping companies near you.
It’s very impossible to ship your car internationally by yourself, so hiring the services of an experienced and top-rated international auto shipper is a must-do task.
Here are the simple steps to finding a great company that offers international car shipping services:
Step 2. Get contacted by reputable and experienced auto car shippers that have many years of experience in international vehicle transport. All international auto transporters in our database have been pre-screened and properly licensed by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC).
Step 3. Request international car shipping quotes from each vehicle shipper so that you can actually compare those quotes individually.
Step 4. Compare the car shipping estimates carefully in terms of overall price, rates of the separate car transportation services, and car shipping conditions.
Step 5. Access our database of international auto shipping companies (state-by-state) and read customer reviews of the companies you’re reviewing. In reality, the international car shipping reviews will tell you a lot about the experience and professionalism of the auto shippers.
Step 6. Pick the best international car shipping company – the one that has offered the most reasonable rates, the one that has presented you with the optimal vehicle shipping conditions, and the one that has a predominant number of positive reviews left by former customers.
Of course, you must be very interested in learning about the cost of transporting a car overseas. In reality, that price will help you decide if it’ll be worth it to ship your car to another country at all.
The truth is that the best way to know how much it costs to ship a car overseas is to request international car shipping quotes from the best international auto shipping companies in the country.
In some cases, it may turn out to be more economical and reasonable to either buy a new car from the destination country or not to use a car at all – applicable to cities with a well-developed public transport network.
It’s important to know that the cost of shipping a car overseas will vary depending on several crucial factors:
Factor 1. Distance from your home to a major seaport
If you want to ship your vehicle overseas but you live far from a sea terminal, then you can hire a local auto shipper to transport your car from your home to the nearest shipping dock. Even better, you can have the overseas shipper take care of that task for you.
The price to have your car shipped to a marine terminal (truck transport) will depend on your specific location in the country and can start from a few hundred dollars if you live close to a shipping dock up to $1,000, or even more if you live in a Midwest state, for example.
Large or oversized vehicles will cost more to transport from a U.S. state to a terminal (appr. $150-$250).
Do you think your car will get seasick during the sea voyage?
For your information, U.S. auto movers ship cars from several locations (the so-called ports of origin) in the country:
Los Angeles and San Francisco (California),
Miami and Jacksonville (Florida);
New York City (New York);
Norfolk (Virginia);
Charleston (South Carolina);
Wilmington (Delaware) and
Baltimore (Maryland).
Factor 2. Distance to the destination country
One of the factors that will greatly influence the international car shipping cost is the distance to the foreign country. That’s easy to guess, of course.
In general, the vehicle shipping costs start at around $700 and can reach $4,000, or more depending on the specific circumstances.
The greater the distance, the higher the transportation cost, of course.
For example, shipping a car from the United States to Europe starts at around $700 for a small car and can go to around $2,000 for a full-sized SUV.
Also, shipping a vehicle from the U.S. to Australia will cost around $3,000.
Factor 3. Overseas destination taxes and charges
Take into consideration the import duties and taxes, as well as the unloading and delivery fees in the destination country – your auto shipper should provide you with that crucial information.
The average overseas destination charges are approximately $550 per vehicle (again, they will vary from country to country) and are not usually included in the shipping cost.
Factor 4. International car shipping insurance
You’re going to need to purchase insurance for the car you’re shipping to another country.
In the majority of cases, the international auto transporter you have hired will be able to offer you insurance for shipping a car overseas either through their own insurance program or through an insurance company they work with.
International car shipping insurance costs around 1.5%-2.5% of the estimated value of the vehicle: about $300-$500 for a car valued at $20,000, or about $450-$750 for a car valued at $30,000.
Factor 5. Size, weight, and condition of your car
As you can expect, the size and the weight of your vehicle will also influence the international car shipping cost.
Also, if your car happens to be non-operational and cannot run by itself for some reason or another, you will be charged extra for the subsequent loading and unloading difficulties.
What documents will you need to ship your car overseas?
Shipping a car overseas requires an excessive amount of paperwork. Luckily, your international car shipper will help you with that task as well.
The process of shipping a vehicle internationally involves a lot of paperwork.
Luckily, the international car shipping company you’ve chosen as your partner will take care of that for you: they will gather the required documents and process them through the customs offices.
When it comes to shipping cars abroad, your international auto shipper will request the following documents from you, so make sure you’ve got them ready:
The original Certificate of Title of your car and two copies of the notarized title.
