We are thinking about shipping our Van to Europe next Spring. We will spend six months exploring Europe before having it shipped back. My questions to all of you are:
Have you shipped your Van to Europe?
If so, which transit company did you use?
Were there any issues?
How did you insure your Van while in Europe?
Would you do it again? (this is the big one...)
Have you shipped your Van to Europe? Yes, in 2022 from Newark to Antwerp
If so, which transit company did you use? Int'l Shipping Services, LLC
Were there any issues? Only that the ship was delayed which caused us to rebook our flight and accommodations.
How did you insure your Van while in Europe? We used tourinsure.de and it was fine, but we didn't have any claims or incidents.
Would you do it again? Yes. In fact I am shipping my Sprinter from Baltimore to Southampton later this month.
We used a customs broker in Antwerp to speed along the process and it was well worth the $200ish spent. Their agent (Karl) drove us from their office in central Antwerp to the port and handled all of the details required to get the van through customs, inspections, and tedious paperwork. The whole process took about 90 minutes. Other people have reported being bogged down for several hours with a lot of uncertainty and frustration.
Our agent advised us to remove our US license plates next time because they are a popular item to steal while the van is in transit. He suggested replacing the real plates with color copies that have been clear laminated.
He also said to be sure that the route taken by the ship does not include any ports in Africa. Apparently, his company has seen serious theft of contents at those ports. In general, try to book a ship that makes as few stops as possible en route to your final destination.
We reworked the van's garage by screwing a temporary panel across the storage space inside the rear doors to create a secure area for our kitchen gear, clothing, and other cargo. Who knows if that was really necessary, but we would do it again for peace of mind..
To minimize our time in Schengen countries we immediately crossed the channel and spent two months in the UK. Then back to Belgium, France, and Italy for Christmas with my daughter and her in-laws. We took the van on an overnight ferry from Brandisi to Greece and then on to Türkiye for two months before making our way back to Italy by way of Albania. Castles, Roman ruins, and meeting wonderful people every day!
The whole trip was a little over six months with only about 65 days in the Schengen region, so well under the maximum of 90 days allowed. We had a couple of easily fixed maintenance and repair issues, but that was not a surprise for a 2009 170 high roof with 120,000 miles. We had a few tight squeezes on the narrow roads in England and we got hung up in a frantic tight turn around in Istanbul, but that's all part of the adventure.
Sprinterating is the best way to travel internationally if versatility, spontaneity, and continuity are important to you. After all, you get to spend every night in your own bed while seeing the world at a relaxed pace and spending next to nothing on food and transportation.
For me, there is no question of whether to ship my own van versus renting or short term buying a van.
Picking up the van at the port in Antwerp with Karl the customs broker
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