Shipping a vehicle overseas

[Carlos]

As some of you may know I'v shipped my Puma to South America, after having a dual battery system fitted to my near new Defender I found that the shipping company, in this case Hamburg Sud would not accept the vehicle with batteries fitted, further all fuel had to be drained from the vehicle as well as removing fire extinguishers and any pressure pack type gear. This proved to be a major pain, luckily ARB Perth took the deep cycle battery back, and the cranking battery was given away.

In any event finding a battery to suit the Defender in Chile proved to be a major issue and ended up costing almost A$600 as well as another A$107 freight! The battery ended up coming from the dealers in Santiago.

So gents if any of you are thinking of something similar, beware the pitfalls. Its due in port today, hopefully no more drama.

[Vin Rouge]

Very strange. I shipped my Defender from the UK to Australia, with batteries, fire extinguisher, diesel in the tank and even a disposable cigarette lighter on the dash - didn't know it until the vehicle arrived. It must have been hot at some stage as a candle under the passenger seat melted (the junk we carry!).

Apart from a flat battery which it should have been disconnected before shipping, and the pretty hopeless officials and handling agents in Oz, all went reasonably smoothly.

One thing I would recommend to anyone shipping their vehicle is to give it a good coat of wax or polish just before shipping. Vehicles tend to hang around in the docks waiting for the authorities and seagulls use them for target practice. It can make a right mess of the paintwork.

[sashadidi]

As some of you may know I'v shipped my Puma to South America, after having a dual battery system fitted to my near new Defender I found that the shipping company, in this case Hamburg Sud would not accept the vehicle with batteries fitted, further all fuel had to be drained from the vehicle as well as removing fire extinguishers and any pressure pack type gear. This proved to be a major pain, luckily ARB Perth took the deep cycle battery back, and the cranking battery was given away.

In any event finding a battery to suit the Defender in Chile proved to be a major issue and ended up costing almost A$600 as well as another A$107 freight! The battery ended up coming from the dealers in Santiago.

So gents if any of you are thinking of something similar, beware the pitfalls. Its due in port today, hopefully no more drama.

I shipped to Ozzie never asked anything, heard of one guy to Russia, he just hid the extra battery etc in the container!!!

[ScottW]

It depends on the shipping company. Shipping to Australia, they are supposed to drain the fuel and de-gas the air-con. Possible drain the oils too, but a lot of places don't and just say they do ;) My parents bought a trans-am back from the states with the little gas cooker they used to make an afternoon cuppa by the side of the road still in the boot, with a few spare gas cylinders.

It sounds like you just got a very picky shipping company. It may have been easier to send the batteries to yourself in Chile (if they were sealed).

[carlosbeldia]

It's a worldwide must for shipping companies to drain all fuel and extract all acids. Solution is really easy: go for a solid batt as Optima..... the think that matter is the liquid acid...............

Not every company accomplish this, but is really irresponsible not to do it...

[jasonedu]

funny this. we also shipped a car from singapore to darwin and had no problems with the fuel, batteries or a fire extinguisher. our biggest problem was getting it through customs dirt and bug free :-)