The Guide to Shipping Your Car from Puerto Rico to the US (2024)

Auto transport basics

Shipping your car somewhere takes the difficulty of getting your car from point A to point B. In many cases, you will have the decision to ship your car or drive it yourself. Unfortunately, when you are talking about getting your car from Puerto Rico to the United States, that is not the case as you need to have your car shipped in this direction.

However, you won’t need to worry though because vehicle shipping is an easy enough process.

The process generally goes as follows when shipping from Puerto Rico to the United States:

1. You book your shipment online or by phone
2. You prepare for your shipment by getting the necessary documents ready, removing personal items from your car, making sure there is not more than a quarter tank of gas in the vehicle and getting your car cleaned.
3. Your car is dropped off at the port and loaded on the ship.
4. Your car ships and arrives at the port where it is either picked up by you or loaded onto an auto carrier truck where it will be shipped to your delivery address.

Depending on your specific shipment details, your shipment will take several days up to several weeks. Your specific transit time estimation will be provided to you when you get a quote or speak to a representative over the phone.

Shipping your car from Puerto Rico to the United States

The overall process for shipping your car from Puerto Rico to the United States is pretty straight forward. You also won’t need to worry about any “excise tax” when you are shipping in this direction.

You will book your shipment, get your documents ready, take your car to the port and then the rest is on your car shipping company. Your car can be delivered either to your home or business in the United States or to the Jacksonville, Florida port or Pennsauken, New Jersey port. If you choose to only have the car delivered to the port, you will need to go pick it up. So, we do recommend having it delivered to your door, although the choice is yours.

Generally, any vehicle shipment to the United States will take between a week and two and a half weeks, approximately. This is primarily dependent on where you are shipping your car to.

For example, shipping your car to Florida from Puerto Rico will take about 6 to 8 days, depending on the exact delivery location as well as things like carrier availability. However, if you were shipping your car to Vermont it would take approximately 14 to 18 days for your vehicle to arrive. Keep in mind all shipping dates are just approximations and it could take an extra couple of days for your car to arrive. You can get a free quote here with a more specific approximation of transit time here.

While your car is shipping to the US, it will be secured safely inside the hull of ship to make sure it has the maximum amount of protection from the elements outside of the ship. If you chose to have it delivered to your door, it will be placed on an auto carrier truck once it arrives at the American port and will then be driven the rest of the way.

Tips for shipping your car from Puerto Rico to the United States

Here are a few tips for shipping your car from Puerto Rico to the United States so that the shipping process will be as smooth as possible:

• Have all your documents ready when you drop your car off at the port – When you are dropping your car off at the San Juan port, you will need your documentation. So, be sure that you take the following with you to the port:
  • License
  • Booking confirmation
  • Vehicle title
  • Proof of ownership
• Be sure your car is empty before you drop it off – Unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to ship anything in your vehicle when you are shipping from Puerto Rico to the US. So, be sure your car is empty. Things like CDs or a GPS might not break the rules, but they won’t be covered by the shipping insurance if they are damaged or lost so be sure to remove those sorts of things as well.
• Make sure the car is clean prior to dropping it off – When you drop your car off at the San Juan port, it will need to be inspected for pre-existing damage. It makes it much more difficult and takes more time to do this if the car isn’t clean.
• Prepare to be without your car for the appropriate amount of time – As mentioned earlier, your car shipment could take between 6 and 18 days. Be sure that you make arrangements that allow you to get around for that time without your vehicle.
• Be sure you will be there for your delivery – You will need to make sure that you are at your delivery location, wherever it is in the US, when your car arrives for drop-off. If you are not, you could end up without your car for an extended period of time.

Conclusion

Shipping your car from Puerto Rico to the United States is the only way to get it there. Thankfully, you won’t need to worry much at all because the car shipping process is made easy by people like the experts at Puerto Rico Car transport. You will need some minimal involvement and preparation but that is a small price to pay for getting your car where it needs to be.

If you need to ship your car from Puerto Rico to the US or from the United States to Puerto Rico, give us a call today at (904) 322-7644.