How to move our cars across the country?

April 11, 2018 2:25 PM

We're moving from the East coast US to the West coast US. From previous cross country moving questions I gathered that ABF is the most cost effective way to move our stuff. So that's what we'll do. However, we would like to find out how we can get 2 cars moved & what that might cost. We have 4 animals + 2 humans to get across also, but we'd like all living creatures to move in one vehicle, like a mini van or RV. Any suggestions/recommendations on having vehicles transported?
posted by yoga to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

Best answer: When I moved from California to Virginia recently, an open car carrier transport was about $1200, a fancier closed car carrier (e.g Intercity Lines) might be worthwhile if you have a fancy sports car, was closer to $2000. Typically they want some fraction up front, and the rest upon delivery. I don't imagine those are the best rates possible, but they are probably not too out of the norm either. About 3 years ago I had done the opposite move (Texas to California) and the cost was about the same, as I recall. Call around or go online and get some quotes.
posted by smcameron at 2:43 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Why not just drive them? That’s what we did with both our (very) long-distance moves. Two cars, two adults, one kid, three pets... one adult, one kid and the easiest pet in one car, other adult and the two most difficult pets in the other. It sucks because you can’t trade off driving but it’s definitely the most cost-effective option.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 2:52 PM on April 11, 2018

Last time we had it done which was admittedly about a decade ago, 40-60c a mile was the going rate for long haul open carriers. It was about $700 to move an explorer from South Florida to Oklahoma. Sometimes you can luck out and get better deals on coast to coast moves when someone has a truck almost full and is trying to fill up the last slot or two in a way that will not require them to stop in the middle and juggle cars around.

The cheapest incremental cost, of course, is to move your stuff in a Penske or UHaul or whatever and tow your car on a flatbed trailer. The most expensive way to move it aside from air cargo or one of the really high end services is to drive it yourself. The fuel alone isn't that expensive, but the extra miles and wear and tear add up, even if you don't spend any extra money on hotel rooms.
posted by wierdo at 6:20 PM on April 11, 2018

You will not be able to store anything inside your cars that are transported, especially anything living.

A tow truck typically pick your car up at your house, it sits at a depot for days to weeks while a car carrier gets ready to move several cars that are going on the same route, then another tow truck drops the car off at your new home.
posted by hwyengr at 8:28 PM on April 11, 2018