Interstate Car Transport Within Australia

We are often asked for advice on securing a vehicle inside an interstate furniture container. The method below is one way that we have used successfully.

This page is intended as a resource for anyone wanting to relocate their car, trailer, boat or motorbike interstate within Australia. The advice below is suitable for transport between Sydney, Brisbane, Parth, Darwin, Melbourne, Adelaide and Tasmania using our removalist shipping containers.

Equipment needed:

Ratchet straps

Wooden chocks

Chipboard screws
A cordless drill - for securing the chocks to the container floor.

First, you will need ratchet straps, two pieces of wood to chock the wheels and some screws to secure the chocks. All of these items are readily available at an outlet such as Bunnings Warehouse.

A minimum of four ratchet straps is required. We recommend getting straps that are rated to take at least half the weight of the vehicle being transported. Our vehicle is 1200kg (from the owners manual), so we purchased the straps below (rated to 650kg) from Bunnings for $56.

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You will need two pieces of cheap pine timber (40mm x 70mm x 2.2m) - or similar. We purchased the ones below from the trade desk at Bunnings for $6 each.

Wooden chocks for holding a car in a container

We purchased the screws below for $4 from Bunnings.

The first piece of timber will be screwed to the floor of the container in front of the front (or rear) wheels of the car. Place the first piece of timber at the back of the container before driving in the car. You don't have to secure the first piece of wood to the container floor at this stage.

Chock one

Next, you need to prepare the ratchets.

Each ratchet strap will come in two parts - a short length with the actual ratchet mechanism attached and a long piece of strap with a hook on the end. Firstly, cut about 1m of strap off the blank end of the long piece with the hook and tie the offcut into a loop. You should have the following;

Ratchet Preparation

Next, do a trial run fitting the straps to one of the wheels while the car is outside the container. Space will be tight once the car is in the container.

Ratchet ties before loading the furniture container

Now you are ready to put he car into the container. First build some sort of ramp.

Container ramp

Drive the car into the container and place the front piece of timber tightly against the front wheels and the second piece behind the rear wheels. Use a few screws on each side to secure the timber to the container floor. Please make sure you only use thin self tapping screws so that the holes close up against once they are removed.

Car in container - Melbourne

Next, fit the ratchet strap to all the wheels using the heavy lashing points at the bottom of the container walls.

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And you're done!

If you are looking for instructions on securing a motorcycle into a shipping container then click here for more helpful advice.

Our containers come with blankets, trolleys, rope and boxes - click here for more information.