What Does It Cost To Ship A Car ? | How car shipping rates are determined, what the primary factors are, what you need to know to make the right choices when shipping your car across the USA -Updated as of March 2024 .
The cost to transport a vehicle will vary greatly depending on the route, the time of year, the type of car, the type of trailer you've elected to move it with ( enclosed is more $$ VS open ) and a variety of other factors. But on average, as of March 2024, here are some average rates for some of the most popular routes :
For a Coupe / Sedan / Mid Size Car the Cost for these popular routes to ship a car was:
For a Large SUV or 1500 Model Truck, you can expect the price to increase on average from the rates above by about 20-30% , depending on what type of truck or SUV it is, as obviously some SUV's are very heavy, wide and long while others are quite small, like a Ford Escape or a Subaru Crosstrek wagon.
But as you can see, if we combined all the rates above, and averaged them out, you'd likely be somewhere around the .44 a mile range. So you can use that metric to sort of gauge what your prospective transport might cost, but this also assumes you are shipping the car from one major metropolitan area to another major metro or city. Remote areas can increase your cost by a large margin, as trucks do not like to venture way off the main highways or expressways. If a truck has to venture off route by even 100 miles it will cost them a great deal of time and fuel to do so, so they will pass the cost along to you.
MAJOR FACTORS THAT WILL INFLUENCE YOUR COST TO SHIP YOUR CAR:
The cost to transport a vehicle will vary greatly depending on the route, the time of year, the type of car, the type of trailer you've elected to move it with ( enclosed is more $$ VS open ) and a variety of other factors. But on average, as of March 2024, here are some average rates for some of the most popular routes :
For a Coupe / Sedan / Mid Size Car the Cost for these popular routes to ship a car was:
| ORIGIN | DESTINATION | TOTAL MILES | PER MILE AVG RATE | AVERAGE PAY RATE TO TRUCK |
| Los Angeles, CA | New York, NY | 2800 | .37 | $1000 |
| Miami, FL | Sacramento, CA | 3000 | .34 | $1030 |
| Baltimore, MD | Seattle, WA | 2750 | .40 | $1100 |
| Dallas, TX | Boston, MA | 1800 | .36 | $680 |
| Tampa, FL | Trenton, NJ | 1150 | .43 | $500 |
| Minneapolis, MN | Phoenix, AZ | 1650 | .52 | $870 |
For a Large SUV or 1500 Model Truck, you can expect the price to increase on average from the rates above by about 20-30% , depending on what type of truck or SUV it is, as obviously some SUV's are very heavy, wide and long while others are quite small, like a Ford Escape or a Subaru Crosstrek wagon.
But as you can see, if we combined all the rates above, and averaged them out, you'd likely be somewhere around the .44 a mile range. So you can use that metric to sort of gauge what your prospective transport might cost, but this also assumes you are shipping the car from one major metropolitan area to another major metro or city. Remote areas can increase your cost by a large margin, as trucks do not like to venture way off the main highways or expressways. If a truck has to venture off route by even 100 miles it will cost them a great deal of time and fuel to do so, so they will pass the cost along to you.
MAJOR FACTORS THAT WILL INFLUENCE YOUR COST TO SHIP YOUR CAR:
- Type of car ( Think how large, how heavy, how tall, how wide )
- Time of year ( Auto transport experiences regular seasonal fluctuations )
- Route - The route your trying to move your car on is typically the most critical factor in determining the cost, more so then any other metric on this list.
- Miles - The overall distance you are shipping the car from point a to point b.
- Your dates & timing flexibility - The more flexibility you have with your dates, the easier it will be for any prospective broker or shipping company to achieve a lower rate for you. The opposite is true with tight or stringent dates.
- Basic supply and demand forces - Here we are talking about the basic demand for trucks in or out of an area VS the supply of trucks in that same area. The higher the demand, the higher rates will be.
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