How to Ship Your Car Overseas
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Relocating to another city or country can be a great challenge.
Not only are you leaving behind a place that you’ve called home for a long time, you also have to cope with leaving behind friends and/or family members, on top of having to worry about moving your entire life to your new location. For some, this might only mean moving a few pieces of luggage, but for others it could involve moving much larger items like furniture and more. As daunting as this task may be, it’s made slightly easier by logistics companies that specialize in such relocation activities. It’s the core of their business, so they know exactly how to help you from start to finish.
Depending on your situation, you may have to struggle with another huge challenge, that is to move something much larger than just the living room couch: your car, truck, van, or motorcycle. Getting your automobile to your destination may be simple if you’re going somewhere that’s just a few hours’ drive away, but what if you’re going even further? Or worse yet, what if you need to get that car overseas, perhaps even to another continent altogether?
Well, rest assured that there is an industry with businesses dedicated to what is known as ‘vehicle shipping’.
Vehicle Shipping
The concept of vehicle shipping is pretty straightforward, really. You’d like to get your car from point A to point B without driving it yourself, so you pass it on to a logistics company that will do it for you. This reduces the need for you to either drive the car over long distances (if that’s even possible in your case) or to hire someone to drive it for you. While these are indeed options at your disposal, sometimes shipping might be the quickest, easiest, and overall most efficient way to relocate your car.
Think of it in the same way as trying to mail a package to another country, but in a much, much larger box. Well, a shipping container usually, seeing as how your car probably can’t fit neatly into a cute little cardboard box!
While there might be many logistics companies in your area that offer this service, it is very important to examine them carefully to ensure that they are reputable and will take good care of your car. You can do this by checking online reviews, or simply by asking around with friends, family, and colleagues.
Remember: you are not sending a small box with a gift inside, you are sending an expensive automobile that you’ve invested a lot of money in. Furthermore, if you are resorting to shipping your car to your new destination, odds are that you’ll need it to arrive there in good shape so you can use it to get to work and get around.
Methods
Logistics companies that offer vehicle shipping tend to also offer it with varying levels of service. Firstly, logistics companies offer one or a combination of transport by air, land (including trains) and sea. Some may even offer a differentiated level of service between offering door-to-door service, where they pick it up from your home or office and send it to your home or office address at the destination. Or, they may only offer port-to-port service, where you’d have to deliver and pick up the car yourself to the air/sea port or train terminal.
What’s the difference with all of these options? Well, speed and cost are the most important variables. Some options are simply faster, but those are also the ones you should only use if you’re unwilling or unable to wait longer because they’ll cost you more money. In some cases, transporting it by ship might be your only option if say, your destination had a major port but not a major airport. In some instances this may be the case when shipping a car between peninsular Malayso to/from Sabah or Sarawak.
The methods that are available for you to choose might differ according to the destination, but it’ll also differ depending on your on budget and time constraints. Be sure to consider your options very carefully.
If you are in no particular rush and would like to save some money, this could be an opportunity for you to go on an epic long-distance road trip. If that turns out to be the case, don’t forget to also plan carefully for that long drive ahead!