RideShipper does not book a car overseas

RideShipper does not book a car overseas. That includes Europe, Asia, Latin America, and a container export to a foreign port. There is no destination page for those places, and a quote request will not create one. If you need the car moved inside the United States to a port, that road leg is a domestic shipment. The export itself is a Customs process this site does not perform.

RideShipper is a comparison and quote-request service for U.S. auto transport. It is not a carrier, not a broker, not an ocean line, and not a customs broker. It does not take a deposit and does not insure the car. Companies that receive a domestic quote request may pay RideShipper. See how we make money and the terms.

What CBP requires before a used car can leave#

CBP's page on exporting a motor vehicle, opened 10 November 2026, explains 19 CFR part 192. A used self-propelled vehicle includes a car, truck, motorcycle, or motor home, among other vehicles that run on land. "Used" means title has passed from a manufacturer, distributor, or dealer to an ultimate purchaser.

The basic requirement is that the person exporting the vehicle, or an agent, must present the vehicle and the documents that describe it, including the VIN, at the port of export. Export is allowed only if those requirements are met. CBP lists narrow exemptions, including a car that entered the United States under bond, a carnet, or a temporary importation bond, and a personal exemption for certain non-residents. Read the section that matches the car. Do not assume you are exempt.

For a U.S.-titled vehicle whose title or salvage title is still in force, CBP says the owner provides the original certificate of title, or a certified copy, and two complete copies. If the car is leased, or a lien is on the record, the person who has it must also provide a separate writing from that third party. CBP says the writing must be on the third party's letterhead, describe the vehicle including the VIN, name the owner or lienholder, give phone numbers, carry an original signature, and show the date. A text message is not that writing. The lease page, shipping a leased car, is the domestic version of the same problem. Export adds the CBP letter.

Timing, from the same CBP page:

• Export by vessel or aircraft: the documents and the vehicle must be presented at least 72 hours before export.
• Export by rail, highway, or driving it across: the documents go in at least 72 hours before export, and the vehicle is presented at the time of export.

The port director decides where you present them, and publishes the hours. CBP checks the documents and marks the originals. In most cases the originals come back to you.

Vehicles that were never given a normal title, including some junk certificates and some new vehicles that only have a manufacturer's statement of origin, follow later paragraphs of the same section. The CBP page says to start at the first documentation paragraph and walk forward until you hit the paragraph that fits. That is the instruction. This site will not pick the paragraph for you.

The regulation text is in 19 CFR 192.2. CBP's narrative page is easier to read. If they ever disagree, the regulation and the port control.

What this site will not add#

We will not name an export forwarder, a container rate, or a transit time to a foreign port. We did not open a tariff that would make those numbers honest, and a foreign booking is outside the product. We will not publish a country-by-country page that pretends a U.S. truck formula reaches Hamburg or Tokyo.

Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico are easy to confuse with this refusal. They are ocean routes with their own guides: Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. Use those when the car stays in the U.S. system those pages describe. Use this page when someone has asked RideShipper to ship the car to a foreign country. The answer is no.

A domestic quote to a port city is still only the drive to the port. It does not present the car to Customs, it does not file documents, and it does not load a container. If a company offers that export, the contract and the customs broker are the place to read the offer. Look up a U.S. motor carrier's MC number for the road leg only. FMCSA registration is not a customs license.

If you are a service member with orders overseas, the government POV program is also not this page. Start with what you pay for on PCS and the transportation office. CBP's export page has a separate note for a U.S. government employee exporting a vehicle with official travel orders. That note points you to the agency's own procedure. It does not point you to a commercial quote site.

What people ask for anyway#

The requests that show up are predictable. A car to a relative in another country. A container next to household goods. A "door to door" price that quietly stops at a U.S. port. A classic that the owner wants on a ship because a truck cannot cross an ocean. The answer stays the same. RideShipper will not book it. A road quote, if you still need the car taken to a port inside the country, has to say that the destination is the port. It has to name the city. It cannot include a foreign arrival date this site does not control.

Keep the export steps with the customs broker and the port, in this order, using CBP's page rather than a checklist from a forum.

• Confirm the car is "used" under CBP's definition, or follow the paragraph for a new vehicle with a manufacturer's statement of origin.
• Get the original title, or a certified copy, and two complete copies, if a U.S. title is in force.
• If anyone else is on the title, get the letterhead permission with an original signature and the VIN. A lease and a bank lien both count.
• Present the papers and the vehicle on the port's clock. Seventy-two hours is the figure CBP states for a vessel or aircraft export. The port's window can be narrower. Call the port.
• Do not ship personal effects in the car unless the ocean carrier's dangerous-goods rules allow them. That is the carrier's rule on top of Customs. We are not listing a contents menu.

Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico remain the exception to this refusal only in the sense that they have their own guides. They are not a back door to a foreign country. A car that goes to San Juan and then onward to another country becomes an export at the point it leaves the United States for that country. Ask CBP at that port. Do not treat the Puerto Rico fare as an international fare.

RideShipper will also not store your title, file the letterhead permission, or tell a foreign buyer the car has cleared. Those are your records. If a caller says a quote on this site includes foreign clearance, they are describing a service the site does not sell. End the call and use the port.