Shipping to Germany

[Hilarius]

I need to have a wooden box, containing a steering tube and box, to be shipped from Cleveland, OH, to Berlin, Germany. The box weighs 70 pounds and is 59" long x 11" wide x 11" high.
Fedex and Ups charge about $ 700.00 for air freight which is too much for me by far. Any suggestions??
Hilarius #26898

[Dave Shepherd]

Using a shipping broker my friend sent a 70 Pontiac bumper to Austria for 350.00 last year.  I will get the name of the outfit, but this was here in upstate NY, 200 from miles from NYC. It went by boat to Germany then by train to Austria.  He got a quote of 900.00 from Fedex.

[Classic]

I used FreightQuote.com once for shipping a Cadillac rear axle and rear springs from Texas to Indiana and was very pleased with price and delivery.  Mine actually got shipped by air freight even though I only asked for trucking and paid the truck rate.  But read reviews of them.  Some are not happy with them.  They can be pushy, but I'd use them again.  Make sure your weight and dimensions are correct.  Charges for being overweight or oversize are substantial.  I actually overestimated weight and size just to be safe.

[Classic]

I've been advised  that FreightQuote.com now only delivers to North America locations.  So that possible solution won't work.  Sorry.  But if you call them, they might be able to recommend someone else for shipment to Germany.

[tozerco]

Hilmar,

A tip from someone at the bottom of the world:

We have a very competent and kindly Gent down here who imports cars from the US to Oz. Those cars generally have empty trunks and empty back seats so it has become very easy to fill them with other people's car bits.

I am collecting a large wooden box with a crankshaft (including counterweights) courtesy of some help from that other gentleman, John Washburn, next Thursday after a trip from Long Beach Cal. to Sydney Oz.... for $120 (that includes duties this end).

Fedex and UPS were well over $1,000.

Soooooo... contact someone who regularly imports cars from the US to Germany and ask if they will put them in the trunk of their next shipment.

[Dave Shepherd]

Try this outfit, this is who my friend used to ship to Germany. http://www.ipsparcel.com/

[Jay Friedman]

Cleveland is a seaport via the St. Lawrence Seaway, so there should be ships leaving there for Europe.  I suggest you look in the local yellow pages under Freight Forwarders and give one of them a call to see if they could handle your shipment by sea freight which is usually a lot cheaper than air freight. 

Alternatively, you might be able to get a cheaper quote for air freight if you contact directly the freight department of one of the major airlines that flies to Europe, such as Delta or United.   

[62droptop]

when i bought my car in england and had i shipped to canada, they would not allow anything not part of the car in the trunk, i guess they didnt want the liability of anything going missing or moving around damaging the car if the sea got rough

also dont forget about customs issues of the country the parts being sent to

i guess different shippers have different rules
would be a great way to ship stuff on the cheap though

i called usps and canada post about shipping 2 sets of brake shoes to NZ, from detroit area, 10kg box, it would have been over $100 and 4-6 weeks delivery,
i think that was by canoe
overseas shipping is a real ripoff for sure

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

go to www.ups-scs.com
that is a little known UPS consolidation service.
If you cant figure out how to do it (there are a few things you have to figure out) then contact Windy at www.cadillac-service.com He is in GERMANY doing Cadillac parts and service, he uses a consolidation service on the east coast. MAYBE you can send it to his service and get it to him for your customer.

[Jeff Wilk]

For parts you can also try and google Pak Mail Logistics. They have great connections worldwide   Did you simply try the usps?  Ive recd many overseas boxes through the regular. Ountry to. Ountry postal services with no problems.

[Hilarius]

Thanks everybody for their helpful advice. It is true, shippers don't like to take boxes aboard cars to be shipped overseas.
I asked Windy over here in Germany, but he wouldn't ship any other parts than the ones he bought himself.
I tried jps-parcel and they charge $ 234 for sea/land transport.
The best bet,yet, was, indeed, USPS. I wouldn't have believed it!! They want $ 169 priority mail intnl.
I am waiting for one or two shipping companie's quotes, yet, like Rinkens, and then decide, whom to employ.
Many thanks, again to everyone and Happy Easter Holidays!
Hilmar.

[76eldo]

I have shipped large parts to Europe and even Saudi Arabia and I always use USPS.  I have had buyers in the past use their own DHL shipping account number for parts that they wanted shipped.

The only risk with using USPS is that there is no tracking after the item leaves the US.  With the other carriers there is tracking all the way to the destination.

Brian