Container Vs Roll On Roll Off

[rtune]

Container costs slightly more than twice roll on / roll off. Over $3k vs $1500.

On the one hand with a container the car can be disabled before shipping,

with roll on roll off, there is no guarantee that a wharfie won't take the car

and see how the redline sounds when it is cold.

Surprisingly, two different company reps of a roll on / roll off firm said that

joyrides were "not uncommon".. plus I have to wonder about the bumps and

ramps in a roll on / roll off ship..

Anyone with experience with either method?

[Beer Baron]

personally I would always go roro. container shipping is a waste of money for most cars, more cost and more hassle. and it's not uncommon for it to be damaged whilst being loaded into the container or whilst being carried by crane. it also can break free if not packed correctly and be damaged. about the only thing it helps protect from is sticky fingers and drivers with a leadfoot. and those two have not really been much problem for me over the years.

up to you at the end of the day. the only way I would not ship a car is via kiwi car carriers.

[rtune]

personally I would always go roro. container shipping is a waste of money for most cars, more cost and more hassle. and it's not uncommon for it to be damaged whilst being loaded into the container or whilst being carried by crane. it also can break free if not packed correctly and be damaged. about the only thing it helps protect from is sticky fingers and drivers with a leadfoot. and those two have not really been much problem for me over the years.

up to you at the end of the day. the only way I would not ship a car is via kiwi car carriers.

thanks,

I just now figured kiwi was to be avoided, unfortunate they were the first suggestion from my import broker .. roh oh.

so a skyline survives non-kiwi ro-ro without losing diffusers or getting chained down in inappropriate places?

as for lead foots, how would you know? do you check the odometers before and after?

[Beer Baron]

anyway, I have personally seen cars being loaded in japan and they are mostly little 50 year old japanese mean in funny hats who could not give a rats ass about your RX7 with TD06 or your mines built R34 GTR. they drive them all the same way they drive their honda civic to work. at about 5km/h....

they are all packed in like sardines so even if it does break loose it can't go far. plus they strap it at 4 points to the floor using fibre type straps. the ramps are pretty flat.

the only real risk to the cars is here in aus, but certainly in sydney there is not much scope for wharf workers to pinch stuff from your car and not much room to do any decent 'perfomrance testing'. if you send it out for cleaning though there is a chance if you don't know the towie he might lift something, or the cleaners might but personally I don't see it happen often.

Personally I wouldn't worry. there is very little you can do about it, it's outside of your control. so just ship it and see what happens. I know it's special to you, but to 99% of the other people involved it's 'just another shitbox' and they will treat it as such. that has positives and negatives. positives in that they won't be interested enough to bother thrashing it or pilfering it. negatives in that they wont care if they open the door straight into a pole, or back it into another car, or even just things like hopping in with dirty boots and a ciggie in the mouth.

[Beer Baron]

oh, and one more time, my advice is Mitsui OSK or NYK Line. forget kiwi. the only time i've ever had shipping problems it was with kiwi.

[kakimoto33]

All shipping methods have their risks so there are advantages and disadvantages for all of them.

Regarding Kiwi Car Carriers, they are just as risky as anyone else for shipping so I don't think there is any additional risk ... however their 'free included insurance' isn't worth anything and only tends to give people an inflated sense of security until some problems cause them to lodge a claim on the insurance, then people get seriously annoyed with the lack of service and outright rude attitude of the insurance department (myself included with a previous car I imported) ... it's the unhappy people who feel ripped off by the promise of simple insurance coverage who speak the loudest about Kiwi being the worst carrier, compared to people who incur shipping damage with other carriers and just accept it as they had no cover.

So basically there is little or no difference between any carriers, it's just that you hear more bad things from people about Kiwi compared to other shipping lines so it's easy to believe that they are the worst, and thus rumours and hearsay continue. If you ship with Kiwi then just forget about the insurance they offer and get a seperate policy elsewhere if you are worried about it, otherwise just pretend that you have no insurance and you will be just as well off as with any other carrier.

Personally I would not ship by container considering the additional cost unless the car was seriously modified and had lots of easily removable parts for the thieves out there. When choosing from RORO carriers it's more a case of who has space soonest for the car rather than who is better or worse, and I often end up going with Kiwi myself again because they are the easiest to deal with and have more ships heading this way each month.

In your case there may be other reasons to use Kiwi specifically or reasons to not use them, this is something that only your broker can advise on as they are the only ones that know your situation exactly, so although you can gather other peoples opinions here you should still talk with your broker about your specific situation.

[Iron Chef]

^^^Well said.

[kakimoto33]

Also with that said it depends on your car too ... if you are importing an absolutely unusually mint condition car or something rare as anything then it could well be worth paying the extra for a container regardless.

[Beer Baron]

lol, you probably present a more balanced view than me. but kiwi have fked me around one too many times. plus they only deliver to brisbane which is bloody useless if like me you live in any other state in australia. most of the times I've had cars fcked with on kiwi I am fairly sure it occured between QLD and Sydney not on the ship, or on the docks. and then it takes a bloody week to get it from qld to sydney and now you have to trek out and pick it up from their yard. lame. you are also right about the insurance. what a joke. I don't know of anybody who has successfully claimed any money out of them.

