In most cases, we recommend roll-on roll-off for shipping cars, as this is how all new vehicles are shipped worldwide. It's cost-effective and shipped on purpose-built car carriers. But this shipping method is designed to ship just cars, and not any inner cargo, like household goods. That's when containers are best.
If you have personal belongings you want to ship with your car, or your car is non-operational, or a classic, then a sole-use 20’ container is recommended. This allows you to load anything from spare parts to a motorcycle, or boxes of your household goods.
The right way to pack a container
Before you start loading up your car, keep in mind that everything will need to come out on arrival for Quarantine, and or Customs inspection. So, don’t just fill it up. Everything needs to be accounted for and manifested for Customs, and in boxes. Each box should be marked i.e. If you have 5 boxes, mark them 1/5, 2/5, etc. We will need you to provide us with a list of contents for each box and approximate values. When packed this way it makes it easy for everyone to ensure that if 10 cartons, a car, and a motorcycle are loaded, that on arrival all cargo is outturned and nothing is missing. When done the right way it makes Quarantine inspection easy, as they only need to open boxes that have items of interest in them.
How much space will be in the container?
Every car is different, and there is no exact way to know how much space will be spare in the container after loading. If you’re shipping a Ute, for example, this will give you considerably more available space in the container than a sedan. Again, keep everything on the Ute tray boxed or in tool chests. As a guide, you should be able to fit 3-4m3 depending on box size etc, behind the back of the car.
