Picking up my beloved Bug in Liverpool at Seaforth Terminal - anyone been?

So, the last bit of stuff we've decided to move over here arrives tomorrow - my beloved, cherished, treasured 2006 VW New Beetle Convertible!

It's going to be available to me tomorrow after 11am at the Seaforth Container Terminal in Liverpool.  We've been told that we should take the train from Harrogate to Liverpool Lime St Station, then taxi north to the terminal.  Has anyone had any experience with this kind of thing or know the area well enough to confirm that this is the best plan?

Yep, that's the way to go by train.

Book your ticket ahead of time with www.tpexpress.co.uk - try booking from Leeds to Liverpool for the best prices.  1st class can be worth the extra if there are any cheap advance seats available, as it's a 2hr ride from Leeds to L'pool and man those trains get busy!

Just get a regular one way ticket from H'gate to Leeds.

You will find a stack of taxis at L'pool Lime Street station to take you to Seaforth Docks.

If someone can give you a ride there, it'd be about 2 hrs' drive from H'gate.

Good luck dear!!!    

I just wanted to close out this story for any future folks who might be searching for information on shipping their cars.

My experience (YMMV, past performance is no guarantee of future results, small text disclaimer here) could really not have been smoother.  I went through Trans Global Auto Logistics (TGAL) out of Grand Prairie, TX>.  They arranged to have my car picked up at my home outside of DC, and the driver was friendly and reassuring.  They shipped my car out of Baltimore to Liverpool, RO/RO, and I picked it up myself at the Seaforth Container Terminal.  I paid $1800 (yes, dollars) total for Door to Port service (when you get quotes, this bit is a must check!), which includes 20k worth of marine insurance with a 250 deductible.

When I picked my car up yesterday, I looked it over carefully for any damage, scratches, unnecessary dirt, etc.  I can honestly say that they only thing I noticed is that it might have been a bit cleaner than when I left it.  This is purely coincidence - my guess is that they had unloaded it and it rained subsequently.  There were no scratches, no dents, no damage - not on the body, not on the soft convertible top, not on the wheels, nothing.  I was ecstatic because that was my number one concern!

The interior too was in fantastic condition.  I forgot for just a moment that I had completely wiped down the seats and dash with Meguiars wipes and vacuumed the rugs before I said goodbye to my car in the states and thought "did they clean the inside of my car?"  Anyway, I did remember my little mad clean up dash, but then I have to say that I have a HUGE black dashboard in this car, and there was no dust at all on it, no grease on the seats, nothing.  To be fair, I have a completely black interior, but still, it was very clean looking to me.

Taxi-ing from the train station to the terminal was no big deal, and it was only about an hour total from the time we arrived at the train station until we were on our way home (which includes travel time to the terminal, a bit of picture taking time, jawing with the receiving agent, etc)

All in all, I couldn't be more pleased.  My husband said that driving on the left side while driving on the left side was really no big deal (he drove, I need a bit of practice yet before I'm brave enough) and he also said that he felt more confident because he instinctively knew where everything was (like wipers and lights and whatnot). To be fair, he had rented three or four cars during his past 5 months here, so he's not going to have had that sense of familiarity with them.

So that's my story.  I'm thrilled to pieces about having my car here.  I think 90% of the time having a left hand drive car is no. big. deal.  The other 10% will be paying tolls and parking fees, and maybe being behind a big truck on a small road when you want to pass.  However, considering the age and condition of my car (less than 20k miles, practically brand new, loaded with options) I thought that the cost and "hassle" of moving it over here vs buying a car here was an absolute non contest.  At the time we made our decision, the pound had been much stronger against the dollar, but the math still makes sense even now, considering how expensive a comparable car would be (key word - comparable!!!!)

I'm happy to entertain questions via PM!

