How much does it cost to ship a car?

Every day at AA Car Transport get calls from customers asking HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO SHIP A CAR? Some customers like to get estimates or ballpark prices to see whether they would like to use car transport, drive a company car, or sell it and buy a new one.

There is no easy answer, but we will try to make clear some of the factors that can affect the final price. All prices are for open trailer in US & Canada (not including Hawaii). This post will help you understand the way you need to use a broker to ship your car.

Let’s start from the basic math.

The basic cost to ship a car in an open trailer is mileage multiplied by the size of the vehicle + broker fee.
For example:

Small sedan / Hatchback – 40 cents per mile.
Med size sedan – 45 cents per mile.
Truck / SUV – 50 cents per mile.
VAN / Big truck – 55 cents per mile.

So basically in a perfect world we have to open a map to calculate the distance between point A and point B, multiply according to the vehicle size and we have the cost. But this isn’t always the case.

Here are some of the factors that can change the price:

Gas prices – This is the biggest factor on price. If gas prices go up, all shipping costs go up.
Route, pick up & drop off locations – most drivers have the same route. Some of them do daily routes, some weekly or bi-weekly; therefore, a main route like LA to Miami is a well traveled route, which makes it easy to find drivers to ship the car (more drivers = less money). But, to ship a car from Barre VT to Casper WY will cost more, since these 2 cities are off any main route. Less drivers + off main route = higher costs.

Season– auto and car transport seasons are divided into summer and winter. Seasonal time makes prices go up since there are more customers than drivers.
Summer time main route is coast to coast.
Winter time main route is: north to south and back north at the end of the winter (snowbirds).

Vehicle – size is the big factor for 2 main reasons. The first one is weight. Heavy loads make the truck burn more gas. The second one is size. A big VAN takes the same amount of space on a trailer that 2 small sedans do.

Special needs – there are a lot of factors that come into play like: if the car is running or not (not all trucks have a winch), towing gear, or any modification to the car that requires special equipment. These will all affect the cost.

Time frame – driving is not an exact science! Customers with zero flexibility as far as pick up & delivery dates will pay more! Since there are so many factors like weather, traffic and weight stations, each hold up can change delivery time by hours and days.
So as you can see there is no exact answer to “how much does it cost to ship a car?” Same car, same place, different season can mean a different price.

So now let’s play with some numbers:

Small sedan coast to coast LA-NY will be around the $1000-$1100 in summer time.

New York, NY to Los Angeles, CA is about 2800 miles – 2800*40+100=1220$ (miles*cents+broker fee) However, since it’s a well traveled route the price will drop down to $1000-$1100

Barre VT to Casper WY will be around the $1900-$2100 in the winter time. 2000*40+100=$900

Its’ only 2000 miles (800 miles less than LA-NY) but in the off season and with both cites off any main route, the price goes up to get the $2100 tag price.

As you can see in this post there may be a lot of factors you need to be consider to get a price. If you would like to know how much does it cost to ship a car please fill out our get a quote form; we will be happy to help you out with your vehicle transport needs.

Please read The Golden role to Avoid Car Transport Scams