Average cost of shipping a car overseas

It’s not a very common practice to apply for the shipping a car overseas costs. Many people prefer to sell their own vehicle and to purchase a new one at the final destination than to spend thousands of dollars for the delivery of the car across the whole world.

But in some cases, there is no choice than to accept even a too high car shipping overseas cost. For example, if the car is too rare and exotic or if it has a high value for the owner. Moreover, selling a car can take a while and it can be much faster to arrange the transportation to the destination place with the assistance of one of the numerous international carriers.

Average shipping car overseas cost

First of all, there are two main ways to deliver the car from the United States abroad. Actually, even three, if to take into account Canada and Brazil.

1. Truck. Despite the fact that the United States is separated from the majority of other countries, there are still some cases when you can easily arrange the transportation of your vehicle via standard truck. The price in this case will be much more attractive for the owner while the whole process of the delivery may take a shorter period of time. The main point to consider if we are talking about international truck transportation is that the carrier should be reliable and experienced enough to know about all the restrictions and customs laws both of the original country and the destination. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time researching the appropriate documents you will need to provide at the border, you should better check the reviews of the transporter to make sure the whole transportation process will be smooth and, what is even more important, 100 percent legal.
2. Ship. This is the most common transport which provides a pretty much adequate overseas car shipping cost. On average, you can expect to pay at least 1,000 dollars for this method of the car’s transportation but depending on the particular route and the details of the delivery the price can raise up to 5,000 dollars. Of course, this huge sum can essentially affect the decision of transporting the car abroad.
3. Air Freight. This method of the delivery is more common among the collectors of really valuable and expensive cars as the cost of shipping a car overseas in this case is up to 40,000 dollars. Additionally, there are strong limitations in regards to the vehicles’ weight and size and not every car can be transported like this even if you are ready to pay at least 5,000 dollars for the delivery. Plus, there are not so many international companies which are dealing with this type of transportation, and where we don’t have enough competition, you can find less flexible prices of the service’s providers.

Factors of the price

The cost of car shipping overseas depends not only on the method of the transportation. Actually, there are a few main factors you need to consider before making a decision.

1. Vehicle’s type. When you see the prices online or in some advertisements, you need to know that these quotes are for the basic vehicles like sedans. With every additional pound or inch, you can expect the quote will rise. Especially in case of the heavy trucks or other equipment you may need to deliver. As was mentioned, in the overwhelming majority of cases we are talking about sports and classic cars which are pretty compact and not that heave. On the other hand, you as an owner may request extra care of such a car on the way, which can lead to some extra fees to the driver.
2. Estimated delivery time. Obviously, the cost for shipping a car overseas is affected by the period you agree to wait for its delivery. Thus, normally shipping by an ocean transport may take up to 12 weeks, and not every car’s owner can afford to wait for so long. As soon as you are willing to cut the estimated waiting time, you need to be ready to essentially increase the shipping a car overseas cost. In some cases, we are talking about even making the quote double higher. Considering the high price of the delivery on its own, it can cause really huge expenses from your side. Moreover, in comparison with the auto transportation companies, even expedited delivery service does not mean that your car will be delivered within 1-2 days. No one will send a ship only with your car on the board, so anyway you will need to wait for a while.
3. Final destination. The most common way of the delivery is port-to-port as the shipping cars overseas cost in this case is not complex and includes only direct expenses. But in the overwhelming majority of cases the real locations you need to pick your car up and to drop it off can be very remote from the seaside. In this case you can also apply for the transportation service directly to your home (or any other destination you are interested in). Therefore, the original cost of shipping car overseas will be adjusted. But the money in this case is not the main point of interest – it can be quite difficult to find a transportation company in another country. And even if you do find it, it’s always quite risky to trust the carrier you have never heard about. Some American international transportation companies provide the service of the port-to-door delivery, so it’s always better to arrange the whole process through the same part. Especially if the destinations are pretty far away from the ports.
4. Method of the delivery. With the only exception of air freight delivery, car’s transportation can be of two main types. The first method – open transportation – means that your vehicle will be placed onto the open-framed platform. In case of ocean transport, it’s most commonly known as Roll-on/Roll-off. This method is much cheaper but you need to be ready that your vehicle will be affected by all the environmental changes. And when we are talking about such long trips, the consequences can be very essential. Enclosed methods of transportation can double the cost of shipping cars overseas but you will be sure your car is fully protected. While the truck delivery in enclosed transport means your car will be placed inside the trailer, shipping the car overseas means the usage of a special container. You just will need to check with the carrier if your car will share the container with other vehicles or if you can choose a separate one. In the last case, you can also expect to arrange the delivery of your personal belongings and even heavy and massive furniture together with your car (otherwise, all personal belongings are forbidden to place inside the transporting vehicle).
5. Insurance. This is a very crucial part of the deal, and you definitely should not try to save some money with the cheapest insurance. Actually, it’s not a very essential part of the shipping cost for cars overseas but it will definitely help you to feel more confident about the delivery process. While in the transportation industry within the country the insurance is normally already included into the basic quote, every international carrier may have different rules and conditions of the deal, so you need to make sure there is insurance and that the coverage is enough for the value of your car. Of course, the accidents are very rare in this case, but considering the type of the car most people need to deliver overseas, such measures will definitely not be redundant.