Quick Answer: With AB Group Shipping, shipping a car to Mexico in its own 20 ft container costs from $2,420 port to port out of Los Angeles (September 2026 quote), with 7-day ocean transit to Lazaro Cardenas. Miami and New Jersey run about 14 days, Houston 29 days. Mexican duty and IVA are billed separately by your agente aduanal.
- Three ways to move a car: its own 20 ft container, a shared 40 ft container with 2-4 vehicles, or RoRo on a vehicle vessel. Container is the safest, RoRo is usually the cheapest.
- Ocean transit port to port runs 7 days from Los Angeles, 14 days from Miami and New Jersey, and about 29 days from Houston to Veracruz.
- Our quoted prices are port to port. Mexican import duty, IVA and the agente aduanal fee are paid at destination and are never part of the freight price.
- The calculator on this page prices your exact origin and vehicle in seconds — RVs, motorhomes and heavy machinery route to a specialist instead of a container rate.
The live price table sits directly under the opening answer on this page and refreshes every month, so the figure you see is the figure we book. Every price quoted in the text below carries its month, because vehicle rates on the Mexico lane move with sailing capacity and fuel surcharges.
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Go to the calculator →Reference prices: shipping a vehicle from the USA to Mexico
| Departure port | Price | Transit |
|---|---|---|
| Miami | $2,780 | 14 days |
| Houston | $2,680 | 29 days |
| New JerseyPhiladelphia | $2,780 | 14 days |
| Los AngelesCheapest | $2,420 | 7 days |
Port to port to Veracruz or Lazaro Cardenas, in USD, quoted with our system on September 28, 2026. Includes freight and US export charges; excludes import taxes and destination charges. Each vehicle travels alone in a 20 ft container; two can share a 40 ft one. The calculator on this page gives your exact price, with pickup and delivery.
Shipping from another state? Which port to read
Each port in the table is the one that cargo from these states usually leaves through. Miami: Florida. Houston: Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. New Jersey: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia and West Virginia. Los Angeles: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Hawaii. Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama ship through Savannah; Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota ship through Chicago (rail); Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska ship through Seattle / Tacoma: those ports are not in the table yet. We pick up in every state, and the calculator finds the best port from your city.
How much does it cost to ship a car to Mexico?
Quick Answer: Shipping a car to Mexico costs from $2,420 port to port in a dedicated 20 ft container out of Los Angeles, and from $2,680 out of Houston (September 2026 quotes). RoRo runs lower, approx. $1,450-$1,650. Your exact price depends on origin port, service type and sailing week.
Four things drive the price, in this order of weight. First, your departure gateway. Second, the service type — own container, shared container, or RoRo. Third, vehicle size and class. Fourth, the sailing week you book.
The car's market value does not change the freight price. A $4,000 Civic and a $90,000 Porsche pay the same ocean rate in the same 20 ft box. Value only matters for marine cargo insurance and for the Mexican customs valuation at destination.
In a dedicated 20 ft container, the price is the container. Sedan, SUV, pickup or motorcycle — same number. That is why a motorcycle rarely belongs in its own container unless it is a high-value collector unit.
The Pacific routing is the fastest lane from the USA to Mexico. Los Angeles/Long Beach to Lazaro Cardenas runs 7 days port to port on current rotations, against about 29 days from Houston to Veracruz.
Car shipping to Mexico by US gateway
See the data
| Origin gateway | Own 20 ft container | RoRo (approx.) | Ocean transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles / Long Beach | $2,420 (Sep 2026) | approx. $1,450 | 7 days |
| Houston | $2,680 (Sep 2026) | approx. $1,600 | 29 days |
| Miami | $2,780 (Sep 2026) | approx. $1,650 | 14 days |
| New Jersey | $2,780 (Sep 2026) | approx. $1,650 | 14 days |
Source: AB Group Shipping quoting system, port to port, September 2026 · RoRo figures are approximations, not system quotes
A shared 40 ft container runs approx. $1,700 per car from Los Angeles and approx. $1,950 from Miami or New Jersey. Those are approximations, not live system quotes, because the per-car cost depends on how many vehicles fill the box.
What the freight price does not include:
- Inland trucking from your driveway to the departure port
- Mexican import duty and IVA
- The agente aduanal fee and the pedimento
- Port storage at Veracruz or Lazaro Cardenas after free time expires
- Delivery from the destination port to your address
Which port will my car leave from?
Your ZIP code decides the gateway, and the gateway decides both price and transit. Florida and the Southeast load at PortMiami or Savannah. Texas and the central states load at Port Houston. California and the Southwest load at Los Angeles/Long Beach.
