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Shipping a car from the UK to Cyprus is straightforward. Weekly RoRo sailings run to Limassol, typical cost is £550–£900, and door-to-door usually lands inside three weeks. The shipping is the easy part. The question that actually decides whether it's worth doing is tax: since Brexit, your car is a third-country import into the EU, and relief is the difference between paying nothing and paying roughly 31% on top.

What does it cost, and how long does it take?

RoRo (roll-on, roll-off) is the standard choice for this route. Your car is driven onto a vessel, secured on a deck, and driven off at Limassol. No crate, no container, no packing.

Typical market ballparks for 2026, UK to Limassol:

• RoRo ocean freight: £550–£900 for a standard car or estate. Larger 4x4s and vans sit at the top of that range or above.
• Sailing frequency: weekly from the main UK ports.
• Transit: roughly two to three weeks door-to-door, including inland collection and port processing at both ends.

Container shipping costs more and is generally reserved for classics, high-value cars, or when you want to ship personal effects alongside the vehicle. For a normal daily driver going to Cyprus, RoRo is the sensible default. We've written up the trade-off properly in RoRo vs container shipping.

Honest answer: the freight number is the predictable bit. The destination charges and the tax position are where budgets go wrong, so read the next section before you commit to anything.

The Brexit tax question: relief, or duty plus VAT?

This is the section that matters most.

Before Brexit, a UK car moving to Cyprus was an intra-EU movement. It isn't any more. A UK-registered car arriving in Cyprus is now a third-country import into the EU customs territory, and it is assessed accordingly.

There are two outcomes.

Outcome one: transfer-of-residence relief

If you are genuinely moving your normal residence to Cyprus, you may be able to import your car free of customs duty and VAT. The conditions are broadly these, and they are cumulative:

• You've lived outside the EU for at least 12 months before the move.
• You've owned and used the car for at least 6 months before you relocate, with duty and taxes already paid in the UK.
• You keep the car for 12 months after import without selling, hiring out, lending, or otherwise disposing of it.
• You import it within the permitted window of establishing residence in Cyprus.
• You can evidence all of it with paperwork, not assertions.

Meet those and the tax bill can be nil. That's a swing of several thousand pounds on a mid-value car, which is why this is worth getting right before the car leaves the UK.

Outcome two: you pay

Holiday-home owners, second-car imports, anyone who bought the car recently, anyone who doesn't meet the residence test — the standard import treatment applies. Expect in the region of 10% customs duty plus 19% VAT, calculated on the car's value plus the shipping cost, plus registration fees on top.

Do the arithmetic before you book. On a car worth £4,000 with £700 of shipping, you're looking at roughly £1,450 in tax on top of the freight (the VAT is charged on the value plus shipping plus the duty, so the two compound). On an older, cheaper car, the combined cost of shipping and tax can genuinely exceed what the car is worth. In that situation, buying locally is usually the rational move.

There is a real counter-argument, though, and it's not sentimental. You know your own car's history. You know the service record, what's been replaced, how it's been driven, whether it's been sitting. Buying an unknown used car in an unfamiliar market carries its own cost and risk. Plenty of people ship a car that doesn't quite pencil out on a spreadsheet and are glad they did. Just make that decision with the real numbers in front of you rather than discovering them at Limassol.

Will my right-hand-drive car be a problem?

No. This is one of the reasons the UK–Cyprus route is so well travelled.

Cyprus drives on the left. Your UK car is already the correct configuration, the headlights point the right way, and you don't face the conversion work, MOT-equivalent headaches, or resale discount that catches people shipping a right-hand-drive car into mainland Europe.

It also means your car holds sensible value in the Cypriot market if you eventually sell it there. Practically speaking, RHD is an argument in favour of shipping rather than against it.

What actually happens, step by step?

1. Quote and booking. You confirm the car, the collection point, and the sailing. Paperwork requirements are set out at this stage.
2. Handover. Either you drive to the departure port yourself, or the car is collected and delivered to the port for you. Collection costs more; if you're near the port, driving it down is the cheaper option.
3. UK export formalities. The DVLA is notified that the vehicle is being permanently exported, and export customs entries are lodged.
4. Loading and sailing. The car is driven aboard and secured. Personal items are generally not permitted in RoRo vehicles — assume the car travels empty.
5. Arrival at Limassol. The vessel discharges and the car goes into the port's holding area.
6. Customs clearance. Your relief claim or your duty and VAT payment is processed here. Delays at this stage are almost always paperwork delays, and they accrue storage charges.
7. Roadworthiness and registration. The car is presented for the Cypriot roadworthiness test, then registered with the Department of Road Transport. Cyprus plates and local insurance follow.
8. On the road. Once registered and insured, you're driving legally on Cypriot plates.

What paperwork do I need?

• V5C logbook — the original, in your name. Not a photocopy, not a pending replacement.
• DVLA permanent export notification — see taking a vehicle out of the UK on GOV.UK.
• Finance settled. A car on HP or PCP is not yours to export. Settle it and get written confirmation from the lender.
• Photo ID and proof of address in both countries.
• Proof of ownership duration for relief — the V5C date, purchase invoice, insurance history.
• Proof of residence timeline for relief — evidence you've lived outside the EU for 12+ months and are establishing residence in Cyprus.
• Purchase invoice or valuation — used to assess duty and VAT if relief doesn't apply.
• Insurance certificate and a note of any outstanding MOT or service records worth keeping.

What does the cost stack look like?

Ranges are typical market ballparks for 2026. Your quote confirms the actual figures. For a wider view of how these stacks vary by destination, see our car shipping cost calculator.

Where does RollShip fit?

RollShip is a booking service, not a shipping line. We're new, and we'd rather say so than pretend otherwise. The team behind it has run real UK freight-forwarding operations, which is what the service is built on.

What that means in practice:

• Itemised quotes within 24 hours. Every line shown separately, so you can see what you're paying for and what's an estimate.
• Vetted UK specialists. We book with established carriers that run the Cyprus route, chosen on track record rather than on whoever is cheapest that week.
• Honest tax guidance. If we think the numbers don't work for your car, we'll tell you before you book rather than after.
• Pay on confirmation by card or bank transfer. No deposit taken to produce a quote.
• £99 booking fee during launch, rising to £199 once launch pricing ends. It's shown on your quote, not buried in the freight rate.

Get a quote at rollship.co.uk. If you're comparing us against other quotes, do — and treat an unusually low headline number as a warning rather than a bargain, because it usually means destination charges have been left out.