There are two honest ways to ship a car to Latin America. A container is a sealed box — if you take a 40-foot and split it with someone else’s car, you are usually in the neighborhood of $3,000 each, and you can pack the leftover space with household goods. RoRo is a ship shaped like a parking garage. That is how I shipped mine. It is cheaper. You cannot put personal possessions in the car.
Most “shipping a car” articles bury that fork under freight-forwarder jargon. The fork is the whole decision: do you need the empty space in the box, or do you just need the vehicle on the other side?
Ocean freight is not customs. This page is the water move — container vs RoRo. Destination aduana, temporary import permits, and nationalization are a separate bill and a separate set of rules. Mexico’s Temporary Import Permit is a drive-in problem, not a RoRo problem — see Mexico driving for expats once the car is actually in the country.
Ready to take the next step? Book a consultation call — we’ll map out the right path for your situation.
Table of Contents
The two ways
If you are moving a household, share a 40-foot container. If you are only moving the car, RoRo is the cheaper, simpler sailing. Everything else is matching a sailing and then dealing with destination customs.
| 40-foot container (shared) | RoRo | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A sealed box on a container ship. One or two cars plus whatever fits around them. | A ship built like a parking garage. You drive on. They lash the car. You drive off at the other end. |
| Ballpark line-haul | Around $3,000 each if two cars share a 40-foot box (quotes move). | Usually the cheaper ocean move. You are paying for a parking stall, not a whole box. |
| Household goods | Yes — pack the empty space. That is the point of paying for the box. | No. The car has to be empty of personal possessions. |
| Booking | Plan ahead if you need a split — you are matching another car on the same sailing. | Often a few days out, not months. |
| Best when | You are moving a household, not just a vehicle. | You only need the car, and you want the cheaper, simpler sailing. |
Container shipping
A container is a steel box that gets lifted onto a container ship. Your car goes inside. So can furniture, boxes, bikes, and the rest of a real move — as long as it is packed, declared, and lashed so it cannot destroy the car in a swell.
A 20-foot box is tight for a normal car plus a life. A 40-foot is the one people actually share. You are buying cubic meters. If you only put one sedan in a 40-foot and leave the rest empty, you paid for air.
This is also why container quotes look scary until you split them. A full 40-foot on a US–LatAm lane is a household-move price. Two cars in the same box cut the ocean piece roughly in half — in practice that has landed around $3,000 per car on the quotes we see, plus origin pickup, destination delivery, and whatever the destination broker charges. Treat $3k as a planning number, not a locked tariff.
Splitting a 40-foot box
Find a second car going the same direction on the same sailing and share the 40-foot. That is the move that makes container shipping rational if you also have household goods.
A freight forwarder who actually does vehicles to Latin America can often match you. Do not wait until the week of departure to “see if someone else shows up.” The split only works if both cars are documented, insured, and at the origin terminal on the same cutoff.
- Agree in writing who pays what if the other car drops out.
- Pack the leftover cubic meters — that leftover space is why you chose a container over RoRo.
- Photograph everything before the doors close. Claims get ugly without a record.
- Do not hide undeclared goods in the car. The box is a customs unit, not a storage locker.
If you cannot find a partner car, you are buying the whole box. At that point, either fill it with a real household or switch to RoRo and send the stuff another way.
RoRo — the parking-garage boat
RoRo is the default if you are only shipping a car — cheaper, short booking window, better near a port city. Full process: RoRo car shipping.
RoRo means roll-on/roll-off. The ship is a floating parking garage: ramps, decks, lashing points. You (or the terminal) drive the car on. They chain it down. At the destination port someone drives it off. There is no box to pack.
That is how I shipped my car. It is the cheaper ocean product because you are not renting 40 feet of steel. You are renting a stall on a deck. For a single vehicle and no household goods, that is the correct product.
RoRo operators run regular sailings on the main US Gulf and East Coast to Caribbean and South American ports. Your forwarder books a space, you deliver the car to the origin terminal with a clean title, ID, and whatever the line wants for fuel (usually near empty, not full). They handle the lashing. You handle destination pickup and customs.
Moving the person, not just the car?
Residency, banking, and the destination paperwork are a different project from the sailing. We map that before you spend on freight.
What you cannot put on RoRo
Personal possessions stay off the car. No packed trunk of clothes, no kitchen boxes, no “just a few things.” The line treats the vehicle as a vehicle. Stuff in the cabin is a customs and liability problem they will not take.
That is the trade for the cheaper rate. If the move is “car plus life,” you are back in a container — or you RoRo the car and air/courier the rest, which is usually worse math than sharing a 40-foot.
Also empty the obvious hazards: spare fuel cans, unsecured batteries, and anything that looks like cargo. Ask the forwarder for the line’s vehicle-condition sheet and follow it. Arguments at the terminal gate are how sailing dates get missed.
How far ahead to book
RoRo can be scheduled a few days out when space exists. That surprises people who think ocean freight is always a six-week planning project. The sailing itself still takes however long the water takes. The booking window is short.
Container splits are the opposite. You need another car, a packing plan, and a cutoff that two households can hit. Start that conversation when you know the destination port, not the week you want to leave.
Build slack on the destination side either way. Ports, brokers, and aduana do not run on your lease start date. The car can sit while paperwork finishes — budget storage and a backup ride.
Which one to pick
Pick the container if you are actually moving house and you can share a 40-foot. Pick RoRo if the car is the cargo. Do not pick a container for one empty sedan because it “feels safer.” You will pay for empty space you are not allowed to use well on RoRo anyway.
- Shared 40-foot container — two cars, household goods in the leftover cube, planning number around $3k each for the ocean piece.
- RoRo — one empty car, cheaper line-haul, book closer to sailing, no personal possessions on board.
Then price destination import separately. A cheap sailing into a country that nationalizes foreign cars at a brutal duty is not a cheap move. That is why this article does not pretend to be an aduana guide. Pair the sailing with the country’s residency plan — start at how to move to Latin America from the USA if the person is moving too.
FAQ
Is RoRo cheaper than a container?
For a single empty car, yes — RoRo is the cheaper ocean product. A shared 40-foot can land around $3,000 each and only wins if you use the leftover space for household goods. A solo 40-foot for one sedan is usually the expensive way to do it.
Can I leave clothes and boxes in the car on RoRo?
No. RoRo is a parking-garage ship. Personal possessions are not part of the product. If you need to move stuff, share a container or send the goods another way.
How do I split a 40-foot container with someone else’s car?
Use a forwarder who already moves vehicles to Latin America and ask them to match a second car on the same sailing. Get the split in writing, including what happens if the other car cancels. Pack and photograph the leftover space before the doors close.
How far in advance do I need to book RoRo?
Space allowing, RoRo can be booked a few days out. Do not treat that as a reason to skip destination paperwork. The water is fast to book; customs is not.
Does shipping the car get me residency?
No. Importing a vehicle and holding residency are separate. Some countries care about your immigration status when you nationalize a car. Sort the visa path first if you plan to keep the car long-term.
Should I just buy a car when I arrive?
Often yes — especially if the car is ordinary, not a specialty vehicle, and destination duty would eat the savings. Ship when the car is hard to replace, financed in a way you cannot unwind, or part of a household container you were going to pay for anyway.
Ready to take the next step? Book a consultation call — we’ll map out the right path for your situation.
Related: RoRo Car Shipping · How to Move to Latin America from the USA · Moving with Pets · Mexico Driving for Expats · Residency Comparison
