Auto transport: what shipping a car costs, open or enclosed, and why it is a second contract

What shipping a car costs

September 2026 rate cards are the price, and the file is too thin to replace them.

September 2026 rate cards are the price, and the file is too thin to replace them. Open transport on those cards runs $0.60 to $1.20 per mile, and a common door to door total is $700 to $1,500. Enclosed is 30 to 60 percent more. Fewer than 35 reviews name a price, so there is no service price token and the planning band table carries the bands.

9 reviews and 8 movers are the whole signal as of 21 Sept 2026. That is too small a set to rank anyone, which is why this page skips best badges. What it does show is a car riding outside the household contract, including on a container shipment where the box is still not a car carrier. Pair this page with long-distance moving so the two bills stay apart.

How auto transport is priced

Fuel is a note, not a calculator.

Miles, then open or enclosed, then the car itself. September 2026 rate cards price open at $0.60 to $1.20 per mile and enclosed at 30 to 60 percent more, because the second option is a covered trailer. A sedan starts the card and a larger vehicle is the upcharge on top. An inoperable car adds $150 to $350 on those cards, since the driver cannot drive it onto the trailer.

The window and the season move the same card. Rural pickup is $50 to $100 on the September 2026 rate cards, and peak summer and fall snowbird months run higher than a quiet midwinter lane. Under 500 miles those cards show $200 to $500. Runs of 2,000 miles or more show $1,100 to $1,600, which is the spread people mean by shipping a car across the country.

Fuel is a note, not a calculator. Diesel for the week of 31 Aug 2026 is $5.60, and a carrier may talk about it when the lane is long. Do not turn that weekly figure into your own per-mile quote. The diesel calculator holds the series if you want to see the swing. On the household bill, hidden moving fees are where a similar surprise usually hides.

What reviews say goes wrong

The desk reads these reviews every week.

Small n, stated up front. Since 1 Jan 2024 the service signal is 9 reviews and 8 movers, with a mean rating of 4.00. Damage shows in 22.2%, delays in 11.1%, over-quote language in 11.1%, five-star writeups in 66.7%, and one-or-two-star reviews in 22.2%. Those prices are the whole move the reviewer described, not the service line alone. Reviewer-typed prices are self-reported, skewed to long-distance and to people with something to say.

The desk reads these reviews every week. The recurring story is the household mover that said it could take the car, and the car that arrived a week after the couch on a truck nobody had named. The writeups are about which of the two companies lost the keys. Read damage claims and the US reviews with that split in mind, because the set is only 9 deep.

Who holds the authority

The per-mile rate on every car-shipping site is a broker's opening bid.

A car is the one thing in a move that is not household goods. It rides a different truck, on FMCSA motor carrier authority for vehicles, not household-goods authority, and on its own Bill of Lading. As of 23 Sept 2026 the file lists 9,119 carriers and 900 brokers, and many car-shipping quotes come from brokers that assign a carrier later. Look up the number with the USDOT and MC guide and the license lookup.

The per-mile rate on every car-shipping site is a broker's opening bid. The carrier that actually shows up was assigned last night, and the inspection report at the curb is worth more than the quote. Ask who holds FMCSA motor carrier authority for vehicles, using questions to ask movers, before you hold the pickup window. Haulest is not a carrier and does not assign one.

The household mover is the offer that sounds convenient. A van line and an independent can both say the car will fit, and van line versus independent is still about household goods. If they cannot show FMCSA motor carrier authority for vehicles, book the car with a company that can. The mover strip on this page lists only names the corpus actually contains, and here that strip is short.

The paper that protects you

The Bill of Lading with an inspection report at pickup and delivery is the paper.

The Bill of Lading with an inspection report at pickup and delivery is the paper. Walk the car in daylight, call out every chip, and get those marks on the report before the truck leaves. Do the same walk at delivery, with photos that show the panel and the date. The household version of this form is covered in the bill of lading guide. The auto copy is the carrier's form, not an inventory line.

The carrier's cargo insurance is the policy that answers a claim. Ask for the certificate in the carrier's name and read what it excludes before pickup. A broker's website is not the insured. If the truck was assigned the night before, the name on the Bill of Lading is the name on the claim. Over-quote language shows up in 4.8% of priced reviews since 2025, at a median of $4,965.

How to book it next to a move

Ask for the carrier's legal name, the Bill of Lading, and whether a broker will assign the truck later.

Five checks, in this order. Separate the car from the moving-cost quote so the inventory stays household goods. Choose open or enclosed off the September 2026 rate cards before you negotiate. Confirm FMCSA motor carrier authority for vehicles, not only household-goods authority. Set the pickup against the eight-week checklist so the driveway is empty when the van comes. Name, in writing, who fills in the inspection report at both ends.

Then make the call. Ask for the carrier's legal name, the Bill of Lading, and whether a broker will assign the truck later. If the household mover offers to take the car, stop and ask for FMCSA motor carrier authority for vehicles. How to hire movers covers the household half. The keys, it turns out, do not ride in the couch cushions. Then open the mover directory.