How to Choose the Right Shipping Method for Car Exports? | GVE London – Blog

Exporting cars from the UK has been a rising trend in 2024, continuing into 2025. The universal love for cars built in Great Britain has been the biggest contributor to this trend, but let’s also give credit to how incredibly convenient the process of transporting a large metal chunk with an engine across the ocean and to another country has become. Logistics companies have done wonders in today’s time. However, now we face a different kind of problem: the problem of choice. Which shipping method should you opt for? Let’s solve that dilemma in this blog.

What Options Do We Have?

Let’s talk about all the shipping methods we have available to us to begin with. Now, while shipping technically refers to the transport of goods across the sea, we’re using it in its colloquial way, which essentially encompasses all of the various modes of transport available for goods, like air travel, road transport, and, of course, sea shipping. Here are the options available:

By Land (Road Transport)

We’re assuming that the car will not be driven by yourself, though many enthusiasts do that as well. By road, the best option available is hiring a company that can transport cars using flatbed trucks. There are two options here:

• Enclosed Transport: More expensive but offers better protection for the car.
• Open-Air Transport: Cheaper but the car is exposed to the elements, leaving it vulnerable to road debris.

By Air

Air travel is expensive—let’s make that clear right off the bat. This method of transport is called air freight, and it’s usually reserved for super expensive vehicles or when time is a major crunch.

By Sea

This is the most popular and effective way of transporting vehicles from one country to another—via the sea. Shipping offers plenty of options to choose from, unlike the other two options in this blog so far. We’ve got:

• RoRo Shipping: RoRo, or Roll-on/Roll-off shipping, is the most affordable and common way of shipping a car. The car is placed on a specialised transport ship, secured in place, and driven off at its destination port. Hence the “roll on, roll off.” While it is cost-effective, it’s generally suited only for standard or commercial vehicles.
• Container Shipping: Container shipping is arguably the best, on average, form of shipping available. The car is loaded onto a shipping container, which protects it from the environment as well as tampering. It’s one of the preferred methods for luxury car exports.

Read Also: Essential Checklist for Exporting Vehicles from the UK

Which Method to Choose?

So, the question remains: which shipping method should you opt for? Well, the answer largely depends on what kind of car you’re shipping and how quickly it needs to reach its destination. If you’re transporting a general vehicle with no rush, RoRo shipping any day. It’s cost-effective and gets the job done. While companies try their best not to damage the cars on any level, a scratch here and there wouldn’t matter for a general-purpose vehicle.

For luxury car exports, and as a trade showroom ourselves, we recommend using Container Shipping or Air Freight for high-performance and luxury cars. A single scratch can greatly depreciate the value of a supercar, which is equivalent to an investment in itself.

The choice between container shipping and air freight can boil down to the time available as well as the budget.

Conclusion

There are a lot more nuances to every shipping project, other than merely selecting a shipping method. Feel free to get in touch with GVE London, West London’s premier supercar service centre, which is also a trade showroom. We can not only prepare your vehicle for export in-house, but also make all the required arrangements, so the process is as hassle-free for you as possible. For all your service, wrapping, repair, detailing, or modification requirements, contact GVE London!