Moving from the UK to the USA with a car and household goods? Most customers ship them separately, but a dedicated 20ft container can carry a standard car plus around 8 CBM of personal effects. Here we explain the options, including RoRo, R-Rak shared multi-car container shipping and combined container loading.
If you’re moving from the UK to the USA and taking your car with you, you may also be shipping furniture, boxes and other household belongings.
That raises an obvious question: should you ship your car and personal effects together, or arrange two separate shipments?
In our experience, most customers choose to ship their car and household goods separately. This is often the most practical option because the best shipping method for a vehicle is not necessarily the best method for furniture and personal belongings.
However, if you have a smaller amount of personal effects and want everything to travel together, a dedicated 20ft container can also be a very effective solution.
Option 1: Ship Your Car and Personal Effects Separately
For many customers moving to the USA, this is the simplest approach.
AutoShippers arranges the vehicle shipment using the most appropriate car-shipping service, while furniture and personal effects can travel separately with our sister company, 1st Move International.
Separating the two means you can choose the most suitable service for each shipment rather than paying for a dedicated container simply because you also have household belongings to move.
Your car may travel by:
Roll-on Roll-off (RoRo); R-Rak shared multi-car container shipping; or its own dedicated container.
Your household goods can separately travel by: shared-container shipping; or a dedicated container for a larger household move.
For many customers, this provides greater flexibility and better value.
Shipping Your Car by RoRo
Roll-on Roll-off shipping is one of the simplest ways to transport a vehicle overseas.
Your car is driven onto a specialist vehicle-carrying vessel in the UK and driven off after arrival in the USA.
RoRo is essentially a vehicle-only service, so personal effects should not be packed inside the car.
The vehicle needs to remain accessible for handling, inspection and customs purposes. Loading household goods into the vehicle can create unnecessary complications or delays during US customs clearance.
If you also have furniture and personal belongings to move, these are better shipped separately.
R-Rak Shared Multi-Car Container Shipping
AutoShippers also offers R-Rak shared multi-car container shipping to the USA.
R-Rak is a specialist vehicle-loading system that allows up to four standard cars to be securely transported inside a single shipping container.
Instead of paying for the entire container, you effectively pay only for the space required by your own vehicle.
This gives customers many of the benefits of containerised car shipping without the cost of hiring a complete container for one car.
For USA shipments, however, R-Rak should be treated as a car-only service.
Personal effects should not be packed inside the vehicle. Keeping household belongings separate helps make US customs clearance more straightforward and reduces the risk of unnecessary delays.
If you are taking furniture, boxes or other household possessions, these can travel separately with 1st Move International.
Option 2: Ship Your Car and Personal Effects Together
If you specifically want your car and household belongings to travel together, we can arrange a dedicated 20ft shipping container.
The personal effects are professionally packed and loaded into the container, with the car travelling securely alongside them.
This option works particularly well if: you want your car to travel in its own container; you have a relatively small quantity of household belongings; and you would prefer the car and personal effects to travel together.
Unlike RoRo or R-Rak, you are hiring the complete container, so the remaining space can be used for your personal-effects shipment.
How Much Space Is Available in a 20ft Container?
A standard 20ft shipping container has approximate internal dimensions of:
- 5.9 metres long
- 2.35 metres wide
- 2.39 metres high
Using a typical car length of around 4.5 metres, approximately 1.4 metres of clear container length remains.
That equates to roughly: 1.4m × 2.35m × 2.39m = 7.9 cubic metres.
In practical terms, we describe this as around 8 CBM of workable space for personal effects.
We do not count the area above the vehicle as usable household-goods space.
The exact amount available will depend on the size of your vehicle, the space needed to safely secure it and the dimensions of the belongings being shipped. A large SUV or long estate car will naturally leave less room than a smaller vehicle.
How We Load a Car and Personal Effects
When a customer chooses to ship their car and personal effects together, the loading sequence is carefully planned.
At our UK export facility, the personal effects are loaded first.
The professionally packed household goods are secured on pallets at the front of the container, making efficient use of the available space.
A timber safety barrier is then installed between the personal effects and the vehicle. This helps prevent movement or slippage of the household goods towards the car during the sea journey.
The car is loaded last and professionally secured inside the container.
Loading the vehicle last also has an important practical advantage when the container reaches the USA: the car remains readily accessible, helping to make customs inspection and unloading more straightforward.
Watch a Real Car and Personal Effects Shipment Being Loaded
This real AutoShippers shipment shows the complete process at our UK export facility.
In the video you can see:
- five pallets of personal effects loaded first
- the pallets secured at the front of the container
- the timber barrier installed between the household goods and the vehicle
- the car loaded after the personal effects
- the completed shipment ready for export
It is a useful real-world example of how a 20ft container can be used when a customer wants to ship one car together with a smaller household shipment.
