Car Shipping to Colombia

Why ship a car to Colombia from the UK

The Ship Cars is a specialist UK vehicle export company moving cars, SUVs, classics, motorbikes and light commercials to Colombia every month. Trans-Atlantic and Panama-routed services into the Americas split cleanly between East Coast RORO calls (Halifax, New York, Baltimore) and container groupage to Gulf, Pacific and Latin American ports. Compliance regimes (EPA, DOT, Transport Canada, INMETRO) drive most of the cost and timeline. Typical clients on this lane include 25-year-rule classic importers, alongside private owners relocating to Colombia and returning residents importing a personal vehicle. Our UK-to-Colombia corridor is engineered around predictable transit, transparent pricing and full compliance with Colombia customs.

Vehicles depart from Felixstowe, Southampton, Bristol (Portbury) and arrive at Cartagena, Buenaventura via Gulf routing via Houston and Veracruz. Typical door-to-port turnaround is 18–25 days to cartagena from southampton, supported by marine all-risks insurance, GPS-tracked UK collection and bonded warehousing where required. For an instant indication of cost, use our car shipping cost calculator or request a tailored quote on our quote page.

How UK to Colombia car shipping works

Every shipment to Colombia follows the same six-step pipeline: free quotation, UK collection or self-drop at Felixstowe, bonded UK warehousing and pre-shipment photos, HMRC NOVA / C88 export clearance handled by our UK customs clearance team, ocean transit to Cartagena (and onward feeder to Buenaventura where required), and destination customs handover. You choose the shipping mode that best matches the vehicle profile and budget — see the full breakdown on our car shipping costs page or compare live RORO sailing dates to Colombia.

Colombia ports, routing and transit

Vehicles bound for Colombia are typically routed through Cartagena as the lead discharge port, with Buenaventura available as alternatives depending on sailing schedule and onward inland transport. We schedule loads to match weekly RORO sailing schedules to Colombia and consolidated shared container departures from the UK. For sole-use loads we book 20ft and 40ft container slots on the same rotation.

• Port of Cartagena
• Port of Buenaventura
• UK departure: Southampton
• UK departure: Tilbury
• UK departure: Bristol (Portbury)

Colombia import duty, VAT and customs in 2026

Importing a vehicle into Colombia is regulated and document-driven. The headline framework is summarised below; our team verifies every figure against the latest Colombia customs schedule before quoting.

• EPA, DOT, Transport Canada and INMETRO compliance
• 25-year and 15-year classic-import exemptions
• Customs bonds, brokers and HS code 8703 classification
• Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific routings via Panama Canal

Document checklist for Colombia

• V5C registration
• Passport
• Commercial invoice
• Bill of Lading
• Certificate of origin
• Emissions compliance certificate

For full country-specific customs rules, see our Colombia import guides and articles, our UK and Colombia customs clearance service, or use the duty-inclusive cost calculator for a landed estimate to Cartagena.

Other Americas destinations from the UK

We ship to 8+ other Americas countries from the UK on the same trade lanes as Colombia. Many customers shipping to Colombia also enquire about Mexico, Chile because routing, customs documentation and transit windows overlap.