Interstate Car Transport Within Australia

This page is intended as a resource for anyone wanting to relocate their car, trailer, boat or motorbike interstate within Australia.

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

Equipment needed:

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.

Step 2:

Step 3:

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:

Step 4:

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.

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

Step 5:

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.

Step 6:

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

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.