At first i thought it bizarre that you would ship your car over when you could have sold it and bought the same one here but i guess if it makes sense then why not!
I have an old classic car that is LHD and like you say it really is not a problem except overtaking some times.
The best advice is whereas you subconciously focus on your distance from the line down the middle of the road when driving a RHD you just need to switch that focus to the kerb side when driving a LHD..enjoy

Didn't you have to have some changes made at the port, rear turn signal lights, for example, in order to be legal?

I guess you could have landed as a tourist car and got by that.

 My car already has most of the UK-required signals and what not (side repeaters, amber rear turns, etc).  We were still required to have the MOT inspection ("as quickly as possible, so no prob driving back home to have it done") and the mechanic we've taken it to will install the rear fog light, realign the headlights, and disable the DRLs.

One interesting thing to note: until I get my UK license plate, I'm driving around on my Maryland plates.  So until I get UK registered and all that, I am just tourist car in the UK.

DRL's
If you get stopped I wouldn't tell you are there on a visa.
Just show them your passport ( and then get on the right side of the road )

Hi

DRL = Daytime Running Lights

Ex Jersey girl - Glad all went smoothly for you ! - all in all pretty much similar to when had the F150 brought over and delivered, except its was filthy!

Have a liitle look via VW forums, I'm almost 100% that you're US engine will drink 95RON UK standard unleaded with no need for adjustment. However, as a possibility for you to look at, you may want to take your car to a specialist and get it ''Re-mapped" for better driveability and potentially a welcome increase in miles per gallon returned! (i'm doing something similar with my cars)

Theres lots of VW specialists around so you should find parts and servicing should be a doddle !

Also, leave the DRL as is, theres no law against not having them! All Volvo's have DRL and also low beam headlamp set to on with the ignition on - aside from the obvious safety aspect, I think DRL can look quite subtly cool ! - You may also need to get your car stereo changed over to a UK spec one, it's currently on the USA FM range which is slightly different from the UK, at best, it'll be a quick change the VW dealer can do, at worst, may mean you need to remove the Audio system from your car and source a UK one from the breakers-if so, you can always sell your US spec one in the USA next time you take it back to the USA with you

Won't take you long to having/driving a left hooker over here !

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Hiya DtM!  I didn't know DRLs aren't illegal here... everything I read said that they were.  That's a nice thing to know.

We've just filled up the car with gas from the base (yes, yes, very lucky me!) and I didn't even wonder whether it was a higher octane than what was available on the economy.   I asked DH whether there had been any knocking or pinging and he said it was running smoothly, so I'm guessing the computer readjusted the timing to compensate.  We'll see this weekend.

I did have two distressing developments.  One was the front tires; unfortunately during my MOT inspection they discovered that there were significant slices on the interior of the tires which required that they be replaced.  I only have 19500 miles on the car so I don't know whether I ran over something on the highway, whether maybe the tie downs on the truck that transported my car or in the ship itself may have done the damage, or whether driving on the ship's ramp might have done something.  In any case, the damage was done, so I had to buy two new tires for the front end.  Even more frustrating is that they are rated for a higher speed than my old ones, old one which are still on the rear wheels.  I kinda hollered at my husband for not having all the tires replaced so I could drive fast on the autobahn!

The second distressing development is that my car now has a zit on its rear bumper.   The base only had 4 approved mechanics on their list, none of whom was a VW specialist. Anyway, rather than rewiring one of the reverse lights with  a red bulb, they just stuck a hideous red light in the center of the read bumper to satisfy the red rear fog light.  My DH said that the mechanic told him how easy it was to take off once the MOT certificate was issue, and that it was easy to reinstall before next year's inspection.  But then I learned that the folks on base would notice and ticket us if we didn't have the red rear fog, so until I find a little spare cash and a VW specialist I trust to do it right, I'm going to have a huge zit on my VW's butt.

It maybe a little late now but you may have got an adjustment on the tires because they may have been under warranty. At least I did but mine were Michelin's.. Same thing I had a cut on the inside.