How Much Does Car Shipping Cost?

Cost by Distance: What the Numbers Actually Look Like

Distance is the single biggest factor in your shipping cost, but it does not scale linearly. Short hauls under 500 miles actually cost more per mile because the carrier still has to load, secure, and unload your vehicle regardless of how far it travels. Here is how distance breaks down in practice:

These are drive times once a carrier is dispatched. The under-500-mile and 500–1,200-mile figures are measured on Y7’s New Jersey-inbound dispatches (27 August 2025 to 23 July 2026); the longer bands are typical ranges. Before that, assigning a carrier typically takes 1–2 days on active lanes. Route, season, weather and driver hours change these times; they are typical, not a promised window. A carrier driving coast-to-coast may cover the distance in 4 days of driving, but regulations limit hours behind the wheel, and multi-car haulers make intermediate stops to load and deliver other vehicles along the route.

How Vehicle Size Affects Your Price

Carriers price by the space your vehicle occupies on the trailer — both the physical footprint and the weight it adds. A standard car hauler fits 7–10 vehicles depending on size. Larger vehicles mean fewer total cars per load, and the carrier needs to make up that revenue difference.

When you request a quote, providing the exact year, make, and model matters. A 2024 Honda Civic and a 2024 Ford F-350 dually going on the same route will have very different prices, and the reason is purely mechanical — trailer space and weight distribution.

Open vs. Enclosed Transport

Most vehicles shipped in the US go on open carriers: the multi-car haulers you see on the highway every day. Enclosed transport uses a fully covered trailer that protects against weather, road debris, and UV exposure. The price difference is real: enclosed transport typically costs 40–60% more than open on the same lane.

When does enclosed make sense? If you are shipping a vehicle worth over $75,000, a classic car, an exotic, or a show car where even minor cosmetic imperfection matters. For a daily driver or a standard used car purchase, open transport is the industry standard and handles millions of vehicles per year without incident. The cars you see at dealership lots were almost certainly delivered on an open carrier.

Inoperable Vehicle Surcharges

If your vehicle does not start, does not roll, does not steer, or does not brake, the carrier needs special equipment to load it. A vehicle that rolls but does not start can usually be winched onto the trailer. A non-running vehicle adds $100–300 to the carrier rate for winch loading; a vehicle that cannot roll needs forklift or roll-back loading, which is quoted separately. This is part of the carrier rate, not a Y7 fee.

Be specific when requesting a quote: "non-running" covers a wide range. A car with a dead battery is very different from a car with no wheels. The more detail you give us, the more accurate the quote. If the vehicle has been in an accident, let us know the extent of the damage — some carriers will not transport vehicles with severe structural damage for safety reasons.

Seasonal Pricing Patterns

Auto transport demand follows seasonal cycles driven by migration patterns, weather, and market demand. Y7’s own data shows no winter premium: on Y7’s dispatches into the New Jersey export warehouses from 27 August 2025 to 23 July 2026, December 2025 was among the cheapest months. Carrier prices move with fuel prices and driver availability, so treat any figure as a guide, not a quote. Knowing the demand cycle still helps you pick a pickup window with more carriers available.

First Mile and Last Mile: Location Matters

Metro-to-metro routes are the cheapest because carriers are already running those corridors. A shipment from Los Angeles to Houston follows a high-traffic lane with dozens of carriers making that run weekly. But if your pickup or delivery is in a rural area — say, 40 miles off the nearest interstate — expect to pay more.

Rural pickups and deliveries add cost for two reasons: the carrier has to detour from their main route, burning fuel and time, and large car haulers sometimes cannot navigate narrow rural roads. In those cases, we may arrange a smaller truck for the first or last leg, which adds a transfer step. If you are near a metro area, meeting the carrier at a convenient location (like a large parking lot near a highway exit) can save you $50–$150.

Why Prices Vary Between Brokers

Auto transport is a marketplace. Brokers like Y7 Logistics post your shipment to a load board where carriers bid on the job. The price a carrier accepts depends on their current route, how full their trailer is, fuel costs that week, and how quickly they need to fill empty spots.

If a broker quotes you significantly below market rate, there is a catch: either the carrier will demand more money at pickup (a bait-and-switch), or your vehicle will sit unassigned for weeks because no carrier will take the job at that price. We price based on what carriers are actually accepting on the load board right now — not what sounds good on a sales call. That is why our quotes convert to pickups quickly, usually within 1–5 days of your first available date.

The Y7 fee is not built into the carrier rate. Every quote shows two lines. The carrier rate is what the carrier is paid for the move, and it varies by lane, season and equipment. The Y7 dispatch fee is separate and does not vary by volume: dealers pay $50 per vehicle when they pay the carrier directly on delivery, or $60 when Y7 handles payment to the carrier; exporters pay $50 per vehicle with carrier-payment handling included; individuals pay the greater of $75 or 10% of the carrier price. Y7 takes no spread on the carrier rate, so the figure you see for the carrier is the figure the carrier receives. The fee covers our broker coordination of the entire process from booking through delivery confirmation.

When You Need This

• Buying a car out of state
• Relocating to a new city or state
• Sending a vehicle to an auction buyer
• Dealer-to-dealer vehicle transfers

How It Works

What You Need

• Vehicle details (year, make, model)
• Pickup and delivery locations
• Preferred transport dates
• Vehicle condition (running or non-running)

Our Capabilities

Frequently Asked Questions