[rtune]

anyway, I have personally seen cars being loaded in japan and they are mostly little 50 year old japanese mean in funny hats who could not give a rats ass about your RX7 with TD06 or your mines built R34 GTR. they drive them all the same way they drive their honda civic to work. at about 5km/h....

Yeah i entirely trust the japanese side, I worked in Japan for 3 years and a country that employs geriatrics to clean public garbage bins with spray bottles and toweling isn't going to be dicking around with my car. It is the brisbane/sydney dock side I'm more worried about.

As an importer you like everyone else in the industry has zero emotional investment in your cars, as they arrive is as they arrive and they're just tin to you guys. But as a personal import when you see the pictures of how it is right now, getting it beaten up in transit, even a door ding, isn't welcome. I just got a bunch of furniture from overseas that was smashed by sydney dock workers into firewood. They don't give a crap. Your pics are great, the ship is great, they angle it up the ramp. All great.

But at the australia end of the business? quarantine? moving them around the docks? hmm..

[Beer Baron]

well if you are shipping to sydney definitely look at using a line that ships direct. the less people/companies that handle the car the better.

the docks in sydney have been tightened up a lot. you can no longer just sign in and then roam around in there. thanks to terrorism you have to have a MSIC card which costs about $350 and takes a bit of dicking around to get, so really only people who have a need to be on the wharf, will be on the wharf.

as I said, it's a risk but there is little (nothnig) you can do to help it. anything obvious like guages, or boost controllers just remove in japan and get them posted back to you, same goes with spare keys and log books.

[kakimoto33]

As an importer you like everyone else in the industry has zero emotional investment in your cars, as they arrive is as they arrive and they're just tin to you guys. But as a personal import when you see the pictures of how it is right now, getting it beaten up in transit, even a door ding, isn't welcome.

I hope that comment was not directed at us because I take great offence to that ... I agree that 'most' import brokers just see your car as a thing being sold to earn them money, but we take great pride in being car enthusiasts first and foremost, and the same can be said for only a couple of other specific brokers out there who actually care about what they are doing. We care greatly about our customers and their cars and love nothing more than hearing that you are happy with your car, seeing photos from previous clients as they do mods to their cars, and meet with clients are various cruises and club events to see them in person.

Please keep in mind that as much as you are an individual buyer with you unique requirements and concerns, we are individual brokers/importers too and should not just be lumped together under one category as being 'uncaring and insensitive' just because most are like that or you have found one broker to be like that in the past.

If you wanted a more detailed opinion of what we believe would be good options for you regardless of who you are using as a broker then let me know details of your car and specific situation so I can give more targetted advice, otherwise PM me your phone number and I will call you to discuss the options and possibilities in more detail.

[rtune]

I hope that comment was not directed at us because I take great offence to that ... I agree that 'most' import brokers just see your car as a thing being sold to earn them money, but we take great pride in being car enthusiasts first and foremost, and the same can be said for only a couple of other specific brokers out there who actually care about what they are doing.

fair enough.

What I meant was if u import lots of stock to comply and then sell locally u must take a more dispassionate view of the risks / costs of various shipping solutions than if u are doing this once only and its your own car. I'm sure you are top notch in your customer care.

[kakimoto33]

fair enough.

What I meant was if u import lots of stock to comply and then sell locally u must take a more dispassionate view of the risks / costs of various shipping solutions than if u are doing this once only and its your own car. I'm sure you are top notch in your customer care.

Sorry I jumped the gun a little there, I just get so upset with people always saying that they had some shocking experience with another broker so therefore we must also be dodgy and it gets to you after a while ... in any case I see where you are coming from and it doesn't apply to us as we don't import any cars for stock or anything, we only help individual customers look for and purchase individual cars so we feel an attachment to each car and it's owner specifically.

Anyway, the offer still stands to talk you through shipping options in more detail if you wanted a well experienced opinion from a third party without any other involvement?

[Pattygtst]

Dont worry Craig for those of us who have had the pleasure of dealing with J-Spec we know how you run your business, you guys are very understanding and thorough . I was absolutely stoked with J-spec services and love the car. I really just cant wait to get another one and take part in some happy bidding on those great auctions.

Good work J-Spec

[Xmetal]

I too went down the RORO road since I couldn't justify the added cost of using a container. I used J-Spec as the broker and Kiwi as the shipping line and the only gripes i've got about the Kiwi is there is what looks like a door ding in the rear-right passenger door on my car and somewhere along the line I lost a turbo timer. I can't fault J-Spec at all, they were there every step of the way and i'd happily use them again. (maybe in a few years when I want an M35 Stagea)

My car: http://www.j-spec.com.au/list/index.php?ID=10187

Thanks Craig!

Ian

[Dicer]

it takes a bloody week to get it from qld to sydney and now you have to trek out and pick it up from their yard. lame.

It took 2 days to get mine to Melbourne from Bris with Kiwi from the day it cleared customs. The depot wasn't near and would have been a pain for me to get to, so I just got my compliancer to organise it heh.