Are you planning on shipping a car to another country anytime soon? Well, brush up on your international car shipping facts with us here at Ship Overseas. We bring decades of experience ensuring seamless car and other vehicle shipments to countries all over the world, shipping 200 cars a month to nearly 400 destination ports.
Here are four things you should know about the process of international car shipments:
1.   No car can leave the USA if it has a lien
Essentially, your car must be paid in full. The only approved parties who can ship a car overseas and still carry a lien on the car are U.S. military and government employees and contractors. In those cases, a letter of authorization from the lender must be issued in order to pass U.S. Customs, or the car may be considered stolen.
2.   There are three main ways to ship your car
RoRo Shipping: RoRo ships are built for shipping wheeled cargo, such as cars and motorcycles. It’s called RoRo for roll-on, roll-off, meaning the vehicles are driven on to the ship via a ramp.
Once loaded on the RoRo vessel, each vehicle is tied down securely in its designated spot, a highly efficient and very cost-effective method. Unlike container shipping, RoRo shipping has reliable departure and arrival dates. All vehicles are tied down below deck for the best protection against the weather and elements.
Container Shipping: Select from shared container shipping or exclusive container shipping. Shared container shipping is when multiple vehicles are loaded into a container at a warehouse. However, in order to leave the warehouse for departure, the container must be completely filled with vehicles, so the departure dates are not fixed like with RoRo. Shipping costs are split among the vehicles loaded into the container, so this is the most cost-effective method.
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Exclusive Container Shipping is when a vehicle is shipped in its own container without having to share the container with other vehicles. You get fixed departure schedules because you don’t have to wait for the whole container to be filled. But you’ll pay the most with exclusive container shipping.
3.   We ship many types of vehicles
Our car shipment services include:
- Sedans
- Exotic cars
- Classic cars
- Heavy duty trucks
- Pickup trucks
- Passenger and cargo vans
- SUVs and crossovers
- RVs
- Motorhomes
Please note: import duty for all vehicles is NOT collected by Ship Overseas. You must pay it at the arrival port by whomever is picking up the vehicle.
4.   We can pick up your car or you can bring it to us
If you can’t get to the departure port yourself, we can do it for you. Basically, we will pick up your car at your front door and ship it to any country, a method called door-to-port. Or, you may take your car to the port yourself and we will ship it to your destination port, a method called port-to-port. You will save money by taking your car to the shipping docks yourself, but the convenience of door pickup can’t be beat.
Obtain your free quote with Ship Overseas now and see how easy it is to ship your car to another country.