Car/Vehicle Shipping Cost from Los Angeles, California to Berlin

Shipping a car from the USA to Germany generally costs $1,000 to $2,500+ for the base transport, depending on method (cheaper Roll-On/Roll-Off (Ro-Ro) vs. secure Container), but you must also budget for significant German import duties (10% duty + 19% VAT) on the vehicle's value, plus destination fees (around $500-$800) and registration costs, easily adding thousands more. Expect total landed costs (shipping + duties/taxes) to range from around $2,000 to well over $5,000+ depending on your car's value and size.

Transit Times for Car Shipments to Germany: 2 weeks for customs clearance and container loading in the USA. An additional week for shared container service. 2–3 weeks sailing time from the East Coast to Bremerhaven. 5–10 weeks sailing time from the West Coast to Bremerhaven.

The cheapest way to ship a car internationally is generally Roll-on/Roll-off (RORO), where cars drive onto and off the ship, costing around $900-$2,500+ depending on destination, as it avoids packaging and crane costs. For more protection, Shared Container shipping (grouping cars) is the next cheapest, while booking through platforms like Shiply or using companies with price matching, like SGT Auto Transport or Sherpa, can also find competitive rates.