Car Transport to Northern Ireland, and Back Again

The route most services decline

This is worth stating plainly, because it is the reason people end up searching for a specialist. The AA's vehicle delivery service says on its own page that it cannot collect a vehicle in Northern Ireland for delivery within the UK mainland, or the other way round — collection and delivery are offered within the mainland, and separately within Northern Ireland, but not between them. That service is a white-labelled version of one of the biggest consumer transport marketplaces, so two of the most obvious places to look are closed to this movement at once.

The reason is structural rather than technical. A network built on filling a multi-car deck cannot easily justify a sea crossing for one vehicle, and a bidding marketplace struggles to price a leg where the ferry cost is not on a public tariff. A single-vehicle operator has neither problem: the trailer is already going, and the crossing is simply part of the day.

Cairnryan to Belfast, with the same crew either side

The usual routing is Cairnryan to Belfast, the shortest of the Irish Sea crossings. The car is loaded once, at your address, and stays on the trailer for the sailing. It is not unloaded at the port, not transferred to a local partner on the far side, and not left in a compound waiting for onward space.

That matters more here than on a domestic run. Every hand-off is a point where responsibility blurs, and a route with water in the middle usually has two or three of them. With one crew throughout there is a single point of responsibility from the moment the car is strapped down to the moment the delivery report is signed.

The right sailing depends on where the car starts, where it is going and what is running that day. We confirm the routing with you rather than assuming it.

The ferry fare, and why we confirm it in writing

SKORTA's estimator treats ferry-required UK routes as their own category, separate from mainland journeys and from European ones, because they genuinely cost differently. For several Scottish island routes the operators publish a commercial tariff by vehicle length, so the crossing can be costed accurately in advance.

The Irish Sea is not one of those routes. Freight space on this crossing is contracted and quoted rather than sold off a published price list, so there is no public tariff to read a figure from. The online estimate therefore carries a sensible allowance for the crossing, and the actual fare is confirmed to you in writing before anything is booked. If the confirmed fare comes in under the allowance, that is reflected in your written quotation.

We would rather tell you that than publish a ferry price we cannot stand behind.

Enclosed or open, across the water

Both trailers make the crossing, and the estimator shows the two prices side by side for the route.

• Enclosed — covered — transport is the usual choice for a classic, a performance car, a freshly restored or freshly painted car, or anything being sold unseen. A long day that includes a sea crossing means salt in the air as well as on the road, and the enclosed trailer keeps all of it off the paint.
• Open transport is the sensible option for an everyday car, a trade movement or a robust vehicle where the saving matters more than the shelter. It is the same dedicated trailer, the same crew and the same condition report — just without the walls.

If you are undecided, the enclosed versus open guide sets out the trade-off honestly.

Belfast, and everywhere else

Belfast is the most common collection and delivery point, simply because the ferry lands there and because the city and its surroundings hold most of the demand. But door to door means door to door: Lisburn, Bangor, Newtownards, Ballymena, Coleraine, Londonderry, Armagh, Enniskillen and the addresses in between are all reachable on the same movement, and a rural address is not a problem.

The same is true on the mainland side. The car can be collected anywhere in England, Scotland or Wales — from Reading and the Thames Valley where SKORTA is based, from London, or from anywhere the journey happens to start — and driven north to the crossing as part of one continuous movement.

How booking works

The sequence is deliberately short.

• Get an indicative figure. Put both postcodes and a date into the estimator. It will price the route as a ferry-required movement and show open and enclosed together, one way or with the car brought back.
• Tell us about the car. Make, model, whether it runs and steers, and anything awkward about access at either end. A non-runner is fine — the enclosed trailer has a winch and a tilt bed — but it is much better known in advance.
• We confirm the crossing and the price in writing. This is where the ferry fare stops being an allowance and becomes a number, along with a realistic plan for the days involved.
• Collection, crossing, delivery. A signed photographic condition report at both ends, and one crew to ask at any point in between.

Short-notice transport may be available. Earlier booking is recommended where possible, because sailings and space are not infinitely flexible — particularly around holidays and at the ends of months.

What we will not tell you

Requirements for moving vehicles between Great Britain and Northern Ireland have changed more than once in recent years and may change again. We are not going to publish customs, VAT or import guidance on this page and leave it to go stale — and we are transporters, not customs or tax advisers. What we will do is confirm what is actually needed for your specific movement before it is booked, and say plainly when something needs professional advice rather than ours.

The same applies to timing. We will not print a transit time we cannot control. You will get a realistic plan for your route when we quote, and you will hear from us if it moves.