Companies That Ship Cars From the US to Europe: 2026 Comparison

Shipping a car from the USA to Europe is a four-part project: ocean freight, destination and port handling fees, customs duties and VAT, then getting a US-market car legally registered. Most people compare the first number and discover the other three later. This guide compares the six companies that actually ship cars from the US to Europe in 2026, then covers the tax and compliance rules that decide your real total.

Companies that ship cars from the US to Europe: the short answer

Six companies handle most legitimate US to Europe vehicle shipping: Sunset International Shipping, West Coast Shipping, Schumacher Cargo Logistics, CFR Classic, Ship Overseas, and International Van Lines. All are Federal Maritime Commission licensed or FIDI accredited, and all offer RORO, container shipping, or both. The right one depends on whether you are relocating, collecting, or reselling.

Who actually ships cars from the US to Europe, and who only says they do

Three different kinds of business answer that question, and only one of them puts your car on a ship. This is the single most useful filter in international car shipping from America, because a large share of page-one search results cannot legally act as the carrier.

You can check any of them in about ninety seconds. The Federal Maritime Commission publishes a public list of licensed ocean transportation intermediaries. If a company selling you an ocean move is not on it, ask who is.

The 6 companies that ship cars from the US to Europe

Ranked by how well each handles a complete US to Europe vehicle move, not by ad spend. Prices are as published by each company at the time of writing and move with fuel, season, and lane.

Recommended pick: Sunset International Shipping

If the car is moving because you are, start with the company that moves households. The vehicle is one crate inside a larger project, and the coordination between packing, freight, customs paperwork, and destination delivery is where these moves actually fail.

The six companies compared

The 2026 EU duty change most shipping quotes missed

Search the cost to ship a car to Europe and you will find the same sentence on twenty sites: expect about 10% import duty plus local VAT. That was true for decades. It stopped being true on July 1, 2026.

Regulation (EU) 2026/1455 set the duty on a long list of US-origin goods to 0%, and Annex I covers vehicles and parts. The European Commission notice sets out which categories qualify and what proof of origin customs will accept. The measure runs until specific preferential rules of origin are adopted, and the Commission can suspend it.

Here is the part that trips people up: origin means where the car was built, not where it sailed from. A BMW X5 assembled in Spartanburg, South Carolina is US-origin, so ship it to Bremerhaven with proof of origin and the duty line reads zero. A BMW 3 Series built in Munich, bought used in Los Angeles and shipped from Long Beach, is not US-origin. It pays the 10% third-country rate in the EU Customs Tariff like anything else. Two identical-looking cars on the same vessel, thousands of dollars apart.

An ordinary certificate of origin will not do it either. The Commission notice states that standard certificates under Article 57 of the Union Customs Code cannot be used for this preference, so your shipper has to build a real origin file. That is the difference between a company filing export paperwork every day and one outsourcing it.

RORO, shared container, FCL, or air freight?

RORO is cheapest for a running car you do not need to pack anything into. A shared container is the value pick for most private shippers. An exclusive container is for cars you would be sick about scratching. Air freight is for cars where the freight cost is a rounding error. The choice is less about money than about what the car is and what condition it is in.

In Roll on Roll off shipping the car is driven up a ramp onto a purpose-built vessel, chocked, and driven off in Europe. It requires operational vehicles, a fuel tank under a quarter full, and an empty cabin with permanently mounted items only. RORO runs fixed schedules into fixed terminals, which is why it is fast into Bremerhaven, Antwerp, and Southampton and awkward anywhere else.

A shared container (also called a consolidated container or LCL) puts your car in a 40ft box with two to four others, and you pay for your slice. This is where most private shippers should land: enclosed protection near RORO pricing, belongings usually permitted with a packing list, and non-operational vehicles accepted. The tradeoff is timing, because consolidated containers sail when they fill. An exclusive container (FCL) sails on your schedule and opens only at destination, at roughly double the cost, and is the right call for anything rare, high-value, or freshly restored. Check the container size guide first, because a Suburban does not fit a 20ft the way people assume, and pair it with oversized freight handling if the vehicle runs long or tall. For the full method-by-method mechanics, see how to ship a car overseas.

What it costs to ship a car from the US to Europe

Ocean freight is one of four numbers. Budget the base shipping fees, the destination and port handling fees, the taxes, then registration. For anything other than a cheap car, freight is the smallest of the four.

Base shipping fees run $1,000 to $3,500 depending on method, vehicle dimensions, departure port, and destination. Add $300 to $1,200 for inland transport and vehicle collection unless you drive it to the terminal yourself. Port handling and destination charges add roughly $600 to $1,200 covering terminal handling, documentation, customs paperwork at the port of entry, and inland delivery. This is the line that quietly turns “starting at $790” into $1,600.

Then customs duties and VAT. EU import duty on a US-origin car is 0% since July 2026 with proof of origin, or 10% otherwise. Motorcycles pay 6% or 8% by engine size, or 0% if US-origin. VAT is charged on landed value including freight and is unavoidable unless relief applies. Your Europe confirms that a vehicle brought in from outside the EU attracts customs duty and import VAT like any other imported goods.

