International vehicle transport, to and from Southeast Asia
The freight is the same everywhere. What is not the same is whether your car is allowed in — and on that, our three countries each apply a different test. Asia Relocation answers that question before quoting anything, in whichever of them you are headed.
Everybody selling car shipping describes the same journey: inspect, load, sail, clear, deliver. That part is close to universal, and it is not where a shipment goes wrong. What decides the outcome is whether the destination will accept the vehicle at all, and that answer changes from one of our markets to the next.
One tests the age of the car together with how long you have owned it. One requires an import permit even from a private individual. One adds permits according to age and status. A company quoting the same conditions for all three has not read any of them, and it shows after the vessel has sailed.
Asia Relocation has run vehicles into and out of Southeast Asia since 2011, with its own teams at the origin end in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. This page routes you to the country whose rule applies to you, and says plainly what is the same everywhere and what is not.
What travels with the vehicle, and what does not
A quotation is only honest if it says what it leaves out. The right-hand column is that.
Carried by the service
- The eligibility answer for Thailand, the Philippines or Vietnam, in writing, before a freight rate is discussed.
- A recommended method — sealed container or open deck — with the trade-off stated, not priced silently.
- A pre-loading inspection: condition report, photographs, declared value.
- The export or import file and the customs coordination at the origin end, run by our own people.
- Freight, clearance and delivery, closed by a documented handover, not a phone call.
Written out line by line, limits included.
A different service
- Driving without owning. No import, no duty, nothing to resell: that is car leasing.
- Duties and local registration. We prepare the file and explain the calculation; paying and plating are yours.
- The household. Furniture crossing a border is an international move; staying inside one country, a domestic one.
- Animals. They never travel with a vehicle: pet transport.
- Cover, and a gap in the dates. Moving insurance stands alone, and storage takes the car that lands first.
Any of these can sit alongside the shipment on one file. Say so.
Five ways a vehicle crosses an ocean
Identical in all three countries. It is the only part of this service that is.
Sealed container, sole use
Closed at loading, opened at destination, and able to carry wheels, parts and tools with the car. It is the safest option and the reason is the quay rather than the ocean: most damage is created in handling, and a container removes several handling points at once.
Shared container
Two or three vehicles braced separately in one box. The protection is that of a container at a share of the cost; what you give up is the schedule, since a shared box leaves when it is full rather than when you are ready.
Roll-on roll-off
Driven aboard a purpose-built vessel and secured on the deck. Cheaper on the routes where a service calls, and genuinely the right answer for a standard running car. What you accept is exposure and more hands on the vehicle.
Motorbikes and non-standard vehicles
Crated to their own dimensions or braced inside a container, never driven aboard. Two-wheelers are a large share of what moves in this region, and they are photographed individually because they mark more easily than a car.
Fleets across several countries
Companies, embassies and programmes moving vehicles in more than one of our markets. One agreement and one billing trail, but three sets of entry conditions — which is exactly why the file is held in one place.
The country decides first, the method second
-
Which country, and does the car qualify?
The rule that applies is the destination country's, not a regional average. Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam each answer this differently, and we answer it in writing before anything else happens.
-
The method, with its reason
Sealed container or open deck, argued rather than sold. Where the cheaper option genuinely suits the vehicle and the route, that is what the quotation carries.
-
Inspection and documents
Condition report, photographs, declared value, then the customs file for the origin country. This is the stage that decides whether a date holds.
-
Loading, sailing, clearance
Secured at the port by our own people, shipped, then cleared at the far end. Where a destination lies outside our three countries, a briefed partner handles the arrival and reports to the same coordinator.
-
Delivery and handover
A second condition check against the first report, then a signed handover. If you have not arrived yet, the vehicle waits in our facility rather than on a quay.
Four shipments that cross a border
Four shipments that cross a border, each checked against its destination's rules by Asia Relocation before a quote is written.
Households arriving in the region
Usually a car worth more than its local replacement, and always a question of whether it may enter. That answer comes before the freight conversation, not after it.
Owners shipping out at the end of a posting
The export direction, where the receiving country writes the rules and the method matters more than the rate. Read together, both, before a box is booked.
Motorbike and collector vehicle owners
What people will not put on an open deck. Crated to their own dimensions, documented in detail, and insured on a declared value rather than a category.
Companies with vehicles in several countries
One agreement, one contact, one billing trail — and three different entry rules underneath, which is precisely the work they are delegating.
Three countries, three entry rules
The page that applies to you is the one for the country the vehicle is entering or leaving.
In Thailand an import permit is required even of a private individual, and it is obtained before a vessel sails. In the Philippines further permits apply according to the age and status of the vehicle, and almost everything travels sealed rather than on a deck. In Vietnam eligibility is tested on the age of the car together with how long you have owned it.
Beyond the region we do not claim offices we do not have: a briefed partner receives the vehicle and reports to the coordinator you already have. What does not change anywhere is the inspection before loading, and the documented handover that closes the file.
Questions that come before a country is chosen
Is the first question the price or the paperwork?
Do the entry rules differ across your three countries?
Container or roll-on roll-off?
How long does an international vehicle shipment take?
What is the safest way to ship a car?
Can the car travel with our household goods?
Is transit insurance worth taking?
What if the car lands before we do?
Where a vehicle shipment stops
You would rather not ship a car at all
A vehicle for the length of an assignment, leased locally in each country. No duty, no eligibility test, nothing to resell.
Car leasing in Southeast Asia →The whole moving service
Seven services across the region, and which of them your move actually needs.
Moving services in Southeast Asia →Tell us the vehicle and which country it is headed for
Asia Relocation checks whether it qualifies there, recommends a method with its reason, and comes back with a written scope and a date.
Request your shipping quote →