Florida's heavy truck traffic already helps your price. But a few smart choices can shave hundreds more off your bill. Here are the moves that actually work, ranked by how much they save — plus the traps that cost people money.
The cheapest combo: an open truck, off-season timing (late spring or summer), a flexible pickup window, and delivery to a big hub city. Stack those four and you'll pay near the bottom of the range — often $200 to $400 less than a peak-season, last-minute booking.
Most of what you pay comes down to four things: the kind of truck, the time of year, how flexible you are, and where the car drops off. Get those right and the price falls into place. The tips below are ordered from biggest saver to smallest, so start at the top.
This is the single biggest saving for most people. An open truck — the kind you see carrying cars on the highway — costs 40% to 60% less than an enclosed trailer. And it safely carries about 97 out of 100 cars.
Your car rides outside, the same way it sits in your driveway every day. A few days of open road won't hurt a normal car. The only time enclosed is worth it is for a classic, a sports car, or something worth a lot of money. For everything else, open is the easy money-saver. Our open vs enclosed guide compares them in detail.
Florida prices swing with the snowbird season, and that swing is big. Shipping into Florida is cheapest in late spring and summer, because trucks heading south have empty spots to fill. The same trip in October through December — when everyone heads south at once — can cost $200 to $400 more.
If your dates can bend at all, this is your highest-value move after choosing open transport. Even shifting by a few weeks, to just before the fall rush, can help. Our best time to ship to Florida guide shows the whole calendar.
This one is free, and a lot of people miss it. If you tell the company "it has to be picked up today," they have to find a truck right now, and that costs extra. If you give a window of three to five days, they can fit your car onto a truck that's already heading your way at a good price.
Flexibility is basically free money. The wider your window, the better your odds of a lower rate. If you have any room in your schedule, use it here.
Cities like Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, and Miami get constant truck traffic, so they price better than small, out-of-the-way towns. If your final stop is rural, you have an option: have the car delivered to a nearby hub and drive the last short leg yourself.
That little bit of effort can save real money, because the driver doesn't have to leave the main highway and burn time reaching a far-off address. Even within Florida, a drop-off near a major interstate is cheaper than one deep in the countryside.
Most people ship door-to-door, where a driver comes to you. A cheaper option, if it's available near both ends, is terminal-to-terminal. You drop the car at a lot, and pick it up from a lot at the other end.
It's less convenient, and not every route has good terminals. But on a tight budget, it can trim the door-to-door part of the price. Ask whether it's an option for your route and weigh the savings against the hassle.
Last-minute shipments pay for the rush. When you book early, the company can wait for a well-priced truck instead of grabbing the first one available. This matters most in the busy fall season, when trucks fill up fast.
You don't need to nail down an exact day. Just get on the schedule early with a flexible window, and let them find you a good match.
Here's a tip that saves money in a different way: don't just grab the lowest quote you see. In car shipping, a price far below the rest is often a trick. The broker quotes a low number to win your booking, but no driver will move the car for that little. So it sits. Days later, you're told you have to pay more to get it going.
By then you're stuck, and you often end up paying more than a fair quote would have cost in the first place. The smart move is to get a few honest quotes, ignore the one that seems too good to be true, and check the company before you pay. Our FMCSA carrier lookup is free and confirms a carrier's license, and our scam-watch guide covers the other warning signs.
Once you've nailed the big four, these extras can shave off a bit more:
Let's put it together. Say the base price for your route is around $1,300 in peak season, booked last-minute, enclosed. Switch to open transport, ship in summer instead of fall, give a flexible window, and book early — and the same car might ship for $900 to $1,000. That's a few hundred dollars saved, just by making smart choices. None of it lowers the quality of the move; it just avoids paying for rush, cover you don't need, and peak timing.
A few "savings" backfire. Don't pick a carrier just because it's the cheapest — check that it's real and licensed first. Don't hide your car's true size or condition to get a lower quote; the price will just get corrected later. And don't pack the trunk full of belongings to save on a separate shipment, because that can raise your auto-transport price or void coverage. Save the smart way, not the risky way.
Saving money is smart. Cutting the wrong corner isn't. A few "savings" end up costing more in the end, so steer clear of these:
The goal is the cheapest reliable shipment, not the lowest number on a screen. Those are not the same thing.
Here's how the savings stack up in practice. A family is shipping an SUV from New Jersey to Orlando. Their first instinct: enclosed transport, picked up next week in early November, booked last-minute. That comes in around $1,500.
Now they apply the tips. They switch to open transport (the SUV is a daily driver, so no need for enclosed), move the date to a flexible window, and decide to ship in late summer instead of the November rush. The new price lands near $1,050 — roughly $450 saved, with zero downside. Same car, same route, same quality of service. The only thing that changed was making four smart choices instead of defaulting to the most expensive option.
The fastest way to see your real low end is to run the numbers for your exact route. The calculator uses live fuel prices and real road distance, so you get an honest range in under a minute — no inflated middleman markup, and no phone number required to start.
Skip the averages. Our calculator pulls live diesel prices and real Google Maps distance for an actual price range on your exact route and vehicle — no spam, no obligation.
Calculate My Costor talk to a dispatcher: 1-888-706-8784
The cheapest combo is an open truck + off-season timing (late spring or summer) + a flexible pickup window + delivery to a big hub city. Stack those four and you'll land near the bottom of the price range instead of the top.
Open is much cheaper — it costs 40% to 60% less than enclosed. For a normal car, open is safe and the clear money-saver. Only collectors and high-value cars really need enclosed.
Yes. For cars going into Florida, late spring and summer are cheapest because trucks heading south have empty spots. Shipping then instead of the October-to-December peak can save $200 to $400 on the same trip.
Tell us where you're shipping — we'll handle the rest. No obligation, no hidden fees.