Shipping Your Car When You Move: A Relocation Guide

Car shipping when moving means handing off one of the most stressful parts of a relocation so you can focus on the rest of the move. American Car Transporters coordinates door-to-door pickup and delivery timed around your closing date, moving truck, or flight, so your car shows up close to when you do instead of adding days of driving to an already long list of tasks. Whether you’re relocating with one vehicle or an entire household of cars, ACT’s vetted carrier network handles the logistics while you handle everything else.

Why ship a car instead of driving it during a move?

A cross-country move already means packing, closing on a house, transferring utilities, and juggling work start dates. Adding a multi-day drive on top of that eats into time you don’t have, and it puts extra miles, wear, and risk on a vehicle you’re going to need running well in your new city. Shipping frees up that time. It also means you and your family can fly, drive a shorter distance together, or split up (one person flies, one drives a second car) without worrying about who’s driving the third vehicle.

For a full breakdown of the tradeoffs, see shipping a car vs. driving it yourself.

How does car shipping fit into a moving timeline?

Most moves have a few fixed dates: the day you’re out of the old house, the day the moving truck arrives at the new one, and sometimes a flight or work start date in between. Car shipping works best when it’s planned around those anchor points rather than squeezed in at the last minute.

A general rule: book earlier for peak moving season (summer, and the days around a lease or closing date) and for long routes or less common lanes. Pickup windows are typically a range of a few days rather than an exact hour, since carriers build routes around multiple customers. Building in a buffer of several days between your car’s expected delivery and when you actually need it on the ground gives you breathing room if a pickup slips. For more on timing, see how far in advance to ship a car.

What if I have more than one car to move?

Plenty of relocating households have two, three, or more vehicles, plus maybe a project car or something inherited from a parent’s garage. ACT can coordinate multi-car pickups from the same address, and in some cases carriers can combine vehicles onto the same truck to simplify scheduling. If you’re relocating with a full household fleet, or you’re a dealer moving inventory alongside a personal move, the same broker model applies: one point of contact, one set of carriers vetted for licensing, insurance, and safety record. See dealer and multi-car transport for how that works at scale.

Can I ship my car and fly to my new city?

Yes, and this is one of the most common reasons people use car shipping in the first place. Instead of a multi-day solo drive followed by exhaustion right when you need to be signing paperwork or starting a new job, you fly (or take a shorter, shared drive with family), and the car is picked up and delivered separately. Door-to-door service means the truck comes as close as safely possible to your old address and drops off as close as possible to your new one, so there’s no detour to a shipping terminal on either end.

What determines the cost of shipping a car during a move?

Every move is different, and rates depend on real, variable factors rather than a flat number. The main ones:

• Distance between pickup and delivery
• Vehicle size, weight, and whether it runs and drives
• Open or enclosed transport (see open vs. enclosed auto transport)
• Route popularity and how many carriers regularly run it
• Time of year and how close pickup is to peak moving season
• How flexible your pickup and delivery windows are

Because these shift by route and season, the only reliable way to get a real number for your move is through ACT’s quote calculator or by requesting auto transport quotes.

Moving scenarios and how ACT handles them

Moving scenario	How ACT typically handles it
Single car, long-distance move (family driving separately)	Door-to-door pickup at old address, delivery timed near arrival at new address
Flying to new city, car ships alone	Pickup scheduled around your flight, delivery window coordinated so the car arrives close to your move-in date
Two or more household vehicles moving together	Coordinated pickup from one address, carriers matched to move multiple cars efficiently
Move includes a classic, luxury, or low-clearance vehicle	Enclosed transport option to limit road exposure
Tight closing date or short notice	Expedited scheduling request through the quote tools, with realistic pickup windows communicated up front
Move to or from a remote or rural address	Nearest safe meeting point coordinated with the carrier if a full-size truck can’t access the property directly

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to be present for pickup and delivery when I’m moving?

Someone needs to be there, or someone you’ve authorized, to hand off the keys and do a walkaround inspection at both ends. If you’re flying out before the car ships, ACT can work with you to line up a trusted contact or a slightly later pickup window.

Can I ship my car to a new address if I haven’t closed on the house yet?

Yes. Many people moving long distance use a temporary address, a friend or family member’s home, or coordinate delivery to align with a closing date. Just flag the timing when you request your quote so pickup and delivery windows can be planned around it.

What if my moving date changes after I’ve booked car shipping?

Let ACT know as soon as your dates shift. Pickup and delivery windows can often be adjusted, though changes closer to the original date may be harder to accommodate depending on the carrier’s route.

Is it cheaper to ship a car during a move than to drive it myself?

It depends on distance, your vehicle’s fuel and wear costs, hotel and food expenses on the road, and the value of the time you save. There’s no single answer, but the quote calculator gives you a real number to compare against your own driving costs.

Ready to ship?

Moving is enough to manage without adding a cross-country drive to the list. Get a real number from American Car Transporters with the quote calculator, request auto transport quotes for your route, or contact us to talk through your moving timeline.