Every spring, the same thing happens.
Retirees who spent the winter in Naples, Sarasota, or Fort Myers start packing up, and somewhere on the to-do list sits a question that catches a lot of people off guard: what to do with the second car.
Driving 1,200 miles back isn't appealing when you've already booked the flight home.
That's where auto transport quietly becomes part of the snowbird routine, and routes like Florida to New York car shipping are some of the busiest in the country once April hits.
Book Earlier Than You Think You Need To
The biggest mistake I see is waiting until two weeks out.
April and May are the peak northbound season.
Every carrier running the I-95 corridor is already loaded with cars heading back to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the New York metro area.
If you call on a Monday hoping for a Friday pickup, you'll either pay a rush premium or get bumped a few days while a dispatcher hunts for a truck.
Three to four weeks of lead time gives you flexibility on price and a real choice of carriers.
Last-minute work, but it costs.
Pricing Isn't Random, It's Seasonal
Rates on the same route can swing 30% between February and May.
A typical northbound run might quote around $900 in a quiet stretch and push past $1,300 once the snowbird wave kicks in.
A few things drive the swing:
- Carrier supply heading north is thinner than southbound demand in spring, so trucks can charge more per slot.
- Fuel prices feed directly into quotes. Diesel jumps a dollar and the whole industry adjusts within weeks.
- Vehicle type matters too. An oversized SUV or a lifted truck eats up two slots on the trailer, and you pay accordingly.
Get three quotes minimum, and ignore the lowest one if it's wildly under the others.
That's almost always a broker fishing for a contract they'll struggle to assign to an actual driver.
Larger national outfits like Road Runner tend to quote in the middle of the pack, which is usually a reasonable signal that the number is realistic.
Open vs. Enclosed, Be Honest About the Car
Most snowbirds ship on open carriers, the standard nine or ten-car haulers you see on every interstate.
They're fine for a daily driver Camry, CR-V, or Lexus RX.
The car shows up dusty, you wash it, life moves on.
Enclosed transport is worth the extra 40 to 60% only if you're moving something where road grit actually matters.
That means a low-mileage Porsche, a classic, a leased vehicle with strict return conditions, or anything with fresh paint.
For a 2019 Highlander, enclosed is overkill.
Pay attention to what the car actually is, not what it cost when new.
Pickup Logistics in Gated Communities
This trips up more people than it should.
Many 55+ communities and gated developments in Florida won't let an 80-foot car carrier through the front gate.
The truck physically can't turn around inside.
Plan to meet the driver at a nearby Publix, Lowe's, or church parking lot.
Coordinate this when you book, not the morning of pickup.
A driver stuck circling a neighborhood for 40 minutes is a driver who's going to be late to his next stop and unhappy about yours.
The Pre-Pickup Walkaround Matters
When the driver arrives, he'll do a Bill of Lading inspection.
That's basically a diagram of the car with every existing scratch, ding, and chip marked.
Walk it with him.
Take your own photos with timestamps, all four sides plus close-ups of the wheels and bumpers.
This is the only documentation you'll have if something goes wrong in transit, and insurance claims without it are nearly impossible to win.
A few practical pickup details people forget:
- Leave roughly a quarter tank of fuel, enough to load and unload, not enough to add weight.
- Pull out the EZ-Pass or SunPass transponder, or it'll rack up charges as the truck moves through tolls.
- Disable the alarm. A car alarm going off at 2 a.m. at a truck stop in South Carolina is how drivers lose their minds.
- Personal items in the car are technically not covered by the carrier's insurance. A small bag of clothes in the trunk is usually tolerated; a car packed to the roof is not.
Realistic Transit Times
A truck running from Central Florida to the Northeast typically takes 4 to 7 days door-to-door.
Not 2, not next-day.
Carriers pick up and drop off other cars along the route, and federal hours of service rules cap how long a driver can be behind the wheel.
If a broker promises a three-day delivery on a 1,200-mile run, they're either lying or about to subcontract it to someone who will deliver late anyway.
Build a buffer of a few days into your plans.
Don't ship the car the same week you need it for a doctor's appointment back home.
Paying the Driver and the Final Walkaround
Most carriers want the balance in cash, cashier's check, or Zelle on delivery, not a credit card.
Confirm the payment method when you book so you're not scrambling at the curb.
On delivery, repeat the same walkaround you did at pickup, compare against your photos, and only sign the Bill of Lading once you're satisfied.
Signing first and finding damage later puts you in a much weaker position.
Tipping isn't required, but $40 to $100 for a clean, on-time delivery is standard.
It also gets remembered the next time you need a slot in a busy season.