The Northeast loads at the Port of New York and New Jersey. The Midwest moves by rail or truck to Houston or Los Angeles, depending on which Mexican coast you want. Chicago-area cars headed to Guadalajara usually rail west, not south.
Gateway choice is not cosmetic. Los Angeles to Lazaro Cardenas is 7 days. Houston to Veracruz is about 29 days on the current rotation. The calculator maps your ZIP to the cheapest honest gateway — it does not default to Miami.
What about RVs, motorhomes and heavy equipment?
RVs, motorhomes, semi-trucks and heavy machinery do not fit in a standard container. Interior height in a 40 ft high cube is about 2.69 m, and almost no motorhome clears that. These units move on a flat rack or a RoRo vessel.
No published rate exists for them. The calculator takes the request, and a project cargo specialist prices it after reviewing dimensions, weight and running condition. Send length, width, height, gross weight, and whether the unit drives on and off under its own power.
Never accept a "container price" for an RV
If a quoting party gives you a flat container rate for a motorhome or an excavator, they have not measured the unit. Out-of-gauge cargo is priced on dimensions and lift method, not on a container tariff. Walk away and ask for a flat rack or RoRo quote instead.
How does the car shipping to Mexico calculator work?
Quick Answer: The calculator asks four things: your origin ZIP code, the vehicle type, the service you want, and the Mexican destination port. It returns a port-to-port ocean freight price and a transit estimate in under 30 seconds, with no signup and no sales call afterward.
The tool was built so that a family in Phoenix and an exporter in Newark both get an honest number without a phone call. Here is the flow.
- Enter your origin ZIP code. The tool assigns your gateway — Miami, Houston, New Jersey or Los Angeles — and shows how often that lane sails.
- Pick the vehicle class. Sedan, SUV, pickup or motorcycle. Oversize units route automatically to the custom request form.
- Choose the service. Dedicated 20 ft container, shared container space, or RoRo. The price gap appears side by side so you can see what protection costs.
- Choose the destination port. Veracruz on the Gulf, or Lazaro Cardenas on the Pacific.
Veracruz serves the Bajío, Mexico City and the northeast. Lazaro Cardenas serves Guadalajara, Michoacán and the west. Picking the wrong coast adds 600 km of inland trucking at destination, which often costs more than the freight difference.
Every quote prints what it includes and what it excludes. In: ocean freight and standard origin handling. Out: Mexican duty, IVA, and destination delivery. Transit windows shift by gateway on every Latin America lane — our breakdown of shipping times from the USA to El Salvador, 1-25 days shows how wide that spread gets.
Pro Tip
Run the calculator twice — once for Veracruz, once for Lazaro Cardenas. Then price the inland leg from each port to your final address in Mexico. On a car headed to Guadalajara, the Pacific routing usually wins on total landed cost even when the ocean rate looks similar.
Los AngelesUSLAX
Lazaro CardenasMXLZC
HoustonUSHOU
VeracruzMXVER
MiamiUSMIA
VeracruzMXVER
New JerseyUSNYC
VeracruzMXVER
Container, shared container or RoRo: which is cheaper?
Quick Answer: RoRo is the cheapest at approx. $1,450-$1,650, a shared 40 ft container runs approx. $1,700-$1,950 per car, and a dedicated 20 ft container costs $2,420-$2,780 (September 2026). Container shipping protects the vehicle better than RoRo. On a permanent import, boxes or parts cannot go on the car's Mexican import declaration (pedimento): they need their own.
The gap between RoRo and a dedicated box is roughly $1,000 to $1,100 per car. What you buy with that money is protection and privacy. It does not buy the right to import cargo with the car: under Mexico's 2026 foreign-trade rules (rule 3.5.1), the pedimento for the permanent import of a used car covers one vehicle and no other goods, so anything else in the container needs its own import.
RoRo (roll-on/roll-off)
A longshoreman drives your car up the ramp onto a vehicle vessel and lashes it to the deck. Keys stay with the terminal. Nothing may be left inside — not a spare tire, not a toolbox. It is the cheapest option and the fastest to load, but these ships call Mexican ports less often than container vessels, so your sailing window is narrower.
Dedicated 20 ft container
Your car travels alone in a sealed box. Nobody drives it after loading. This is the right call for classics, high-value units and non-running vehicles. It also protects paint from salt spray on the long Gulf rotation out of Houston.
