We used Atlantic Container Line to ship our motorhome to Liverpool. We found that it made no difference in the cheapest quote where we shipped from, it was more or less the same from Jacksonville to Halifax. We picked Halifax because we have never been there and it required us to drive through New England, it is in Nova Scotia (so fitting!) and we got excellent plane tickets on WestJet ($158 OW to Glasgow).
Shipping cost: $3,346.16 RORO
Our vehicle is a 30ft long Class C. 69.37 cubic meters.
We paid an additional £200 for the Liverpool Freight Expediter and some additional fees.
Storms delayed our shipping by three days but we ended up with the vehicle in Liverpool and past customs, ready to pick up, just one day later than quoted. We shipped the motorhome full of stuff, all well stored and stowed, but full! At the last minute, right before we dropped the van off, Mark fixed something with his cordless drill and I sprayed some Febreeze into the camper right before we shut the door, and then we stowed them under the seat with the socket wrench set — and only the Febreeze and the drill were missing when we arrived. The drill was a loss because we had screwed everything shut to keep things safe and stowed, from the tossing waves on the North Atlantic to people who may want to steal our Febreeze.
In Colombia, someone stole our license plate, which was worse. We learned that the hard way and carried our license plates with us this time.
Pretty sure it wasn’t customs either, because in our experience they leave lengthy paperwork documenting the incident and then fine you (we left a bottle of pisco in the van and it was open and that cost us $15 once and we lost the bottle).
Insurance was harder than South America. The one place other overlanders had used was not selling insurance anymore and referred us to Knopf Tours. They are, as far as we could find (and we made a LOT of calls and sent out a lot of emails) the only option. The insurance is called Green Card Insurance and the website is http://www.knopftours.com/Web-Site/Green%20Card.html
We were quoted €190 for the first month and €145 for each additional month, provided we paid in full and up front.
We were hoping ICI, our South America insurance firm, would be able to insure us but they could not at this time. Hope they can in the future!