Shipping from UK to North America

[Cazian Travel]

Hi folks, we are tentatively planning to ship the van to North America next year. Just wondering if anyone here has done that? it would be interesting to hear of peoples experiences?

 

[Janine]

ceejayt has done it!

 

[pappajohn]

A few have done, they'll be along shortly with their experience.
I think shipping fees are around £100 per foot in length, plus shipping agents fees and insurance.
It will of course restrict where your van will go then you have your air fares to get you to the sea port your van is going .

 

[ceejayt]

Hi folks, we are tentatively planning to ship the van to North America next year. Just wondering if anyone here has done that? it would be interesting to hear of peoples experiences?

It was relatively easy, there is a thread on here somewhere but my blog with details is no longer there. I will pop down some pointers for you tomorrow when I am more awake

 

[Bessy765]

Sea ridge run from Liverpool to Halifax, then Baltimore.

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[ceejayt]

We did 6 months and we used Seabridge - they specialise in shipping motorhomes and one big plus is you can stack your motorhome garage full of your stuff to ship with it. General shipping of vehicles requires them to be empty. You will find their details on the web and they also come to shows at the NEC.

They speak good English and are very helpful. They also organise your vehicle insurance for the period you are there. NB the insurance is expensive - it will come as a shock but there really is only one provider. You will also have the cost of insuring your vehicle on the ferry (yes, its a Ro Ro ferry) and depending on the value that can be expensive. You could not do it but if you google how many ships disappear each year you will probably take the insurance.

We had no roadside recovery and it didn't seem like we could get any. We did have a couple of issues but RV dealers are everywhere and sorted us out same day.

You have lots of choices as to where and how to ship. In the end we shipped ours out of Rotterdam to Baltimore and we shipped back from Halifax NS to Liverpool.

Seabridge have a guy meet you when it is time to collect your motorhome - you are not allowed into the docks - he has to go and drive it out. That all went pretty much without a hitch. You have too allow a few days leeway for the ship arriving as it depends on weather etc.

 

[ceejayt]

Advice once there...

We covered 15,000 miles in our 6 months including Route 66 then up the West coast and across Canada (you are covered for Canada as well). Two things to join Good Sams - gives you a discount on their affiliated campsites - join at any one of their sites and secondly join the National Parks scheme which gives you free entry into the National (not State) parks - you will save a small fortune.

RV parks are very expensive compared to here - because they generally provide huge electric hook ups and mains water - you either need to survive on battery or buy a transformer (Seabridge can supply) to take 110v to 220v. This worked fine for us except it doesn't give a good sine wave so wouldn't work the microwave and phones etc were better off charged on 12v.

State parks and various other places like army land are free to cheap. Many Walmarts allow overnight parking and Casinos are great - even get a free breakfast at some. Mix it up and enjoy it!

 

[ceejayt]

Visas - this takes some time you will need to apply through the US embassy - you do this initially online - allows you to stay for up to 6 months and lasts for ten years. Once you have applied don't wait for them to get back to you - they won't, you have to check on line to see when they are ready for you to make an appointment.

You will get a timed slot and as a result think this is very efficient. roblem, hundreds of people get the same time slot so expect to be spending a few hours in the embassy in at east 4 queues before you get out. Queue 1 to get to see if you have an appointment, queue 2 to go through security, queue three to check your paperwork and queue 4 to get authorised where they take your passports away and then you get them back in the post.

 

[ceejayt]

There are some excellent apps for locating places and the country is very RV friendly as you can imagine. I will look out which apps I used most and send you a short list. PM me any specific questions and I will get back to you

 

[New Street]

This is very interesting. I'm also planning to take Gloria, she that should be delivered next week from Germany, to the US next February. I fancy leaving her there for a year or more and travelling back to the UK or out of the US as necessary to reboot the visa but this is something I've not yet worked on.

Seabridge insurance is of interest but I've read a lot of information on tuckstruck.net he's also very informative.

Ceejayt did you ever leave and return and can I ask if your 6m visa was a standard visitor visa?

Comments appreciated.

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[Langtoftlad]

Presumably shipping your own van was more cost effective than hiring an RV for 6 months or even buying/selling one ?