The Bill of Sale or a notarized Bill of sale (depends on the port of origin);
The original Certificate of Origin if you’ve purchased your vehicle brand new;
A Shipper Export Declaration;
A Declaration of Dangerous Goods;
A copy of your U.S. passport.
There are also a number of other additional documentation and forms that may be required by a specific maritime port or destination country. For your information, notaries usually charge approximately $10 per signature.
IMPORTANT: To speed up the shipping process, contact your overseas car shipper and ask them exactly what type of documentation you are expected to present, and then send those documents to the company as soon as you can.
There are three methods for shipping cars overseas: Roll On, Roll Off (RORO), Shipping Containers, and Air Freight.
The first two international auto shipping methods will mean that your car will be loaded onto a ship and carried across the ocean on a freight ship.
The third method will involve flying your car overseas in a cargo aircraft (aka freight aircraft).
Let’s take a closer look at these three methods of shipping cars overseas:
1. Roll On, Roll Off (RORO)
This is the cheapest way to ship a car overseas – your vehicle is driven onto a ship as if the deck or the hold of the cargo vessel were a large parking lot.
Then, your vehicle is secured and immobilized with the help of ratchet straps, clamps, and other specialized fixing devices.
Remember that no extra items should be left in your car: 1) for safety reasons and 2) for avoiding additional customs charges and inspections in different countries.
Also, your car should be in good condition and properly serviced – otherwise, you will be charged extra if your vehicle doesn’t run and needs to be towed.
RORO may be the cheapest way to ship a car overseas but the shipping method is far from being the best one. The reason?
Having your car in the open, exposed to the mercy of the weather and the elements, won’t likely give you the peace of mind that your prized vehicle is being shipped safely to the new country.
And this is why shipping a car overseas in a shipping container is still the most popular way to go.
2. Car shipping containers
Shipping containers are the most common method of transporting a car overseas.
Without a doubt, the most common way of shipping a car overseas is in a shipping container.
It usually costs more than the Roll On, Roll Off shipping method but it provides much greater safety simply because your car will be 100% protected inside a metal container through the entire journey over the ocean.
To cut the transatlantic or transpacific shipping costs, you can opt for a shared storage container with another vehicle or vehicles.
Ask your international auto shipping company whether you can take advantage of the 40ft shared container option to lower the transportation costs or whether your car will be shipped in a sole 20ft container.
3. Air freight
Of course, there’s also the option of having your car transported on the board of a freight aircraft but that way of shipping a car to another country costs a fortune – often more than the worth of the vehicle itself.
This is why for the majority of people who don’t own rare, exotic, or classic cars, shipping a car by air won’t even be in the vicinity of being worth the shipping costs.
If you can afford this car transportation method and you’re positive that it’s worth the cost, then you should know that shipping a car internationally by air freight is the safest method of them all.
There will be very little handling of your valuable car other than the standard loading and unloading operations, and the speed with which it will reach the destination country will be unbeatable – a few days compared to the few weeks when transported on board a ship.
Above all else, your car will need to be ready for pick up by your overseas auto shipper or the car transportation company that will transport your vehicle only to the maritime terminal.
Follow these steps to prepare your car for international shipping:
Step 1. Have your car checked up and serviced at an authorized service garage to make sure it’ll be in good technical condition during the overseas trip.
Step 2. Remove all personal belongings from the inside of your car. You’re only allowed to leave a child seat inside and the standard car equipment: spare tire, emergency kit, hand tools, jack, etc. You must not remove the license plates.
Step 3. Clean your vehicle on the inside.
Step 4. Take down any exterior car accessories that can be removed such as antennas, spoilers, roof racks, etc.
Step 5. Inspect carefully your car exterior and take high-resolution photos of your car’s current condition in case any damage signs of damage occur during the shipping process. Take close-up shots of any pre-existing damage – scratches, paint chips, dents, etc.
Step 6. Wash the exterior of your vehicle.
Step 7. Make sure your car battery is charged and well-secured.
Step 8. Check the pressure of the tires.
Step 9. Make sure the emergency brake functions properly.
Step 10. No more than 1/4 of fuel should be left in the tank.
Step 11. Disable or remove, if possible, the alarm system of your vehicle.
Step 12. Prepare an extra set of your car keys because your international car shipping company will want you to give them one set.
We have a super-detailed car shipping checklist to prepare your car for shipping to another state (within the U.S.). In reality, feel free to use it when you’re preparing your car for international shipping too.
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