Shipping Car from Namibia or South Africa
 

Hey,

Is there anybody out there with experience on shipping a car back to Europe (pref Belgium or The Netherlands) From Namibia or South Africa?

Also, I'll probably ship my car back somwhere around end of June. Somebody interested in sharing a container?

Thx,

Rob

Yes I have experiance of shipping a vehicle back from SA. I shipped to the UK. Don't know what questions you have. It was pretty straightforward. Got the local phone book in Cape town, phoned round, got the best quote for a local agent. Personally managed putting the vehicle in the container and had it sealed in front of me. Got the local agent to sort customs clearance - have done both times that I've shipped as they know each other and its very smooth. Shipping took about 6 weeks. Rang round agents at the Uk end, got a good price for an agent to recieve the container - the container needs to go to somewhere whilst its unloaded and cleared by customs. I was there when it was opened which significantly reduces the chance of theft. Think all up it cost about £3000 with shipping costs, insurance for 20k value, local agents at each end, customs clearance, etc. Hope this helps.

Hi Toby,

Thanks. Sems expensive business. Maybe not even worth it... .

I'll be looking at cheaper (less insured/secure?) options. Maybe there's roro, or selling (somebody interested in an overland prepared disco?)

CU,

Rob

It isn't cheap. You could probably lose about 35% of the price by not insuring - but thats quite a loss if they happen to drop the container overboard or even just dockside - it does happen, used to live by the docks on Sydney harbour and they regularly used to drop containers. Also you could save some money by doing the customs clearance yourself, however you would still need to find somewhere where the container can be moved to where you can open it up and get the vehicle out and where the container can be left, this can be quite difficult to sort without paying for a local agent.

However the money is still cheaper than selling a heavily modified / accessorised vehicle and buying again at the other end unless you were going to trade it anyway. When you sell vehicles with accessories, you don't tend to get much for the accessories so you can end up taking quite a hit.

Just to complete the story:

Shipped from Cape Town to Antwerp. Shipping was about 1700 Euro. Receiving on this side was 370 Euro.

Total cost (not insured) was 2100 Euro.

Rob

Theres a real "sellers market" for second hand cars in SA and especially Namibia and the duties are not bad at all. May be worth considering.