Mac,
With the way prices are going... Your best bet is to get them to airfreight the doors to the closes airport terminal (or whatever is called ).
https://www.sp-4x4.com/category_s/242.htm
I did this through Atlanta. Not a good experience. If I lived 15min from the airport, sure, I would do it. It required 3 separate trips to Atlanta from Huntsville (3 hrs each way) before I finally got my things through customs. Customs also didn't notify me until after lunch each time, so it was always an instant rush to try to leave town to make it there. It will probably be one trip less if you don't ship anything with leather/cloth. I had some seat covers in my order that I think were the hold up.
I did this for a Rimmer Bros shipment to save $150. I spent half that in gas, and way more than that in the time off work to make the trips. For me it wasn't worth it. In hindsight, only if I lived or had a friend that lived within 15-20 min of the airport.
Edit: Trip 1 was just to carry paperwork from recieving point to customs. That gets you on the list to get inspected. Then it's minimum 48 hours until the inspection happens. Trip 2 is if things go smooth, your items clear, you get the call to pick them up. Any issues and its an extra trip minimum to resolve it in person, which was required in my case.
I had SP4x4 deliver to my door. They use DHL.
Amazingly quick service, fully trackable. Unlike fedex etc there was no special letter seeking customs duties.
Sorry to see that you had a shitty experience...I did this through Atlanta. Not a good experience. If I lived 15min from the airport, sure, I would do it. It required 3 separate trips to Atlanta from Huntsville (3 hrs each way) before I finally got my things through customs. Customs also didn't notify me until after lunch each time, so it was always an instant rush to try to leave town to make it there. It will probably be one trip less if you don't ship anything with leather/cloth. I had some seat covers in my order that I think were the hold up.
I did this for a Rimmer Bros shipment to save $150. I spent half that in gas, and way more than that in the time off work to make the trips. For me it wasn't worth it. In hindsight, only if I lived or had a friend that lived within 15-20 min of the airport.
Edit: Trip 1 was just to carry paperwork from recieving point to customs. That gets you on the list to get inspected. Then it's minimum 48 hours until the inspection happens. Trip 2 is if things go smooth, your items clear, you get the call to pick them up. Any issues and its an extra trip minimum to resolve it in person, which was required in my case.
I did this through Atlanta. Not a good experience. If I lived 15min from the airport, sure, I would do it. It required 3 separate trips to Atlanta from Huntsville (3 hrs each way) before I finally got my things through customs. Customs also didn't notify me until after lunch each time, so it was always an instant rush to try to leave town to make it there. It will probably be one trip less if you don't ship anything with leather/cloth. I had some seat covers in my order that I think were the hold up.
I did this for a Rimmer Bros shipment to save $150. I spent half that in gas, and way more than that in the time off work to make the trips. For me it wasn't worth it. In hindsight, only if I lived or had a friend that lived within 15-20 min of the airport.
Edit: Trip 1 was just to carry paperwork from recieving point to customs. That gets you on the list to get inspected. Then it's minimum 48 hours until the inspection happens. Trip 2 is if things go smooth, your items clear, you get the call to pick them up. Any issues and its an extra trip minimum to resolve it in person, which was required in my case.
Huh ? I did this. Items arrive, I got a call. I go to terminal and grab the shipping paperwork. I drive over to the Customs office on the other side of the airport and stand @ the counter and officer comes over and asks how he can help. I say I need to clear the 4 doors and 6 fenders that have just arrived. I ask if he wants me to fill out a 7501 and HS7 form. He says , no give me a minute. He asks if items are new or used. I say new. He asks if the are for persoanl use or resale. I say personal use, but advise I have a permanent bond with Customs (tell's him I am regular importer/a business). He does everything.
In 15 mins I have my customs release paperwork and go pick up my freight.
Airport is 3 hrs away. In my case the savings was just over $400.
It did not work that way for me through Atlanta. In fact it was a massive cluster. I would say in large part because I don't have your background and experience. And those 3 trips i had to take were spread across 30 days. My stuff sat in a shipping dock for 30 days waiting customs to clear it, but only 3 once they actually were aware and had the right paperwork. Massive massive cluster, partially due to Rimmer borking the paperwork.
I was not charged any storage fees for those 30 days as Rimmer didn't even put my phone on any paperwork for anyone to call me, and I had to track down my own shipment to know it arrived and convince the shipper of what was going on as they didn't believe there was a problem. So my stuff arrived and no one called. I now know some tricks that would make it much smoother. Atlanta has a huge number of inspections that occur. From memory the officer said 10-12 guys inspecting 7-8 hours every day. Once they saw cloth/leather in the list, the in-person inspection had to happen, straight from the officers mouth. Inspectors come to office in the morning, get paperwork, go out and inspect all day, then call people when they get back in the afternoon, unless they are too tired, and then they call the next day. So if you require a physical inspection, the absolute fastest it can happen is 24 hrs if you get lucky. They told me 48 minimum, and that's what mine took. I think if I didn't have the cloth, leather, maybe I would have walked out with a stamp on first go. People are human, they make mistakes, I learned a ton, and everything that happened on that shipment could totally happen to me again or to anyone else. I cant say anything bad about customs guys. If they had the proper paperwork and notification, it wouldn't have been 30 days, it would have been 1-3. Maybe only one if I hadn't ordered seat covers. It was a heck of a first experience though.
This was probably 18 months ago.