Car Shipping to Canada

Why ship a car to Canada from the UK

Ship Cars RoRo is a specialist UK vehicle export company moving cars, SUVs, classics, motorbikes and light commercials to Canada every month. The Americas combine three very different sub-markets: North American collector and 25-year-rule buyers, Latin American returning-resident imports, and Caribbean private importers. Container shipping dominates due to Gulf and Pacific routings, while RORO is concentrated on the Halifax, New York and Baltimore corridors. Typical clients on this lane include Caribbean diplomatic missions, alongside private owners relocating to Canada and returning residents importing a personal vehicle. Our UK-to-Canada corridor is engineered around predictable transit, transparent pricing and full compliance with Canada customs.

Vehicles depart from Southampton, Bristol (Portbury), Felixstowe and arrive at Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and 1 more port via Panama Canal transit to the Pacific seaboard. Typical door-to-port turnaround is 12–16 days to halifax/montreal (east coast), supported by marine all-risks insurance, GPS-tracked UK collection and bonded warehousing where required. For an instant indication of cost, use our car shipping cost calculator or request a tailored quote on our quote page.

How UK to Canada car shipping works

Every shipment to Canada follows the same six-step pipeline: free quotation, UK collection or self-drop at Southampton, bonded UK warehousing and pre-shipment photos, HMRC NOVA / C88 export clearance handled by our UK customs clearance team, ocean transit to Halifax (and onward feeder to Montreal where required), and destination customs handover. You choose the shipping mode that best matches the vehicle profile and budget — see the full breakdown on our car shipping costs page or compare live RORO sailing dates to Canada.

Canada ports, routing and transit

Vehicles bound for Canada are typically routed through Halifax as the lead discharge port, with Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver available as alternatives depending on sailing schedule and onward inland transport. We schedule loads to match weekly RORO sailing schedules to Canada and consolidated shared container departures from the UK. For sole-use loads we book 20ft and 40ft container slots on the same rotation.

• Port of Halifax
• Port of Montreal
• Port of Toronto
• Port of Vancouver
• UK departure: Southampton
• UK departure: Tilbury
• UK departure: Bristol (Portbury)

Canada import duty, VAT and customs in 2026

Importing a vehicle into Canada is regulated and document-driven. The headline framework is summarised below; our team verifies every figure against the latest Canada customs schedule before quoting.

• EPA, DOT, Transport Canada and INMETRO compliance
• 25-year and 15-year classic-import exemptions
• Customs bonds, brokers and HS code 8703 classification
• Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific routings via Panama Canal

Document checklist for Canada

• V5C registration
• Passport or photo ID
• Commercial invoice
• Bill of Lading
• Form 1 (CBSA import declaration)
• RIV form

For full country-specific customs rules, see our Canada import guides and articles, our UK and Canada customs clearance service, or use the duty-inclusive cost calculator for a landed estimate to Halifax.

Other Americas destinations from the UK

We ship to 8+ other Americas countries from the UK on the same trade lanes as Canada. Many customers shipping to Canada also enquire about USA, Mexico because routing, customs documentation and transit windows overlap.