Can anyone give me advise about shipping a car from the UK (around London) to the US (NYC)? Are there any rules, laws, complications, etc. I should know about? It would be for an antique car (1950's). Do you recommend air or sea? What are there pro's and cons to each? Is there a company that handles all of the legal matters that you can recommend that you've used?
I've never done this before and could use any advice you can give.

Submitted by Myobb@freenet.de on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 16:25

The following comments are based on an article the UK magazine "Classic Cars" dated Feb 2004.

Roger Farmer of British Transit Ltd (Tel: (UK) 023 8022 3671) WWW.britishtransit.com) stated that they ship cars by sea from the UK to the US. Cost(one way) to say Los Angeles is $1496 & takes 3 weeks.Insurance while at sea is mandatory & the premium is based on the combined value of the car plus the cost of the crossing plus 10%. To LA with a $15000 MGB the premium is $190.You also have to pay $180/$225 agency fee for "carnet de passage en douane" which essentially is a temporary import/export licence which must be stamped at the entry/exit point.

Classic Travel (Tel (UK) 01245 268157) also arranges insurance to & while in the US & maybe able to help in other areas.

If your UK based then the AA & or the RAC may also be of assistence & I would certainly give them a try.

Hope all this helps.

Submitted by michael@kan.com on Sun, 09/10/2006 - 01:26

Although it has been a few years,
I shipped my XJ-S to the US via air freight on Lufthansa. Drove it from London to Frankfurt and dropped it off at the freight forwarder. Landed and drove to the brokers at JFK and after a customs inspection drove away!

Tank needed to be 1/4 full - no more.

If you are a US resident you will have to import the car paying the proper import taxes (usually around 3%). You will also have to certify that the car complies with US DoT specs.

If you are a tourist, you are allowed to bring the car to the US for up to 6 months without paying the import tax, but you are not alloed to sell the car.

If you want to chose sea freight, you will most likely want to container the car and make sure ALL tools, manuals, etc. are shipped seperately. These little extras usually disappear.

Earlier this year the cost of a container from the UK to Houston was around $5,000.

Good luck,

Michael