Welcome to our shipping guide where we have put together items to consider when shipping your car, it is quite important to go through and understand these areas allowing you to have a hassle free experience and avoid any unexpected costs when shipping your car.
Dealing with the right shipping company is extremely important as you want to ensure that your vehicle is being shipped by a company who is reputable, established and where your money will be safe. Things to look out for include:-
- It is important to know how long a company has been in business for, with the internet it has become easy to find information on companies including who the directors are and when the company was established. Please go see https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/
- Go to Google Maps > Street View and type in their post code. This will allow you to see whether where the company claims they are operating from is true or false.
- Being members of BIFA or any other freight forwarding association allows you to also have more credibility as a business. There are often various requirements to be met before they allow membership.
Knowing the right method of shipment is important, while majority of cars are shipped around the world on RoRo vessels where cars are driven on and off the ship – we are now seeing an increase in container shipments.
RoRo Vehicle Shipping: Generally cost effective in terms of shipping costs as well as costs at destination. Cars are driven on and off the ship and therefore are handled by multiple parties along the chain. This sometimes is seen as not being the safest method however the operators are trained and this is the most popular method of shipping cars. Cars are stowed under deck and more often then not this is a large parking lot floating in the sea.
Container Vehicle Shipping: This is a very secure form of shipment as the vehicle is driven into the container and the container is then opened up at destination. This leads to very minimal handling as well as being a very secure way of car shipment. Often a bit more expensive however highly recommended for shipping high value cars.
Air Freight: Extremely quick way of shipping vehicles however equally expensive. Not the most popular method of shipment however is used often when it involved high value cars.
Different destinations have different regulations, therefore it is critical that you get your documents right. We are always happy to guide you on documentation as well as arrange this for you.
Certain countries have pre-shipment requirements where an inspection must be done prior to shipment of the vehicle and the certificate would be needed for clearance of the vehicle at destination.
From a vehicle export perspective, we require a filled booking form, an invoice copy and the vehicles UK logbook for ease of shipment.
Do not ship a car without knowing the import tax you will have to pay, it is really important to understand the tax structure for the country you are shipping to. Different countries have different taxes with some being almost the same amount as the cars purchase price.
It is really important that you know the tax you will need to pay, hence spend enough time finding this information.
The right agent at destination makes or breaks the whole process, it is critical that you engage at least two or three agents to be able to filter our the right agent for your import.
When selecting an agent, the cheapest of often not the best and it will bring you a lot of headache. Instead go for a reputable agent who gives you comfort and can demonstrate that they know the process well and have the experience of dealing in vehicle imports.