International shipping for cars
There are a great number of reasons when you may need to apply for the international car shipping service. Moving to another country together with all your family can request your vehicle to be delivered separately while you are taking a plane. The popularity of eBay across the world made it a great source for purchases, including cars and motorcycles. Or maybe you just want to make a gift to your relatives living in another part of the world? Today international shipping for cars has become that popular that it will be easy to arrange regardless of the particular details and requirements you may have.
Basic information
Just a couple of decades ago it could be pretty challenging to arrange the international shipping of cars. Today transportation companies can easily arrange it regardless of the size and the weight of your vehicle. Of course, the price for such a service can be quite high, but even in this regard there are some additional options and possibilities.
For example, which is a more common practice for the cars’ dealers, multiplying cars will cause a significant discount. That is one of the reasons why the buyers abroad should discuss with the seller the most appropriate dates for the delivery which can lead to a cheaper price (in comparison with the situation of the urgent delivery when the dealer will pay only for your single car transportation).
One more important detail in regards to the car shipping company for international delivery is that you need to make sure the pick up and drop off will occur at the desirable destinations. And it’s not so easy from some point. For many years such a transportation was possible from port to port meaning you as a buyer had to think of the ways to deliver the car to and from these ports. Nowadays the situation is slightly different but it still can include some hidden difficulties. For example, if you are choosing an international cars’ shipping company of the final destination, most probably the delivery will be possible only from the port in the USA and you will have to agree with the sender about the car’s delivery to this port. On the other hand, dealing with American companies will provide you with the possibility of picking up the car directly from eBay office, for example, or from any point you are requiring. It’s a very convenient feature which can save you a lot of money. What concerns the final destination, international shipping of a car usually ends at some big cities and usually not too far from the seaside.
One more distinguishing feature, which can also affect the international car shipping cost, is the paperwork. You should understand that the delivery from one country to another will require a lot of special documents, and most probably for you as a buyer or a client these documents will be a very confusing part of the deal. That is why you need to make sure the international car shipping company you are dealing with will take the responsibility for preparing and providing all the necessary papers at the borders.
Marine insurance is also an important document the transportation company should provide you with. And it’s essential that the coverage of the insurance will be applicable during all the routes which sometimes mean a couple of counties.
When considering the shipping car internationally cost, it can significantly depend on the type of the car to be delivered. Normally, all the vehicles can be divided into the following groups with different price policy:
- Sports, luxury, race cars;
- Classic and antique cars;
- Limousines, hearses;
- Standard passenger cars (sedans, SUVs, minivans etc.);
- Motorcycles, snowmobiles;
- Others.
Specific features
Of course, we are rarely facing the necessity to deliver the vehicle overseas, that is why it’s pretty difficult to have a full understanding of the whole process. As a customer, you can check the different offers and international car shipping costs, but what concerns the particular way of the delivery, it can be quite a challenge. For example, you might not have an idea about the R-Rak shipping definition (which is a revolutionary way of loading the car inside the container and which can save a great amount of money for the customers). Normally, the car is placed in a pretty big container which can accommodate about 4-5 standard vehicles. For an extra fee (in some cases a pretty essential for the budget) you can arrange your can to be placed in the separate container.
That is why in regards to the international delivery it’s even more important to use the reviews and the ratings of the company. There are a lot of other people who faced the same situation as you are, and there is nothing more reliable and trustworthy than their feedback about the service they received.
The period of the delivery in this case is also pretty much unpredictable and fully depends on the destination you are willing to transport the car from the USA. Thus, it can take from a week (in very rare cases) up to two months, and you need to be ready for some delays. Weather conditions are also extremely unpredictable in this regard and can significantly affect the delivery terms.
Now it’s time to talk about the average cost. Actually, it consists of several parts which should be taken into consideration when planning the budget. Thus, the main part is the shipping cost itself which can lay between 900 USD and 2,000 USD (in case of urgent delivery or additional personalized services it will cost you even more). After that, there are some unavoidable overseas charges which can raise the price for additional 500-800 USD. Finally, insurance is not always included (in comparison with a traditional car’s delivery via trucks) and you need to carefully consider the coverage and the applicable cases.
Here we were considering an international car’s transportation via ocean containers, but you should also remember about one more option to deliver a car abroad – via air freight. It will be a much more expensive, but at the same time faster and more convenient way to deliver your car from airport to airport. This procedure is pretty much more common and popular for those who own really expensive and valuable vehicles. Moreover, when talking about international shipping from the USA, you should not exclude the standard trucks which are more common in case of Canada and South America.
What concerns the particular examples of the transportation companies dealing with international car’s deliveries, according to the popularity and a good reputation we can name such carriers as Schumachercargo, Ship Overseas, WShipping and others. They have a pretty great variety of services and provide a good quality and reliability for the international customers throughout the world.