fuggles

I am looking for experience, insights, feedback from anyone who has shipped a car from USA to Europe for vacation. I have googled, read blogs and shipper websites, so I am familiar with some of the issues. Now I'd like to hear directly from those experienced and hopefully have a dialog about it.

A few questions come to mind. How you found the shipper? Logistics of dropping off and picking up the car on both ends. Getting insurance. Fees. Overall experience. etc.

Thanks in advance.

Tsumi

Why not rent a car, like a C7 Corvette? The biggest hurdle IMO is that you may have to bring your car up to European code, even though it's just temporary. Depending on where you go in Europe, that means side marker lights, rear amber turn signals, and rear fog lights.

JR-01

bc6152

Much more economical to rent a car there. Different countries have different rules and regulations regarding insurance, emissions, and mechanical inspections. France just raised all gas prices. Gasoline and diesel. It's very complicated. Call Hertz...

Vetteman Jack

Never have shipped a car to another country, but I tend to agree with the above posters. Renting a Vette over there would be much easier.

Crosis

fuggles

Hertz doesn't rent Corvettes, nor do any of the other big rental companies in europe. I've seen Camaros and Mustangs, but they are the base models. Nothing special. Must rentals are european, or the nissan gtr. High performance sports cars are easily 300+ euros/day. So unless the trip is short it is definitely not cheaper to rent. My trip will be 2-3 weeks which would cost 6000 euros or more to rent a car. I can ship the car for much less than this.

As far as I have been able to determine, there are no inspections or code related issues for cars which are brought into the euro zone for less than 6 months. I can drive with my registration and license. I will need documentation with respect to ownership. Cars with bank liens are not allowed to leave the country.

Hopefully someone with experience can chime in.

fuggles

Definitely not. I've checked multiple vendors. Even a 360 is around 5K euros/week. Newer models are a lot more.

JR-01

Have you googled it? There are lots of companies that will give you a quote and it depends a lot on the destination. Remember to multiply by 2 if you want the car back. Might cost almost as much as the car is worth.

4XLR8N

I hope you can pull it off...would be interested to hear how it goes.

For me, Murphy would never be able to resist an opportunity like that, so I wouldn't even try...

JR-01

Yeah, there is a lot that can go wrong doing something like that. I would not try it either.

Wtss

I love the fact that everyone above attacks your plan because they want to save not their money.

I would suggest contacting some european car importer who knows the cheapest way to get it here as well as all the paperwork needed. Not sure where you want to go but one of my suggestion would be https://www.polamerusa.com/. Guys are from Poland. Cost for one way cargo is around $ 1000-1200 but it is possible to put your car to some free space in other container, will be cheaper. Have a nice trip
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mikesvette1

How long is your vacation? My daughters husbands motorcycles set for over a month waiting to get released, but there are stationed there. something to think about is calling customs and telling them your plan.

JR-01

You get what you pay for. You want to save him money, but going the cheap route might cost him more in the end. It all depends on how much he cares about his car whether he wants to put his faith in a cut rate shipping company.

fuggles

Yea. lol. I could save money by renting a crappy european compact. But I don't want to do that.

Thanks for the link. Shipping from Jersey is definitely cheaper. I am on the left coast, so I either ship from CA or send the car by land to Jersey. It's about a wash in terms of price. Thanks for the well wishes.

ArmchairArchitect

Let Me Google That For You (lots of other forums where this has been discussed):
https://www.google.com/search?q=shipping+a+car+to+europe+for+va cation&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS795US795&oq=shipp ing+a+car+to+europe+for+vacation&aqs=chr ome.0.0l2.5875j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UT F-8&safe=active&ssui=on

jackthelad

You will definitely need to buy vehicle insurance for European travel. Probably need to find an agent in Europe to deal with. Also, don't forget to make sure the car is fully covered against loss while in shipments and customs bond the other end - normal shipping insurance is pretty nominal. Had a colleague whose furniture was ruined in shipment as it was not well enough "braced" in the container and the ship hit rough seas. Don't try to do it yourself dealing with agents, shippers, etc., the rules can get quite complex, so you will need an end to end shipper to handle things for you. You will need an original clear title for the car as well. And you may well need to prove long term ownership or you may well get hit with import duties, etc. Last time I was involved (a long time ago), you had to have not only owned the car for at least 6 months, but also prove that it had been in regular use by you here in the US for at least 6 months prior to shipping to get it in duty free.

A visitor does not need to have the car to Euro specs, but you will need a "USA" plate or sticker for the rear. Beware that in some cities the local kids think stealing the tags off of "foreign" cars is a great game, so some of those security screws would be a good idea. Had a friend who took his car over (he was being relo'd) and before he got the local registration sorted out, his US plates got stolen.

fuggles

lol. thanks. as mentioned in the first post, already googled. also as mentioned in the first post, i want to converse with people who have actually done this.

fuggles

Thanks. This is good info. Supposedly the shipper I found does everything end-to-end and back. Definitely insurance needs to get sorted, both while at sea and on the ground in europe.

Crosis

Wow, giving a requested opinion is now "attacking"? America sure has fallen.