Shipping handover, arriving or leaving

Before the car ships

A car crossing the water is a logistics project before it is a tint or protection project. The most common mistake is booking work for the day the car is due off the boat and then finding the sailing moved. So the order is simple: tell the shop the vehicle, the services and the expected arrival date, book your shipping, and set the appointment for a day or two after the car should be available at Kahului Harbor.

Offshore does not arrange shipping. Your shipping company sets the rules for drop-off and pickup, how much fuel can be in the tank, and what can stay inside the car; ask them before you book. If someone else will collect the car or bring it to the shop, tell the shop who in writing.

At the harbor

Collect the car from your shipping company and walk around it with their condition report before you sign. Note any new scratches, chips or dents with them on the spot; that is the record your shipping company works from. A photo of each side, the hood and the windshield on your phone takes two minutes and helps later.

At the shop

The shop is at 430 Hookahi St in Wailuku, about 8 minutes from Kahului. Before work starts, the front side windows are metered through film and glass, and existing damage, old film and anything that limits the work is noted. If the inspection turns up something that changes the plan, such as a chip on the hood that should be filled before paint protection film goes on, you hear about it before work continues.

Front tint from the mainland is the usual finding. Hawaii requires at least 35% of light through the front side windows, measured through film and glass, and many mainland states allow darker. Film that fails comes off and new film goes on in a legal shade, and you leave with the certificate Hawaii law requires. The shipped to Maui page explains the law, and the Hawaii window tint law page has the full detail.

Leaving the island

If the car is shipping out, work backwards from the harbor drop-off. Tint needs the windows up for 3 to 5 days, a ceramic coating needs 24 to 48 hours before the car leaves the shop and seven days before its first wash, and PPF cure times vary by product and conditions. Confirm the release date with the shop before you book the sailing, and do not plan a same-day harbor drop-off after a coating.

Check the tint law of the state you are moving to as well. Some are stricter than Hawaii on the front windows, and it is easier to choose the right shade now than to redo it after the car lands. Tell us the vehicle, the dates and what you want done, and the appointment is the first thing we confirm.