Shipping a Classic Jaguar XK from the UK to New Zealand

The XK120, XK140 and XK150 are amongst the most sought-after classic Jaguars in New Zealand's collector market, which has historically embraced British sports cars due to the country's colonial motoring heritage and strong owners' club culture through organisations like the Jaguar Drivers' Club of New Zealand. UK-sourced XKs, particularly matching-numbers cars with original bodywork rather than XK150s that have undergone heavy restoration, attract strong prices at Auckland and Christchurch classic auctions, often NZ$80,000–NZ$160,000 for well-documented examples.

Given the age, value and often non-running status of many XKs being sold for restoration, we ship exclusively via container rather than RORO for this route. The vehicle is loaded at our Southampton facility, wheel-strapped and, for particularly valuable or fragile examples, wrapped and additionally secured with timber cradling. Transit to Auckland or Tauranga typically takes 30–38 days via major shipping lines.

New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) enforces some of the strictest biosecurity rules in the world for imported vehicles. Every classic car arriving must be thoroughly cleaned of soil, plant matter, insects and animal contamination before shipment — MPI routinely rejects vehicles for minor issues like grass seeds trapped in the chassis or mud in the wheel arches, resulting in costly quarantine cleaning charged at the border (often NZ$200–NZ$500). We steam-clean the underside, engine bay and wheel arches of every classic vehicle before container loading specifically to avoid this.

Vehicles over 20 years old are generally exempt from New Zealand's frontal impact and side impact standards, which simplifies compliance for XKs by decades. However, the vehicle must still pass an entry certification inspection through an approved New Zealand agency confirming structural integrity, safety of modifications, and correct VIN/chassis identification before it can be registered and warranted for road use. Left-hand-drive XKs (rare, but present in some export-market cars) face additional restrictions and are generally harder to register than the original right-hand-drive configuration most UK cars retain.

A dedicated container shipment for a single XK from Southampton to Auckland typically costs £2,800–£3,600 including origin handling and ocean freight, with shared container options from £1,800–£2,400 if timing flexibility works for you. New Zealand duty on classic vehicles over 20 years old is generally nil for customs duty with GST of 15% still applicable on the CIF value plus freight. Use our cost calculator for a full UK-side estimate.