Your last weeks in Hong Kong: a checklist for the car

The last few weeks before a move are a blur. Packing, leaving dinners, handing back keys, and a dozen forms that all seem to want doing at once. The car tends to slip down the list, and then everything about it feels urgent at the same moment.

It doesn’t need to. The car’s to-do list is short and the order is fixed. This guide sets it out week by week, so you can tick things off as you go. Our moving-date planner will put real dates against each step from your flight date.

Eight to twelve weeks before you fly

This is when the decisions happen.

• Decide whether to ship or sell. Our ship or sell guide helps if you’re unsure.
• Get a quote, so you know the full cost and we can start planning.
• Check whether you’re likely to qualify for Transfer of Residence with our ToR checker, then apply for ToR1 on GOV.UK. It has to be approved before the car ships.
• If there’s a loan on the car, ask the lender for a settlement figure now. Our guide to moving with a car on finance explains why it has to be cleared first.

Four to six weeks before

Now the plan gets dates.

• Once ToR1 is approved, book collection with us.
• If your household goods are being shipped too, tell your removals company the car is travelling separately. Our guide to shipping with your household goods covers both routes.
• Decide whether to keep your registration number. If you want to, you’ll apply with form TD129 alongside the TD184.
• Check when your vehicle licence expires. If there will be 60 days or more left when you cancel the registration, the Transport Department refunds the unexpired part of the fee.
• Tell us about anything unusual on the car, such as front window film or modifications, so it’s planned into the job.

Collection week

This is the busiest week for the car, but most of it is ours to do.

• Take personal belongings out of the car, unless we’ve agreed otherwise.
• Settle any tolls and cancel your HKeToll tag, then take it off the windscreen. Close any old Autotoll account too.
• Take any permit or parking stickers off the glass.
• Keep the original vehicle licence. You’ll hand it in with your TD184.
• Gather every key, including spares, plus any charging cables on an electric car.
• Keep the original Vehicle Registration Document and your identity document with you, not in the glovebox.

We collect from your address and take the car to the container-loading warehouse. From there it’s in our hands, and you can follow each stage in the customer portal.

Speak to your Hong Kong insurer too. The car needs cover until it’s collected, so don’t cancel early. Once it’s gone, ask about cancelling the policy and any refund, and ask for a letter confirming your no-claims record. It can help when you arrange UK insurance.

Within fifteen days of the car shipping

This is the one with a hard deadline. Once the car has been permanently shipped out of Hong Kong, its registration has to be cancelled within 15 days.

Take these to any Transport Department Licensing Office:

• form TD184
• the original Vehicle Registration Document
• the original vehicle licence, if it’s still valid
• the shipping document, which we’ll make sure you have
• your identity document
• the Certificate of Allocation, if the car has a personalised mark
• form TD129, if you’re keeping the registration number

Until the registration is cancelled, the car stays registered in your name, along with the legal liabilities that go with it. It’s worth getting done promptly rather than on day fifteen. Our TD184 guide goes through it in more detail.

If you’re keeping the registration mark, the Transport Department holds it for 12 months. If it isn’t put on another vehicle in that time, it can be reallocated, so bear that in mind if you’re not planning to buy another car in Hong Kong.

If you’ll have flown by then

Plenty of people do. The car ships, and a week later so do they.

The Transport Department allows an agent to submit the TD184 for you, with copies of your identity document and their own. Choose that person before you fly, usually a family member or a friend, and leave them everything on the list above. It’s much easier to hand over an envelope at the airport than to post originals back from the UK.

Once you’ve landed

From here, the car is on its way and the UK end is ours. We clear customs as fully authorised HMRC CDS agents, test the car on our own IVA lane if it’s under ten years old, and register it through our dealer-level DVLA account. Then we deliver it, or store it until you’re ready.

Two things for you in the meantime. Arrange UK insurance before the car is ready, and remember your Hong Kong licence covers you for 12 months after you become resident. Our guide to driving licence and insurance after the move covers both.

Next steps

If you haven’t already, get a quote and tell us your flight date. We’ll plan the car around it so the last few weeks are as calm as they can be. We’d be more than happy to help should you need it.