Well, before leaving the U.S. I promised I'd write a summary concerning the shipment of my car (a 1987 Porsche 944S) from the U.S. to the UK, in the hope it would be of help to someone.
So here goes:
To begin with I should probably state that I'm quite passionate (some people might say deranged) about cars, so this was an initiative I took very seriously indeed...I sold the house without so much as blinking, donated the furniture and appliances to charity, threw away my record collection, discarded much of my clothing, not to mention American culture, without a second glance...but the car...the car...it had to come.
So imagine my reaction when after researching at least seven different firms, I narrowed the list down to two top contenders, and of those two, one was belligerent and the other completely insane. And they were the cream of the crop!
I suppose I wasn't too surprised, as I've heard nothing but horror stories concerning movers- and I'm referring to people who moved within the U.S. The most common complaint I heard was that everyone was charged more than the original price estimate, often to a horrifying extent...and then of course there are the damage stories...Ouch.
Anyway, after hearing the maniacal laughter of the insane candidate, I decided to opt for the belligerent one, who was slightly more expensive but also seemed relatively competent and had a clean record with the Better Business Bureau. That company is Rinken's International. Their phone number is 888-886-6683.
A few random notes:
1. If your car is older- I believe 10 years old or more- you do NOT have to pay customs duties when it arrives in the UK.
2. Before deciding whether or not to ship your car, make sure you find out exactly what kind of modifications will be necessary to make your car UK-spec. For example, I have to have some of my lights modified etc., nothing very major. But with some cars, far more serious changes may be required....which could be prohibitively expensive and cause some form of desecration to your car's form. I found out by asking around Porsche chatgroups on the web, and found a gentleman who had done the same thing. I also phoned what's called the DVLA (the Brit equivalent of the U.S. D.M.V., sort of). This link has more info:
http://www.britainusa.com/faq/showfaq.asp?SID=3203. I learned that the two methods of shipment are RORO (roll on roll off), which entails having your car sitting around some dingy harbor until there is an empty slot on a ship owned by the company which the company you've hired has contracted with, at which point some baboons drive it onto the ship and it begins its voyage. Unfortunately, I think the car is basically exposed to the elements all this time, and the feedback I got was that this type of transportation wasn't quite as safe as containerized shipping. However, RORO is cheaper, perhaps almost $1000 cheaper on average than containerized shipping...which is what I went for. With this method, you are paying for your own totally enclosed container, typically 20 square feet....they load your car in, tie it down, seal the container, and the car never sees the light of day again until it's in a new country.
The nice thing is that with the container, not only is it safer for the car, but also you can ship household items with the car- as much as you can fit, theoretically. You can have shared containers, with several cars, which is a bit cheaper, but I went for the safest option, my own 20 foot container.
The total cost for me, to ship the car and lots of other odds and ends in my own container, including all the customs documentation on both ends, was $2,700. Again, keep in mind this was not only paying for the car but also about 15 small boxes full of stuff. You can do it cheaper...for example, I got an RORO quote for around $1500.
4. Make sure the company you are hiring covers ALL the paperwork, red tape etc. for their price.
5. Make sure that when you get the written pricing estimate, you firmly demand that they spell out every single service they are including.
6. It might be helpful to casually inform them that you are emotionally attached to your car and have a history of violent crime. Tell them you can't handle rage well etc.
So, the big day came when I was to turn over my beloved car to the shipping company...only days before my departure from the U.S. Already the company I was to deal with at this stage was different from the one I was paying...basically all autoshipping company's are brokers or not much more than that.
I arrived at a seedy shipping depot in an equally seedy part of southern Atlanta. Slime practically dripped from the walls of the buildings. I searched and searched and could not find the company I was working with. I drove around the depot and asked a number of grease-stained gentlemen if they'd heard of the company. "No" was the answer in every case. I was getting exasperated, especially because I was fairly sure I was in the right placce. I phoned my contact and told him I couldn't see where he was. He told me "Walk back toward the front, and you'll see a dirty gray door. That's us. I'm not there at the moment, but I'll tell Al to come out and let you in."
I stood there staring in awe as a dishevelled young man sheepishly emerged from the dirty gray door with a bandanna haphazardly tied around the top of his head. He was the only employee present at the time. It was all like some sort of bad joke. I asked "Al" if I had somehow failed to see their sign, but he cheerfully informed me that they HAD no sign. Now, I don't expect every person to be an M.B.A., but I just couldn't conceive of any sort of business establishment that was so stupid that it never even occurred to their employees to LABEL THEMSELVES.
(Continued in Part 2)
