If you are moving to another country for business or personal reasons, you may want to take your vehicle with you when you go. You will need to take care of all the necessary paperwork, such as obtaining your passport, finding and securing your new home or apartment, and deciding what items in your home that you will want to take with you. Since you cannot drive your vehicle across the waters, you will need to hire an auto transport carrier company to ship it over for you.
Shipping a vehicle by sea is not an easy task, and you need to have a professional auto transport company handling it from the beginning in order to avoid a potential mix up in location or damaging your car with other vehicles that are not secured during the trip.
First Things First: Get a Blanket
It sounds cliché but it is true, the first thing you will want to do is protect your investment by purchasing a car blanket. This blanket will drape over your vehicle and protect it along the way so that the elements of weather and or debris from the surroundings on the boat are not going to harm it. If you are sending your vehicle across the waters, you have no idea how rough of a trip it is going to be or how much weather will be in the path. The more protection you can have for your vehicle, the better off you will be.
Don’t Forget About That Last Wash!
Before you can send your vehicle aboard a ship to go to another country, you will need to prepare your vehicle. To prepare your vehicle, the paperwork will need to be filled out, the vehicle must be cleaned out, and you will need to wash your vehicle thoroughly both inside and out. The dirt and grime on your vehicle, if left, could cause the vehicle to rust or leave scarring spots. Take into consideration the salty ocean air as its in transit and you have a serious problem.
Keep a Detailed Record
Take a look at your vehicle as you wash it. Note and take pictures of all the defective areas, scratches, and damage done to the vehicle already. You will need to also let the auto transport company know about it as well. You should always have a record of everything that involves your vehicle from the tiniest scratch to the largest dent. You can take photos or you can actually video tape the damage for record.
Remove All Your Personal Belongings
Be sure that nothing is left inside the vehicle before it is ready to drive on board. The vehicle will be inspected again and again over the course of the trip and you don’t want it to be detained and delayed because you forgot to clean out the inside. You want to protect your belongings inside the vehicle and to do that, you have to clean it out. You will be allowed to leave the spare tire, the tire iron, and the floor mats. Everything else should be out of the car.
