Car Shipping – International Car Shipping

First of all, you want to prepare your vehicle for international car shipping. It requires cleaning up any dirt and removing any personal items, accessories or tools that are valuable to you, as well as leaving less than 1/8 of fuel in the tank. (I highly recommend shipping your car completely empty to avoid problems with shipping companies.)

Once you have compared the shipping quotes and selected a company to move your car, you must deliver it to the cargo warehouse or directly to the sea port. If you are not too far from a major sea port or a large city, you can leave your car yourself. In another case, you can hire any of the car transporters to do the job for you. Be sure to pay for door-to-door delivery and note that the end point is an export sea terminal or cargo warehouse for foreign carriers. When it comes to export shipments, many of the carriers do not want to bring the cars to ports due to congestion, long waiting lines, and new TWIC card requirements. Ask your overseas shipper if they can provide delivery, as almost everyone has their preferred vehicle transport companies.

Mandatory documents for international car shipping
*** Make sure you have your vehicle’s original clean title on hand. By “original” I mean it must be the literal paper title provided by your state’s DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). By “clean” I mean that you should not have unsatisfied bonds from the bank, credit union, or any other financier. It is a prerequisite issued by US Customs that all motorized vehicles must be authorized for export 72 business hours prior to the ship’s departure date.

Option n. 1: Shipment of vehicles in sea container
*** Overseas car carriers can generally provide you with two alternatives to take your car to another country: ocean container shipping or roll-on roll-off shipping. If you select the ocean container option, then the foreign carrier will load and tie up your car inside the ocean container, probably with other cargo or cars. This is a reliable and low-budget method because the shipping company will only bill you for the space your vehicle is occupying within the container. Another positive moment is that the container will be locked and sealed during the entire trip abroad.

Option n. 2: Shipment of vehicles through a Roll-on Roll-off conveyor
*** With roll-on roll-off (RO-RO) shipping abroad, it will be necessary to take your car directly to the port and then secure it inside the special vehicle transport ship. What it implies is that the port stevedores will take you to the ship at the point of origin and then remove you from the ship at the point of destination. Your car will not be placed inside a locked container and is open for anyone to enter (usually when personal items and accessories are missing). Ro-Ro routes are also restricted in country coverage, so depending on your origin and destination, this option may not be available for your country. Another note is that ports will not admit non-operable vehicles for roll-on roll-off transportation service.

A few days after the ship sets sail, your international auto transport company will return the original title to you along with your transportation bill of lading and instructions on how to claim your vehicle at the place of arrival. It is always safe to contact the overseas port agent beforehand to reconfirm your estimated arrival dates and to get the documentation handled to speed up the process of unloading and handing over your car.