 

[New Street]

Well tbh I've had enough of sleeping in someone else's bed or using someone else's toilet. I like my own stuff in its own place. Not really concerned with a cost/benefit analysis.

Comments welcome.

 

[ceejayt]

The visa is a ten year tourist visa - you can do no better than that - allows you to spend up to 180 days in the US (do NOT overstay) before having toe exit. Exiting to Canada does NOT reset the visa, I think Mexico does but you would need to check that. You only need to exit for a very short period and you can spend as many 180 day periods as you like.

Know nothing about tuckstruck, just make sure that when shipping you can ship the motorhome full. Not only did we have the garage full of stuff we had the rear area of the motorhome with a padlock and that was also full of stuff.

Front f the motorhome had to have nothing in it.

So, no problem in coming and going you just need to have somewhere safe to store your vehicle and that would not be hard to find.

 

[ceejayt]

Presumably shipping your own van was more cost effective than hiring an RV for 6 months or even buying/selling one ?

Definitely!

 

[ceejayt]

Well tbh I've had enough of sleeping in someone else's bed or using someone else's toilet. I like my own stuff in its own place. Not really concerned with a cost/benefit analysis.

Comments welcome.

Absolutely! We had previously hired in Canada - expensive and uncomfortable - would not do that again

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[New Street]

My camper has double locked garage doors and I intend on making the little door under the bed super secure and yes, clearing everything from the hab unit.

It seems secure parking is readily available across US but I haven't yet looked into insurance whilst stored there. More to do.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[ceejayt]

Apps: the one we used the most was probably Allstays.

 

[ceejayt]

Mobile and internet :

the best deal at the tine we went was t mobile. It was pay as you go $60 a month sim only calls and internet plus you could top up if you needed to but it did give us enough 4G most of the time. Set it all up in the t mobile shop very easy. If you have a spare phone then good to keep one on U.K. and one for the US.
No good in Canada and some states in the US Occasionally used roaming on my Vodafone where no other signal.

 

[Cazian Travel]

Hi ceejayt, thank you so much for all of the useful information.

 

[ceejayt]

You’re welcome. PM me for anything else

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[Coastal Cruiser.]

How was the van when you collected it? I bought a car from the States and they ripped the chassis when it was strapped down and it had some scratches on it.
I paid for the insurance but the excess made it not worth claiming

We are hopefully going for 6 months in about 4-5 years time, been dozens of times on holidays and always wanted to go around in an RV obviously with MX bike in the garage

Have our own now so rather take that.

 

[ceejayt]

It’s a Fo Ro ferry. Driven on and driven off. No damage.

 

[Mr porky]

whats the gas situation I wonder when you have a gas low or gas it system. Are you allowed to transport the system full if at all ?

 

[Mr porky]

How was the van when you collected it? I bought a car from the States and they ripped the chassis when it was strapped down and it had some scratches on it.
I paid for the insurance but the excess made it not worth claiming

We are hopefully going for 6 months in about 4-5 years time, been dozens of times on holidays and always wanted to go around in an RV obviously with MX bike in the garage

Have our own now so rather take that.

I also wonder would you have to ship a scooter/motorbike separately or can it be carried in the garage area ?

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

I also wonder would you have to ship a scooter/motorbike separately or can it be carried in the garage area ?

I would have though empty the fluids and you would be ok to ship.

Could not see any reason why UK insurance would not cover it.

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[ceejayt]

Would not be a problem if it was in the garage

 

[Mr porky]

Watching this thread with interest, however we wouldnt be looking to go till 2023.
Although I would imagine a lot of the information would be still relevant.

 

[ByronMH]

ceejayt - Can you confirm the correct URL for SeaBridge? It seems there are a few businesses going by the same name. I presume it's the German one? https://seabridge-tours.de/html/verschiffung.php?language=english

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

It’s a Fo Ro ferry. Driven on and driven off. No damage.

My car was, they still managed to damage it
I like the way they charge you to carry it then give the option of insuring it for any damage while they have it!!

Think I paid around £350 for marine insurance

 

[Pirahna]

Mobile and internet :

I went for 3 months a couple of years ago, cycling not van. I survived on wi-fi for everything, all calls were made with WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.