Car Shipping to Turkey

Why ship a car to Turkey from the UK

The Ship Cars is a specialist UK vehicle export company moving cars, SUVs, classics, motorbikes and light commercials to Turkey every month. European trade lanes from the UK are dominated by short-sea RORO and weekly groupage container departures. Cross-Channel and North Sea sailings out of Immingham, Tilbury and Killingholme feed Iberian, Atlantic and Mediterranean discharge ports. Typical clients on this lane include EU-resident expats, alongside private owners relocating to Turkey and returning residents importing a personal vehicle. Our UK-to-Turkey corridor is engineered around predictable transit, transparent pricing and full compliance with Turkey customs.

Vehicles depart from Felixstowe, Southampton, Bristol (Portbury) and arrive at Izmir, Istanbul (Ambarli), Mersin and 1 more port via direct Atlantic and Mediterranean calls. Typical door-to-port turnaround is 10–14 days to izmir, 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 Turkey car shipping works

Every shipment to Turkey 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 Izmir (and onward feeder to Istanbul (Ambarli) 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 Turkey.

Turkey ports, routing and transit

Vehicles bound for Turkey are typically routed through Izmir as the lead discharge port, with Istanbul (Ambarli), Mersin, Derince available as alternatives depending on sailing schedule and onward inland transport. We schedule loads to match weekly RORO sailing schedules to Turkey 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 Izmir
• Port of Istanbul (Ambarli)
• Port of Mersin
• Port of Derince
• UK departure: Southampton
• UK departure: Tilbury
• UK departure: Bristol (Portbury)

Turkey import duty, VAT and customs in 2026

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

• EU type approval and Certificate of Conformity (CoC)
• Post-Brexit 10% import duty and country-specific VAT (TVA, IVA, MwSt, BTW)
• National roadworthiness inspections (ITV, contrôle technique, TÜV, APK, IPO)
• Re-registration with local plates and CO2-based road tax

Document checklist for Turkey

• V5C registration
• Passport
• Notarized power of attorney
• Commercial invoice
• Bill of Lading
• Proof of foreign residence (2+ years)

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

Other Europe destinations from the UK

We ship to 8+ other Europe countries from the UK on the same trade lanes as Turkey. Many customers shipping to Turkey also enquire about Greece, Cyprus because routing, customs documentation and transit windows overlap.