A shared 40 ft container puts 2-4 vehicles in one box, braced and blocked by the warehouse crew. The cost splits per car. The trade-off is consolidation time at origin while the container fills — that can add one to three weeks before the box even moves.
The economics mirror what we explain in our guide to FCL vs LCL on USA-Latin America routes and the 10 CBM breakpoint: shared space is cheaper per unit, but you pay in schedule control.
| Service | Price band | Vehicle protection | Personal items | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RoRo | approx. $1,450-$1,650 | Open deck, lashed | Not allowed | Running daily drivers, lowest budget |
| Shared 40 ft | approx. $1,700-$1,950 per car | Enclosed, braced | Only with their own import | Cost-conscious shippers with flexible dates |
| Own 20 ft | $2,420-$2,780 (Sep 2026) | Enclosed, sealed, sole use | Only with their own import | Classics, high value, non-running units |
Non-running cars cannot go RoRo
Most RoRo services require the vehicle to drive on and off under its own power. A car that does not start needs a container with winch loading. Declare the condition when you book — a non-running unit discovered at the terminal gets rejected, and you pay the dry run.
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Go to the calculator →What duties and taxes does Mexico charge on an imported vehicle?
Quick Answer: A permanent used-car import pays import duty (IGI), IVA, ISAN and the customs processing fee (DTA). The duty is 10% for a car built in Mexico, the USA or Canada that is eight or nine model years old, with no certificate of origin, under a decree in force until 30 November 2026. IVA is 16% in every state, the northern border included. Clearance goes through a licensed agente aduanal.
First decide which import path you are on. Importación definitiva is a permanent import — the car stays in Mexico and gets Mexican plates. A temporary import permit (TIP) through Banjercito applies to non-residents bringing a vehicle in for a limited stay. The paperwork and the cost are completely different.
Where the car was built matters most. Under Mexico's decree on the definitive import of used vehicles, a vehicle whose VIN shows it was built or assembled in Mexico, the United States or Canada, and whose model year is eight or nine years before the year of import, pays a 10% ad valorem duty with no certificate of origin. Outside that route the decree allows a trade-agreement preference only with a valid certificate of origin, and we could not confirm the rate that applies — ask your agente aduanal before you buy.
Here is how the charges stack on the pedimento, so you can see what is calculated on what:
- Import duty (IGI): 10% of the customs value on the route above — $1,000 on a customs value of $10,000
- DTA, the customs processing fee: 8 per thousand of the customs value (Ley Federal de Derechos, article 49)
- IVA: 16% of the customs value plus the duty and the other charges payable on import (Ley del IVA, article 27)
- ISAN: listed with the other three in the 2026 rule for used-car imports; your agente aduanal works out the amount for your vehicle
That is the order of the calculation, not a quote, and we give no total because the ISAN depends on the vehicle. Your customs value, classification and final amounts are determined at destination.
Used vehicles face extra rules, and this one has an end date. The import decree is in force until 30 November 2026; as of October 2026 nothing has been published on what applies from 1 December. Residents of the northern border strip, Baja California, Baja California Sur and part of Sonora have their own window: five to nine model years at 1% duty and ten model years at 10%, with the car kept in that region. The decree also bars vehicles reported stolen, vehicles whose circulation is restricted or prohibited in their country of origin, and vehicles that do not meet physical-mechanical or environmental conditions. Verify eligibility before you buy the car, not after it ships. A car that cannot legally enter Mexico becomes an expensive abandonment problem at Veracruz.
Only an agente aduanal can file the pedimento
Mexican customs clearance legally requires a licensed agente aduanal. Confirm your duty classification and model-year eligibility with them, or with a customs attorney, before you book the sailing. AB Group Shipping is a freight forwarder — duties, IVA and broker fees are paid at destination and never appear in our freight price.
What documents and steps do you need to ship your car?
Quick Answer: You need the original title (free of liens), a bill of sale or commercial invoice, and your passport or ID. Your agente aduanal confirms the rest of the list for the Mexican side; the 10% duty route needs no certificate of origin. US Customs requires the title 72 hours before export.
According to CBP regulations, the original title or a certified copy must be presented at the port of export at least 72 hours before lading. Missing that window is the single most common cause of rolled bookings on this lane. Mail the title early — do not hand it to the driver.
- Original Certificate of Title, lien-free, or a notarized lien release letter from the lender
- Bill of sale or factura comercial with VIN, year, make, model and value
- Passport or government-issued ID of the exporter
- Any other document your agente aduanal asks for on the Mexican side; no official source we could read publishes the full list for a vehicle
An individual may import one used vehicle in each twelve-month period without registering in Mexico's importers' registry (Padrón de Importadores). Companies must be registered in it.
