There are two main ways to ship a car to the UK: roll-on roll-off (RoRo), where the car is driven onto the vessel and parked, and container shipping, where it travels sealed inside a container. RoRo is cheaper and simpler. A container costs more but protects the car and lets you ship belongings with it. One thing many people miss: the shipping cost is added to the value before your import VAT is worked out, so it affects your tax too.
Shipping a car to the UK? Get a free quote for the transport and the import →
The two methods
A car that comes to the UK by sea usually travels one of two ways, while from mainland Europe many cars also come over by road on a transporter. Which you pick comes down to a trade-off between cost and protection, and sometimes what the route from the origin country actually offers.
RoRo: cheaper and simpler
Roll-on roll-off does what the name says. The car is driven onto a dedicated vehicle vessel, secured for the crossing, and driven off at the UK port. It is usually the cheapest method.
The trade-off is exposure. The car sits among many others, it is handled by port staff, and it is not sealed away. For a solid everyday car this is rarely a problem. For something rare or valuable, the lack of protection matters more.
Container: safer and flexible
Container shipping puts the car inside a steel container, secured so it cannot move and sealed for the crossing, so it is far less exposed to weather and handling, although customs can still open it for inspection.
It costs more, but it brings two advantages: the car is protected from weather and handling, and you can often ship personal belongings alongside it. You can also share a container to split the cost, which narrows the gap with RoRo.
If losing or scratching the car would genuinely hurt, container is worth the extra. If it is a car you would happily drive through a car wash, RoRo is usually the sensible choice.
Which to choose
For a standard classic or an everyday import, RoRo is normally the right call: cheaper, widely available, perfectly adequate. For a high-value car, a concours classic, or anything you would be devastated to see damaged, a container earns its cost.
Availability matters too. Some routes favour one method over the other, so what is offered from Japan may differ from what is offered from the USA or Europe.
RoRo gets it here for less. A container gets it here better protected. Match the method to what the car is worth to you.
How shipping affects your tax
Here is the part people forget. Import VAT is not charged only on the price of the car. It is charged on the customs value, which includes the shipping and insurance cost of bringing the car to the UK, plus any duty.
So a more expensive shipping method slightly increases the VAT you pay, because it raises the value the VAT is calculated on. It is a small effect, but it means the cheapest quote and the cheapest total are not always the same thing. We explain how the figure is built up in our guide to paying import duty and VAT.
See your full landed cost
Enter your car's value and country, and get the duty and VAT before you book shipping.
Work out my import taxWhichever method you choose, shipping is only the first leg. Once the car lands it still has to clear customs, be notified to HMRC and registered with the DVLA before it can be driven. We set out everything the car needs in our guide to the requirements for importing a car.
Let us take care of the paperwork
We can arrange the transport, we handle the customs, duty, VAT and NOVA, and we prepare every DVLA form, you just sign and post. Over 1,500 vehicles cleared since Brexit.
Get my free shipping and import quote