Car to Europe

[motogman]

Does anybody have any experience with sending a car to Europe - Germany in particular. A friend of mine is interested in my 81 SC and I don't know what the duties, and taxes and hassles are of selling and sending a car to Germany. Any shared experience is appreciated.

[shahram]

No worries, the shipping companies can arrange the whole thing. I did it twice last year to Germany. Custom Duty will be 10% of the sales price + shipping charge. VAT will be additional 19%. In total you need to add around 30% to the sales price. Shipping with a container will be around $1200-1400 + port fee in Germany (another 350.-€) + shipping withhin Germany which is another 3-500.-€. You will need also shipping insurance: count 1-1,5% of the sales price or the value you want to cover. Shipping takes usually 3-4 weeks from door to door and with a good shipping company you can also track it.

[swade]

I used,

Anna Singer
Rinkens International
15501 Texaco Ave
Paramount, CA 90723
Direct: 310-294-8480
Tel: 310-639-7725
Toll free: 866-337-6577
Fax: 310-881-1127

anna@rinkens.com


They ship from both E & W coasts and the gulf coast too, I shipped from Houston. I had no problems at all, good response with email questions.

They will ship Roll on/Roll off to a near port. (Roterdam or Aalborg cheapest) or put it in a container (more expensive). Rates change often, but you can get a quote often same day that will be valid for 10 days or 2 weeks.

This pasted from a mail from Rinkens while I was looking for shipping.

- FULL CONTAINER option is usually the easiest and fastest way to ship. 20’ or 40’ container will be positioned in our warehouse, loaded with your car/cars and goods only, and shipped on the soonest available vessel.

- SHARED CONTAINER gives you a price break and freedom to load goods inside your vehicle (except Middle Eastern destinations). The downside of this most popular service is that during slow times of the year your cargo may sit for a week or two waiting for available freight to co-load with. Our consolidations go to a limited amount of destinations.

- ROLL ON ROLL OFF (RORO) service is meant for single car shipments. Vehicle needs to be in a perfect running condition with no additional items inside, such as personal effects, spare parts, etc, and ¼ tank of gas or less. Shipment will be booked on the first available vessel. Vessel schedules and frequency depend on rules at the port of origin. Not all origins and destinations can be serviced by RoRo ships.

Just know that there are going to be paperwork excercises, taxes, duties, temporary driving permit to get it where you are going, etc. No matter who you use for shipping.

W

[daiberl]

I did it already 3 times (2 x 911, 1 x 356), used Schuhmacher Cargo from CA. Since the car is 30 years old I recommend importing through Rotterdam, they charge only 6% Tax/Custom since they see every car older than 30 years as classic car and use the 6% instead of the 10% + 19%. Rotterdam/Netherlands are part of the EU therefore you are good to go with this tax/custom payment in all countries of the EU.

- Juergen

[twistoffat]

I´ve done it and as everybody says 10% + 19% on the value of the car including the shipping costs. The shipper needs the original title and a set of Keys to go with the car. Its very important that the car has a clean title stateside or it won´t get cleared by US customs.
The exemption in Holland has been made more difficult. They are trying to change 30 to 50 years and for those cars that are 30 years they need to be also of important historical value. That means a Customs officer decides depending on his mood. I know I´m in shipping. Also if you ship to Holland the car still has to go to Germany. Many shippers will try to reduce costs by putting the car in a container with other item. Your car sits under a platform in hte container and above sits cartons and other goods from other customers. This can be risky and even with insurance you will not be covered as in most cases Customers/Shippers and the Caqrrier start pointing fingers and the consignee loses out. There are ways to save but I´m not putting them here. If you want PM me and I´ll give you a call on the ways and means of keeping the cost down