Car Shipping Cost: What Drives the Price
What drives car shipping cost, and why no page can tell you your number
Car shipping cost is not one number; it moves with the corridor, the vehicle, the transport type, how flexible your pickup window is, and the season. This page explains each driver and shows dated public ranges from broker cost guides we read today, so you can see the shape of the market. None of these figures is our price; ours is one number confirmed for your specific shipment before you pay.
The parts of the price
| Driver | What decides it | Published ranges (their pages, their scope, read 2026-09-21) |
|---|---|---|
| Distance / corridor | Shorter hauls cost more per mile; longer hauls cost less per mile but more in total | Sherpa Auto Transport publishes per-mile bands from about $1.55-$2.50/mile under 500 miles down to $0.50-$0.65/mile over 2,500 miles (sherpaautotransport.com); a sample of quotes from eight transport companies for one sedan showed $650-$890 at 500 miles, $800-$1,350 at 1,000 miles, and $1,050-$1,800 at 2,500 miles (kbb.com) |
| Vehicle size and weight | Larger vehicles (SUVs, trucks, minivans) take more carrier space | A vehicle larger than an average sedan typically adds about $190-$250 (moveadvisor.com) |
| Open vs enclosed | Enclosed trailers protect the vehicle from weather and road debris but carry fewer cars per load | Both guides describe enclosed transport adding roughly 50% or more over open-carrier rates (sherpaautotransport.com; kbb.com) |
| Pickup-window flexibility | A flexible window lets a carrier fit your vehicle into an existing route; an exact date narrows carrier options | Expedited shipping can add about $250-$625 over a standard window (moveadvisor.com) |
| Season | Late spring through summer is the heaviest moving season | Summer prices run about $250-$375 higher per trip than the rest of the year (moveadvisor.com); prices also tend to run higher in January (sherpaautotransport.com) |
What "open vs enclosed" means for us specifically
Open carrier is our standard service and what almost every carrier we found runs. Enclosed transport is a request, not a priced service yet: tell us in your request and a person follows up; we do not publish an enclosed price until we hold cost evidence for it.
Inoperable vehicles
A vehicle that does not start or roll under its own power needs winching or a lift gate, which adds cost. We do not price inoperable shipments online yet; a person handles that request separately.
How our price is built
One confirmed number for your shipment: the corridor, the vehicle, the transport type, your pickup-window flexibility, and the season, priced for your specific job. We do not publish a rate card or an average, because we have no completed shipments to base one on; see how our pricing works for the mechanics.
What this page is not
None of the ranges above is our price, and we did not request a quote from any of the sites cited. They are shown so you can see how the industry itself describes the same drivers we use.
Questions
- Why do prices per mile go down on longer hauls? Loading, unloading and route planning are largely fixed costs, spread over more miles on a long haul; the sourced per-mile bands above show this pattern (sherpaautotransport.com, read 2026-09-21).
- Is a "$1 per mile" rule accurate? One guide we read describes that as a rough rule of thumb around a 1,000-mile shipment, not a fixed formula (kbb.com, read 2026-09-21); our confirmed price accounts for the other drivers on this page too.
- Does my exact vehicle model change the price? Size and weight matter more than the specific model; two mid-size sedans usually price close together, an SUV or truck typically does not.
Why book this way
- Your price online in minutes. No callback, no estimate visit, no waiting for someone to get back to you.
- One all-in price before any contact. The national auto-transport brokers we read show quote-request forms or calculator fields, not a posted price, before you submit your trip details (montway.com, roadrunnerautotransport.com, read 2026-09-21).
- One point of contact from your request to the finished delivery. We work with a vetted carrier and answer for the result.
- You pay only after the price and your booking are confirmed.
Get my price
Sources
- Sherpa Auto Transport, car shipping cost guide, per-mile bands and seasonal notes (https://www.sherpaautotransport.com/guides/car-shipping-cost/, read 2026-09-21).
- MoveAdvisor, car shipping cost guide, vehicle-size, expedited and seasonal figures (https://moveadvisor.com/move/how-much-does-it-cost-to-ship-a-car/, read 2026-09-21).
- Kelley Blue Book, car shipping cost guide, quoted-sample ranges by distance (https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/costs-shipping-vehicle/, read 2026-09-21).