sk22

Hi All,

I'm not going to be moving until early next year, but have begun looking up options of shipping possessions to the USA from the UK. What i'd want to ship is:

1 Classic car
Various boxed items such as some:

Paintings,
Items from a display cabinet (models, trophies etc)
Personal items such as clothes, memorabilia, toys etc
Possibly a go-kart (in component form)

I think thats it really, I rent my property in the UK and its fully furnished so I wouldn't be having much more than that. Apart from my clothes etc the other items are sentimental things that I want to take with me. I understand I have 3 options:

Shipping in a container
Sharing a container
Going the LCL route (less than container load)

Roll on-roll off ferry (for the car).

My understanding with the car is that it must be transported empty, so I couldn't put some of my other items in it. Its much cheaper than a container though form what i;ve seen so i could send the car RO/RO and the other items LCL?

Failing that I could get a shared container and put the car in there and boxes in/around it.

From people who have done this what is the most viable option and also cost effective?

Many thanks

holly_1948

USA is a big place.
Which port are you near?

sk22

Sorry I should have added that!! I'd be looking at Seattle as the nearest port.

Pulaski

I'm not sure how easily you'll find ro-ro service to the US, and if you do, you'll almost certainly have to hand over the keys for loading and unloading. I am fairly certain you'll want container service with your car properly secured and protected - it's not just a matter of driving it into a container and closing the doors as if it were a garage.

The rest of your stuff will likely have to go in a shared container - for some reason shipping companies don't like shipping part loads. When we emigrated we had about 90% of a half (20ft) container, but couldn't find anyone who'd ship it as a part-full container. My guess would be that it makes securing the load inside the container harder - stuff will move around if it isn't stacked wall to wall and all the way to the doors. That said, you might want to look at airfreight if you don't have much heavy stuff and no furniture.

Post script, to your addendum: I'll be shocked if you can find ro-ro service from the UK to the west coast.

Bob

Ro-Ro isn't likely to happen.

There have been a few threads on people shipping classic cars though, so might have luck finding those threads. Otto something or other, can't remember the full username, seems to be in the business and has posted info in the past, so might find some of that.

As for the rest of the small shit, wrap it up, stick it on a pallet and away it goes. Some info in the wiki on that kind of shipping too.

Welshgator

I had my stuff shipped to Seattle when I first moved to US. It actually came in via San Francisco and was road hauled up to Seattle.
They drove it to an open yard in Fremont to await US customs inspection etc., It was left sitting in the back of a semi truck container with other peoples stuff from UK. Somebody hooked up their semi truck to it and hauled it all away... Hope you have better luck than that mate.

slummymummy

After looking around and getting quotes we used

http://www.doreebonner.co.uk/

They were great, friendly and nothing broken. However we had a full container. But they do all sorts of shipping. You can get a quote online.

GeoffM

Is the classic car intended to be driven in the US? Might want to read up on the practicalities of that. A lot of people come up against insurmountable obstacles - but I vaguely recall there might be an exemption if it's a really old car. Anyway, worth checking it out before shipping it. And Ro-Ro to west coast? Nah - maybe to the east coast on one of the fancy liners?

Bob

Over 25 years.

Insurance can be interesting though.

sk22

I have asked the same question in a specialised forum so they have been pretty helpful. I put Seattle port as a destination and it seemed to be ok with it. Maybe they ship it to LA for example then freight it up, i'll look more into it. Thanks.

Well that sucks, by the way are you Welsh?

Looks great, thank you very much! They look good value too.

Don't worry, like Bob said its 42 years old so is fine

sir_eccles

There may be other issues to deal with, here are some good starting points:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...r-personal-use

http://icsw.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/

May also be state issues depending on which state it enters first.

sk22

I'm pretty much on top of the car issues, thanks guys. Its more how to ship the stuff. But thanks for your inputs so far.

Welshgator

Yes, I was born in Wales.

I actually got my stuff back, some time later. Since it hadn't gone through customs it was a federal issue. The Feds laid baited containers then followed the thieves to various warehouses for a few months.

ottotheboar

It may be worth getting certificate of authenticity from the British Motor Heritage Center at Gaydon for your car. US Customs like them.
RORO is usually less expensive but with a car in a container there is a good chance Customs will look at it.
Do remember it must be power washed as they can send it back if it is dirty or make you get it washed on the docks.
I have never had any problems with insurance on imported cars.

Pulaski

Before you ship it you should give it a generous coating of wax because it is going to be spending time at two docks and a number of weeks on a ship, all contained in a far-from-airtight metal box. It is also not uncommon for freight containers to be splashed with seawater during their voyage, so salty water can also enter a container.