When someone in the US buys one of our cars, the restoration is only part of what they’re trusting us with. The rest is getting it across an ocean, through US customs and into their name without anything going sideways. Shipping a Land Rover to the USA comes up in our conversations almost as often as engines do, so here’s how one actually makes the trip, from our workshop in İzmir to your driveway.
We’ve written before about why our cars are titled under our own company, and our Land Rover import guide covers duties and tariffs. This post is about the journey itself.
The people moving the car
We build cars. Moving them halfway around the world is its own trade, so we work with logistics companies that have been doing it for years and that we trust with our own work. Between them, they handle export on the Turkish side, ocean freight, clearing the car on arrival and the drive to your door. We coordinate all of it, so you deal with us and not with a chain of companies you’ve never heard of.
It always crosses in a container
Every car we send to the US goes inside a shipping container. Every time. A freshly restored Land Rover has new paint, a rebuilt interior and in a lot of cases a hand finished teak bed, and none of that should spend weeks on an open deck in salt air. In a sealed steel box it’s protected from weather, spray and whatever else is being loaded around it.
Insured for its full value, start to finish
From the moment the car leaves us until it’s delivered, it’s insured for its full value. Our logistics partners arrange that cover as part of the shipment, so there’s no gap between legs where the car is suddenly someone else’s problem.
We’re the importer, so the paperwork is ours
You don’t import the car yourself. Our US company, Phoenix Land Rover Restorations LLC in Miami, is the buyer that brings it into the country. That makes the federal paperwork our job. Classic vehicles over 25 years old can come into the US under an exemption, but the EPA and DOT still want the right forms filed to show the car qualifies (the DOT’s HS-7 and the EPA’s 3520-1, if you’re curious). We file them. You never have to learn what either form is.
A US title before it’s yours
Once the car has cleared customs, our team in the US takes care of titling it. It gets a proper US title in Phoenix’s name first. That gives the car a clean, traceable paper trail from the port onward, which is exactly what you want to see the day you sell it, insure it or register it in another state.
The handover happens at a notary
Upon receiving payment, the title then moves from Phoenix to you at a notary’s office, with witnesses present. If you’d like to be in the room for it, you’re welcome to come. It’s not required, though. The transfer is done properly whether you’re there in person or not.
Delivered to your door on an enclosed truck
The car arrives in Florida. If you live in another state, we bring it to your address on an enclosed truck rather than an open car hauler. Same reasoning as the container: a restored car shouldn’t ride a thousand miles of interstate taking rain, road salt and gravel from the truck in front.
So what’s left for you to do?
Honestly, not much. Choose the car, decide whether you’d like to be at the notary, and tell us where it’s going. The rest sits with us and the people we work with.
If you’re still at the choosing stage, have a look at our restored Defenders and Series builds. And if you’d rather just ask us how this would work for your state and your car, get in touch. We’re happy to walk you through it.