International shipping for cars is definitely a pricey service. However, it poses several economic advantages over purchasing a new car when you move to a new country. There are a lot of car shipping service providers to choose from. Many of such services offer good services at competitive prices, though some of them may skimp on some essentials and may not be worth the trouble. We shall discuss some ways to find a way to ship your car internationally for a cheap price.
Get the kind of service you need
There is quite a bit of variation in the services offered by international shipping services. Some of them offer door to door service, wherein a driver picks up the car from your home and the shipping service takes care of the entire process of delivering it to your new home in the destination country. This requires the least amount of effort for you but is also a premium service in terms of cost. If you can drive the car to the port, it can cut down the cost a bit. Though factor in the cost of fuel and storage or parking at the port if necessary. If you are transporting the car to a country with complicated bureaucracy or non-English speaking population, you will need the services of a customs broker. However, if you are transporting your car to a country with friendly regulations and if you can be present at the destination port at the time of pickup, you can take care of the paperwork and customs clearance yourself with some help from your shipping service provider. This will help you reduce cost. While you can cut non-essentials, don’t go cheap on things such as insurance coverage.
Avoid potential scams
In your quest to find the cheapest deals, make sure that you don’t get lured into scams or services with very poor reputation. One simple way is to just search the name of the service provider on Google. You must be able to find some reviews and if there have been any major scams, you may find some news stories. Make sure that the service is registered with FMCSA and FMC. You can check out the company details in the Safety and Fitness Electronic Records System (SAFER) database online.