Car shipping from Los Angeles, CA to San Francisco, CA
Figures below are worked out for this specific corridor and dated.
Before pickup: why the carrier gives a pickup window, not an hour; how to prepare the car; and what the pickup inspection protects.
Driving cost: 381 mi × 76¢/mi (IRS rate) = $290, a 1-day drive. See the full math.
The route between Los Angeles and San Francisco
I-5 the length of the Central Valley, about 232 of the 381 miles, with I-580 over the Altamont Pass at the Bay Area end.
No toll roads on the direct I-5/I-580 route; a carrier crossing into San Francisco itself may hit a bridge toll depending on the exact drop-off point.
How is this trip priced?
We have no written quote for this lane yet, so a person prices your request from a current carrier quote before anything is charged. Most of the 381 miles are I-5 through the Central Valley, so winter is the season that moves the schedule on this lane; see below.
Check any quote, ours included, with the quote checker; quotes on other routes are on car shipping cost, and days on the truck by distance in the transit time estimator.
What can delay a shipment on this lane?
- Winter storms can close I-5 over the Grapevine (Tejon Pass, between Los Angeles and Bakersfield) outright. When heavy snow is forecast down to 4,500 feet, Caltrans and the CHP put a closure plan called Operation Snowflake into effect. A December to March pickup on this lane is the one to book with slack on both ends. (Caltrans, read 2026-09-26)
- From fall through early spring, thick ground fog, known as tule fog, forms over the Central Valley after rain, and Caltrans warns drivers about it on the valley freeways. It is a reason to leave slack in a winter delivery window rather than plan around an exact hour. (Caltrans District 3, read 2026-09-26)
Heading the other direction? See car shipping from San Francisco, CA to Los Angeles, CA. Local pickup notes: Los Angeles.
Other in-state lanes we book in California
- Los Angeles to San Diego 120 mi
- Los Angeles to Sacramento 384 mi
- San Diego to San Francisco 500 mi
- San Diego to Sacramento 504 mi
Sources: road miles and drive time from OpenStreetMap Nominatim geocoding and OSRM driving route (city centers), 2026-09-21, city center to city center (your addresses will change them a little). Drive cost: IRS standard mileage rate, irs.gov, read 2026-09-21. Transit band: typical open-carrier transit-day ranges by distance as published on public transit-time guides, read 2026-09-21. Route and toll notes: OSRM driving route, city center to city center, router.project-osrm.org, read 2026-09-24. We don't publish a shipping price for this lane yet because an honest price depends on a current quote; see how our pricing works.