Run the arithmetic on a $30,000 US-origin sedan into Germany: freight $1,400, destination charges $650, duty $0, then 19% VAT on roughly $32,000 of landed value, about $6,080. VAT is the biggest number on the page, which is exactly why the next section matters.

The duty and VAT relief nobody quotes you

If you are moving your normal residence from the US to the EU and bringing a car you already own, both customs duty and import VAT can be relieved entirely. The customs side sits in Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 and the VAT side in Council Directive 2009/132/EC. Private motor vehicles are named explicitly in both. Four conditions apply, identical for duty and VAT, and they are strict.

People spend weeks comparing $200 differences in freight quotes while walking past a $6,000 VAT relief. If you are relocating rather than importing, this is the first conversation to have, and it is worth having with a company whose main business is moving people to Europe rather than moving cars. Confirm the detail with the customs authority in your destination country, because implementation varies.

Why registration, not shipping, breaks the budget

A US-market car has no EU Certificate of Conformity, because it was never EU type-approved. Without a COC you cannot simply register it. The Certificate of Conformity is, in the European Commission’s own words, “like the car’s birth certificate”, and on the basis of that document a vehicle can be registered anywhere in Europe.

A Ford F-150 built for the American market has no such document, so under Regulation (EU) 2018/858 it goes through individual vehicle approval, inspected as a single vehicle rather than as a type. The Dutch authority RDW puts it plainly on its import approval page: “We inspect each vehicle individually, not by type.” An EU individual approval is valid across the EU. A national one is valid only in the country that issued it.

In Germany the KBA issues the EU version and requires a test report from a designated technical service, which is where TUV, DEKRA, or GTU come in. Expect lighting changes, possible emissions and speedometer work, and a bill from a few hundred euros to several thousand depending on the car. Then vehicle registration itself, plus registration fees, plates, and in several countries a first-registration tax based on emissions. Older cars are often easier. Newer cars with driver assistance systems and different lighting rules are often harder.

Classic cars get a genuinely better deal. A vehicle at least 30 years old, in original condition, of a model no longer in production, classifies under tariff heading 9705 as a collectors’ item: 0% duty, and reduced VAT in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Austria. Not in Belgium, Italy, or Poland, where the standard rate still applies. The “0% duty and 7% VAT” line repeated in classic car forums is right for Germany and wrong for three other markets. And note that the UK sits outside the EU customs union entirely: you have 14 days to notify HMRC through the NOVA service after arrival, with fines for filing late.

Export documentation and the 72-hour rule

US Customs and Border Protection requires the vehicle and its export documentation to be presented at the port of export at least 72 hours before the ship sails. Miss it and your car does not sail, it sits. CBP’s Exporting a Motor Vehicle guidance is the authoritative reference, and worth reading once even if your shipper handles everything, because you are the exporter of record.

On the European side you will need the bill of lading, invoice or bill of sale, proof of ownership, and for registration the COC or its individual approval substitute. Marine cargo insurance is separate from carrier liability: marine cargo insurance covers declared value against actual risk, and what marine insurance covers is worth ten minutes before you book. Photograph the vehicle condition at the terminal before loading, because every damage protection claim turns on that.

Departure ports and European ports of entry

Departure port choice affects price and schedule more than most people expect, and shipping from the coast nearest the car is not always cheaper than trucking it to a port with better European sailings.

Poland, Austria, Switzerland, and inland Italy have no deep-water car terminal you would use. Cars destined there clear at Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Hamburg, or Antwerp and move inland by truck or rail. Factor that leg in, because it is real money and real time, and it is the leg quotes most often leave out. Port throughput context is published by bremenports.

Classic cars, motorcycles, EVs, and other special cases

Ship classic cars in a container, never RORO, and get a pre-purchase inspection before money changes hands if you are buying remotely. Motorcycles are crated and consolidated, so cost per unit drops sharply when you ship two or three. Electric and hybrid cars carry lithium batteries classed as dangerous goods, requiring declarations, sometimes a state-of-charge limit, and on some routes specific container types: fewer companies handle them properly than claim to, so ask directly. Non-operational vehicles are container-only, because RORO needs a car that drives on and off. Motorhomes and boats usually move RORO or break-bulk on height and length, so get dimensions measured rather than estimated from the brochure. Dealers and wholesale importers and exporters want racked container loading and a company with its own warehouses and trucking, not a broker markup on someone else’s slot.

How to choose: three questions to ask every company

A free moving estimate that covers the vehicle and the household goods together is the only way to see a real total if you are shipping both.

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line

The freight is the easy part. Six companies ship cars from the US to Europe properly, and the right one depends far more on what else you are moving than on a $200 difference in ocean rates. What actually decides your total is three things most quotes never mention: whether your car was built in America, whether you qualify for transfer-of-residence relief, and what it will cost to get a US-market car legally registered in Europe.

Get those three right and the shipping quote becomes what it should be, a line item rather than a decision. If your car is moving because you are, Sunset International Shipping is the recommended pick: one dedicated consultant, a binding flat rate, 30 days of free climate-controlled storage, and 150+ agents handling the destination side. Start with a free moving estimate covering the vehicle and the household goods together, and read the guide to moving to Europe from the USA for the visa and cost picture around it.