Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 11:09:13 -0300
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: smitht@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca (Tim Smith)
Subject: Re: Importing Car to Germany
At 10:25 AM 7/14/95 CDT, Marcus Doherr wrote:
>At 08:48 PM 7/13/95 CDT, jag@cs.rochester.edu wrote:
>
>>I have an 82 Westy here, and I'm also considering bringing it back to
>>it's home. Does anybody know how much it costs to ship a car? And how
>>difficult will it be to import it into say Germany or Sweden?
>>
I shipped a '75 Westy from Halifax, Nova Scotia to LeHavre France several
years ago. No vehicle inspection, no customs bonds, no nothing, just a quick
stop at the port insurance office to arrange for a green card for the
liability insurance. No questions about what where how long I would have the
car etc. I eventually sold the thing in London England 8 months later.
Different Euro ports have different landing fees, higher in
Holland/Germany, cheapest then was LeHavre which suited me fine as I was
heading to Spain. The Westy was shipped on the basis of cubic metres, so it
cost about double what a regular car did. The rate varies greatly between
shipping companies, I was on Atlantic Container Lines ACL. Halifax is a
ro/ro port for Volvo BTW. It was shipped empty, as only the vehicle was
insured, none of the contents. Take out FULL insurance before you sign over
the car to the port workers. The shipping company liability is for $500US
maximum, regardless of how your car is damaged. Case in point, an 18" high
BMW seen at LeHavre. A crewmember had accidentally lowered the ships inside
ramp to the upper deck onto it. My van arrived with a broken gas heater, and
odd creases underneath it, side to side. It had been forklifted closer
against a wall during loading. Remember, a 2 ton VWvan is just a toy
compared to what these ships regularly handle.
I wouldn't do it again, did I mention they unloaded it in Goetingen
Sweden while picking up freight trailers and forgot to put it back on, 6
days later I got it, off a different ship. tim s.
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