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

Once you compared the shipping quotes and selected a company to move your car with, you need to deliver it to the loading warehouse or directly to the ocean port. If you are not too far from a major ocean port or a big city – you may just drop off your car yourself. In other case, you can hire any of the automobile transporters to do the job for you. Make certain you pay for door-to-door delivery and note that the ultimate point is an export ocean terminal or loading warehouse of the overseas shippers. When it comes to export shipping, many of the transporters don’t want to take the cars to the ports owed to congestions, time-consuming waiting lines and new TWIC card requirements . Ask your overseas shipper if they can furnish the delivery as almost all of them have their preferred vehicle transport companies.

Compulsory Documents for International Car Shipping
*** Be sure that you have on hand the original clean title for your vehicle. By “original” I mean that it must be the literal paper title supplied by your state’s DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). By “clean” I mean that it mustn’t have any unsatisfied liens from the bank, credit union or any other financier. It is a prerequisite issued by the US Customs that all motorized vehicles have to be cleared for export 72 working hours before vessel’s sailing date.

Option 1: Shipping Cars in Ocean Container
*** Overseas car shippers can usually provide two alternatives for you to get your car to another country: ocean container shipping or roll-on roll-off shipping. If you select ocean container option then the overseas transporter will load and tie down your car inside the ocean container most probably with other freight or cars. This is a low-budget and dependable method because the shipping company will only bill you for space that your vehicle is occupying inside the container. Another positive moment is that the container will be blocked and sealed for the whole duration of the overseas travel.

Option 2: Shipping Cars via Roll-on Roll-off carrier
*** With roll-on roll-off (RO-RO) oversea shipping your car will be need to be taken straightaway to the port and then secured inside the special vehicle carrier ship. What it involves is the port longshoremen will drive it onto the vessel at the point of origin and then drive it off the vessel at the point of destination. Your car will not be placed inside a blocked container and it’s open for anybody to get inside (that’s typically when personal items and accessories go missing). Ro-Ro routes are also restricted in the countries coverage so depending upon your origin & destination this option might not be obtainable for your country. Another note is that ports won’t admit non-operable vehicle for roll-on roll-off transport service.

A few days after the vessel sails your international car shipping company will send back the original title to you along with their transportation bill of lading and directions on how to claim your vehicle at the place of arrival. It is always safe to get hold of the overseas port agent beforehand to re-confirm the estimated arrival dates and get the paperwork managed to accelerate the discharge and delivery process of your car.