A salvage title can stop the import outright. Mexico does not allow the permanent import of used vehicles whose circulation is restricted or prohibited in their country of origin, and Mexican customs' list — in its 2013 text, the last one we could read — bars titles marked total loss, flood, water damage, junk, scrap, parts only, non-repairable, frame damage or fire damage, plus twenty named salvage types such as DLR SALVAGE, FLOOD SALVAGE and SALVAGE THEFT. A total loss or flood legend does not bar the car when the title also reads clean, rebuilt or corrected, and other "Salvage" titles are not on the barred list. Disclosing the title at booking does not make a barred car importable: send us the exact wording of the title before you buy, and we confirm the current list first.
How should you prepare the vehicle?
Terminal rules are strict and they are enforced at the gate. Follow these and your car loads on the first attempt.
- Fuel tank at a quarter or less
- No personal effects inside on RoRo — zero exceptions
- Battery secured and charged, alarm disabled
- Spare key handed to the carrier
- Car washed, so pre-loading photos show existing damage clearly
What about spare parts and extra cargo?
Spare parts cannot ride on the car's import declaration. For the permanent import of a used car, Mexico's 2026 foreign-trade rules say the pedimento covers one vehicle and no other goods, so parts in the same container need their own import, itemized on their own invoice. Our guide on importing auto parts from the USA to Guatemala walks through how parts invoicing is handled on Latin America lanes.
Small items and original documents often move faster on their own. Review the USA to Central America international courier customs requirements before you stuff paperwork in the glovebox.
Shipping household boxes alongside a shared-container vehicle? In Mexico the boxes need their own import: the car's pedimento cannot cover them, and a duty-free menaje de casa never includes the vehicle. On the freight side, the consolidated portion bills by volume, not by the car. Our breakdown of LCL shipping from the USA to Guatemala with instant quotes explains how that billing works.
Pro Tip
Photograph the odometer, all four corners and the engine bay on the day of drop-off, with a timestamp. With thousands of shipments processed across the USA–Latin America corridor, we have seen timestamped photos resolve nearly every damage dispute within days instead of months.
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Enter your ZIP, pick your vehicle, and see the port-to-port price for Veracruz or Lazaro Cardenas.
Go to the calculator →Price your exact origin and vehicle with the calculator on this page — it maps your ZIP code to the right gateway, shows container, shared container and RoRo side by side, and returns a real port-to-port number in seconds. No email, no follow-up calls. Shipping an RV, a motorhome or heavy equipment? The same form routes your dimensions straight to a project cargo specialist.
Ship your car with AB Group Shipping
Shipping your car abroad? See our international car shipping service: RoRo, container or air from any US port, with your rate in 60 seconds.
Ocean transit port to port is 7 days from Los Angeles to Lazaro Cardenas, about 14 days from Miami and New Jersey, and about 29 days from Houston to Veracruz. Add 3-7 days for inland trucking to the port, plus customs clearance in Mexico, which has no official published timeframe — ask your agente aduanal for an estimate. Booking cut-off is usually 3-4 days before vessel departure.
No, not on RoRo — vehicle vessels require an empty car with no loose items. In a container the limit is Mexican customs: for the permanent import of a used car, the pedimento may cover only one vehicle and no other goods, so boxes or parts need their own import with their own paperwork. Ask your agente aduanal before you load anything with the car.
Yes. A permanent used-car import pays import duty (IGI), IVA, ISAN and the customs processing fee (DTA). The duty is 10% for a car built in Mexico, the USA or Canada that is eight or nine model years old, under a decree in force until 30 November 2026, and IVA is 16% in every state, the northern border included. These are paid at destination through a licensed agente aduanal and are separate from the ocean freight price.
It depends on your departure gateway, the service you choose and the vehicle class. A dedicated 20 ft container costs the most, a shared 40 ft container splits the cost between 2-4 vehicles, and RoRo is usually the lowest. The live price table on this page and the calculator show the current figure for your exact origin.
No. An RV or motorhome exceeds standard container height and length, so it ships on a flat rack or a RoRo vessel instead. There is no published rate for these units — submit the length, width, height, weight and running condition through the request form on this page and a project cargo specialist prices it.
Guides for shipping to Mexico
- Moving to Mexico Cost Calculator: Instant Quotes (2026) · Household move page (calculator + guide)
- How Much Can I Import to Mexico Tax-Free? 2026 Limits · Import duties & allowances