What Can Around 8 CBM Hold?
Around 8 CBM represents a useful amount of household belongings, although it is unlikely to be enough for the contents of a complete family home.
It might include:
- boxes of clothing and personal possessions
- books and kitchenware
- pictures
- smaller pieces of furniture
- sports equipment
- other household items
The best approach is to establish the approximate volume of your belongings before deciding whether combining them with the vehicle is practical.
If you are moving significantly more than this, shipping the car and household goods separately will usually make more sense.
Why Do Most Customers Ship Their Car and Personal Effects Separately?
You can choose the most economical car-shipping service
If your vehicle can travel by RoRo or AutoShippers’ R-Rak shared multi-car container service, there is no need to hire an entire 20ft container just to ship one car.
Household goods need a different type of service
Furniture and personal effects need professional packing, inventory preparation, customs documentation and destination delivery arrangements. A specialist international removals service is designed around those requirements.
US customs clearance can be simpler
Cars and household belongings are treated differently when entering the United States. Keeping personal effects out of vehicles travelling by RoRo or R-Rak helps keep the vehicle shipment straightforward and reduces the potential for customs delays.
Each shipment can use the service best suited to it
The most suitable departure or route for your car may not be the best option for your furniture. Shipping them separately means each part of your move can use the service that works best.
Shared Container Shipping for Your Personal Effects
If your household goods do not require an entire container, 1st Move International offers a shared-container removals service to the USA.
Your furniture and personal belongings are professionally export packed, palletised and measured before being loaded into a container with other customers’ shipments travelling to the United States.
You pay for the space your own shipment occupies rather than hiring a complete container.
This can work particularly well if your car is travelling separately by RoRo or R-Rak and you have, for example, 5, 10 or 15 CBM of household belongings to move.
1st Move operates regular weekly USA services, allowing the household move and vehicle shipment to be planned independently.
Dedicated Containers for Larger Household Moves
For a larger move, your furniture and personal effects can instead travel in their own dedicated container.
The car can then be shipped separately using whichever AutoShippers service is best suited to the vehicle and destination.
If you’re comparing the household-removals side of your move separately, 1st Move has also produced a detailed guide to comparing UK removal companies for moves to the USA.
Your Car and Household Goods Have Different Import Requirements
Even when your car and personal effects travel in the same container, they are still treated separately for US customs purposes.
For privately owned UK vehicles, the key point is that the car will normally need to meet the 25-year rule for permanent import into the USA. The vehicle therefore has its own import documentation and customs requirements, separate from those that apply to household goods and personal effects.
Household goods and personal effects follow a different customs process and will usually require documentation such as:
- a detailed packing inventory;
- passport and relevant immigration documents;
- CBP Form 3299;
- shipping documents;
- and Importer Security Filing information where applicable.
Because the vehicle and household goods have different import requirements, many customers find it simpler to ship them separately.
AutoShippers handles the vehicle-shipping requirements, while 1st Move International can advise on the documentation needed for your household belongings.
Can I Put Personal Effects Inside My Car?
RoRo
Personal effects should not be carried inside the vehicle.
RoRo is a car-shipping service and the vehicle needs to remain accessible for transport, inspection and customs purposes.
R-Rak
For cars being shipped to the USA using R-Rak, personal effects should not be packed inside the vehicle.
Although the car travels inside a shipping container, R-Rak is a shared multi-car vehicle-shipping service. Keeping household goods separate helps avoid unnecessary complications and delays during US customs clearance.
Dedicated 20ft Container
This is different.
When you have sole use of the container, your personal effects can be professionally packed and secured separately within the available container space alongside the vehicle.
This is the option to consider if you specifically want your car and household belongings to travel together.
Which Option Is Best for Your Move?
For most customers, it makes sense to start by considering the car and household goods separately.
First ask: What is the best way to ship my car?
Then ask: How much household-goods space do I actually need?
If RoRo or R-Rak works well for the vehicle, shipping your personal effects separately with 1st Move International will often be the most practical solution.
If you specifically want your car and a smaller amount of household goods to travel together, a dedicated 20ft container can provide around 8 CBM of workable personal-effects space alongside a typical-sized car.
There is no need to force both parts of the relocation into the same shipping method if different services work better for each.
Shipping a Car and Personal Effects to the USA?
If you’re moving from the UK to America and taking both a vehicle and household belongings, tell us what you are planning to ship.
AutoShippers can advise on the most suitable option for your car, including: RoRo; R-Rak shared multi-car container shipping; or your own dedicated container.
If your household goods are better shipped separately, our sister company 1st Move International can arrange shared or dedicated container shipping for your furniture and personal effects.
And if you would prefer everything to travel together, we can assess your vehicle and household-goods volume to determine whether a dedicated 20ft container provides enough space.
The aim is simple: use the right shipping service for the car and the right shipping service for everything else.
