Hawaii

A Few Tips on Moving Pets, Cars and Furniture to Oahu, Hawaii

Moving Pets to Hawaii and Avoiding Quarantine

We have done this 3 times and each time we read the steps carefully. It’s not as difficult as it sounds if you do the steps correctly. First click below for the Animal Quarantine information page. Get familiar and write down the steps. After planning your trip to Hawaii, mark the key dates on your calendar. We would contact the animal quarantine if we ever had questions and to make sure they had received the necessary documents. We emailed them and would usually get a quick response: rabiesfree@hawaii.gov. We also called them if we needed info fast. 808 483-7151

As far as transporting your pet to Hawaii. We found Alaskan Airlines has the least amount of restrictions. It’s worth it to check with the airlines of your choice, but if you keep experiencing limitations I would advise to check with Alaskan Airlines.

Animal Industry Division | Animal Quarantine Information Page (Updated) (hawaii.gov)

family stands on oahu beach posing for family photo with dog

Car Transport to Oahu, Hawaii

We have shipped 5 times over the ocean from Florida. If you are looking for car transport to Oahu, here is some great advice. Wherever you are shipping your car to Oahu from, you will most likely need to ship over the ocean with Matson shipping.

Of course, you will ship from a big port in California. If you don’t live by a port, you will have to get a transportation company to deliver the vehicle. We shipped vehicles from Florida 3 times, so we have become pretty close to experts. I searched and received quotes from every transport company in the US and https://yellowfinlogistics.com/ was always at least $500-$1000 less than the other companies. Each time we dealt with Danielle — Cell: (702) 780-1655.

You will pay a deposit of around $100 to secure the date. She will set up shipping across country and shipping with Matson over the ocean. You will pay the car transport and Matson on the dates she tells you to pay. MAKE SURE THE CAR IS TOTALLY EMPTY! Here is the checklist she provides each time.

Shipping Checklist

  • Your vehicle/s is in operating condition, with a working emergency
    brake, and is licensed or qualified to be licensed for operation on public
    streets or highways.
  • Vehicles with a warning light to check engine, airbags, or tires will be refused.
  • Electric vehicles, batteries should be fully charged or they may be refused.
  • The vehicle is washed and clean inside and out.
  • All personal belongings are to be removed including car covers, roof cargo carriers, attached tents, bike racks and additional batteries of any kind must be removed from the vehicle.
  • There are no cracks in windshields or other windows
  • A minimum of 6″ ground clearance required
  • The gas tank must have no more than a 1/4 tank of gas or auto would be denied at origin port.
  • You remove fire extinguishers and propane tanks are empty.

Vehicles shipping from Honolulu, Hilo, Kahului or Nawiliwili to the US Mainland are subject to Hawaii DOT regulations and the following documents must be submitted to your port of loading prior to delivering your vehicle.

Please email your documents to the following and include your Matson booking number.
Honolulu port 1FRTPR_HON@matson.com
Hilo port hiloauto@matson.com
Kahului port 1kahauto@matson.com
Nawiliwili port 1nawauto@matson.com

  1. Certificate of ownership (Title).
  2. Current vehicle registration.
  3. Title and Registration please include the front and back of the original document.
    If someone other than the registered owner delivers the vehicle, you must provide a photocopy of the owners id as well as a notarized letter of authorization from the registered owner(s) authorizing shipment. If a lien holder is named on the title or registration, then a letter from the lien holder authorizing shipment from Hawaii, Guam, Saipan or Micronesia is required * please note that a letter from the lien holder does not have to be notarized.

PLEASE NOTE – Vehicles shipping from HAWAII to the MAINLAND UNITED STATES are subject to stringent inspections by the USDA prior to shipping. It is the responsibility of the shipper to have the interior and exterior of the vehicle thoroughly cleaned.

Example: The USDA looks for clumps of mud in wheel wells or under the vehicle’s carriage, under the hood of vehicles is also inspected, the USDA also looks for dirt, grasses, plant seeds in the interior as well as the exterior and for anything that they consider invasive to the U.S Continent. If you fail the USDA inspection Matson will be unable to ship your vehicle until the vehicle has been properly cleaned and re-inspected by

Moving Furniture to Oahu, Hawaii

Looking at moving furniture to Oahu? Here is my advice, put a lot of thought and planning into what you want to do and spend before shipping furniture to Oahu. We priced out getting pods or palettes to ship our belongings. Just our living room was looking around $5000 to ship, it wasn’t making sense. So we calculated that if we sold our stuff and only made 50 percent of what we paid, we would still save more money by just rebuying furniture in Oahu.

For example, if all of the furniture that you own cost you $10,000, it would probably cost that to ship it. If you could sell it all for around $5000 and then ship small items with the post office. Keep in mind living space is smaller in Oahu, so you won’t need to buy as much furniture when you get to Oahu. Use the $5000 you made from your sales and save $10-$15000 trying to ship. You will need to take time and thought and see if this plan works for you, it did for us! If not the best prices we found for shipping items was the same as the car transport.

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