Should You Ship Your Car or Drive It When You Move?

While driving your car is almost always cheaper than shipping it, especially for shorter moves, auto transport is a lot more convenient and worth the price if you’re moving over 500 miles. It’s also safer and healthier for your car to travel on the back of an open trailer or in an enclosed auto transport truck instead of driving all those miles on its own tires.

So, if you’re moving long distance and hiring professional movers to transport your household goods, we recommend getting a car shipping company to deliver your car for you (if your budget allows).

See how driving your car compares to shipping it in these four categories:

1. Cost
2. Wear and tear
3. Safety
4. Time

It's cheaper to drive your car than to ship it. On average, it costs about $180 less to drive yourself ($530) than to hire a professional auto transport company ($770).

Move.org asked 10 car shipping companies to give us 300 quotes. We looked at three car sizes across five distances on both open and enclosed transport to identify industry averages.

Keep in mind that these prices aren’t perfect predictions of what shipping your car might cost. Car transport rates depend on the exact make of your car, the services you pay for, and the distance you’re moving. They can also fluctuate based on seasonality (time of year), routes (roads between your old and new homes), and even gas prices.

This means your auto transport quote will probably deviate slightly from the ones we’ve listed, but these estimates illustrate how much car shipping can cost.

The average gas costs to drive your car instead of shipping it is approximately $140. Costs range from about $20 to drive your car 150 miles to more than $300 to go across the country.

At the time of publishing this article, the national average gas price was $3.20 per gallon,¹ which isn’t too far from recent yearly averages.²

Let’s say you decided to drive your car to your new home when gas prices are around this average. Let’s also assume that your car gets 26 miles per gallon (which is pretty good). Here’s a rough estimate of how much gas would cost you for the three example moves we outlined earlier.

Of course, gas prices change daily and vary from state to state, so it’s impossible to predict how much gas will cost for every hypothetical journey. Also, different cars have different miles per gallon (mpg) ratings, so we can’t anticipate exactly how much gas money you’ll need.

Lodging is by far the biggest daily expense when you’re driving across the country. The average hotel room in the US costs $150 per night,³ so if you’re out on the road for several days in a row, the cost of safe and comfortable places to sleep can add up quickly.

According to The Road Trip Expert, you should drive only about 500 miles (or nine hours) per day.⁴ If you’re driving with someone else, you can save on hotel expenses by taking turns at the wheel without stopping along the way, but sleeping in a car is never adequately restful. If you drive through the night too many times in a row, fatigue will get to both of you and make driving unsafe.

For this reason, expect to pay for at least one hotel per every 500 miles you drive (after the first 500). We also want to point out that this nine-hour estimate is for trips with ideal driving conditions. If you need to take several breaks, or you hit heavy traffic, you might need to get an additional hotel or two en route.

Meals and snacks are the last big road trip expense. If you pack on-the-road meals and drinks beforehand, you can probably drive several hundred miles without stopping. But if you’re taking a long trip, plan to spend between $20 and $40 per day on snacks and meals per person you’re driving with.

Winner: Shipping

Each part of your car, from the tires to the engine, has a limited number of miles it can drive before it becomes unreliable and should be replaced. Also, if your car has a lot of miles logged on its odometer when you try to sell it or trade it in, it won’t be worth as much.

These factors make the mileage you put on your car when you drive it across the country an important detail to consider.

The average American puts 1,000 miles on their car every month,⁵ so if you drive 1,000 miles in just a couple of days when you move to a new state, you’re lowering your car’s resale value and effectively taking one month off its life expectancy.

Winner: Shipping

The statistical likelihood of getting in a car crash is relatively small, but it’s there, and it goes up with every mile you drive.⁶

This isn’t the most important factor to consider since it’s clearly very unlikely you’ll get in an accident—even if you drive thousands of miles. But if safety (for you and your car) is your number one concern, then we recommend getting your car professionally shipped.

Winner: It depends

Driving long distance takes a lot of time. Like we said earlier, you shouldn’t plan to drive more than 500 miles every day. If you’re only traveling to a neighboring state, you might be able to knock out your road trip in a single weekend. But if you’re moving from coast to coast, the trip could take a week or longer.

If you can’t afford to take that time off of work, if you have a lot going on in your personal life, or if driving for an entire week just sounds mind-numbingly boring, paying for a car transport service is your best option.

However, even shipping your car can take a lot of time, so you shouldn't plan on having your car immediately. Shipping a car 500–1,000 miles usually takes around nine days, while shipping a car 2500 miles can take about 16 days. These estimates include how long you'll have to wait for pickup after you book. 

Because both options take a fair amount of time, it all depends on what works for you. If you need to be in your new home to start work tomorrow, shipping your car instead of driving it yourself while you use a rental to commute can make that possible. However, if you've got the time to drive your car yourself, driving can be quicker than shipping it. 

Check out our guide to car shipping time estimates to learn more. 

We’re not going to lie. Shipping your car isn’t cheap, and you can almost always save money driving it to your new home yourself. Even if you consider the cost of gas, hotels, food, and mileage for a long road trip, auto transportation usually still costs more.

However, for long journeys, professional auto transportation services will always be the most convenient and safe option.

That’s why we recommend at least getting a quote from one of our favorite auto transport companies to see if you can fit car shipping into your budget.

Now that we’ve broken down the costs and benefits of auto transportation, we recommend reading the following guides to prepare yourself for shipping your car:

• How Do I Transport My Car Cross Country?
• How to Get an Auto Transport Quote
• Your Ultimate Car Shipping Checklist
• Should I Ship My Car or Haul It Behind the Moving Truck?

• Should I Sell My Car or Ship It?
• What’s the Best Way to Pack a Moving Truck?
• How Much Does It Cost to Move?

1. AAA, “Gas Prices,” September 16, 2020. Accessed December 31, 2022.
2. US Inflation Calculator, “Gasoline Prices Adjusted for Inflation,” 2020. Accessed December 31, 2022.
3. Sterling Price, ValuePenguin, "Average Cost of a Vacation," September 10, 2020. Accessed December 31, 2022.
4. Ian, The Road Trip Expert, "How Far Can You Drive Safely in a Day?," August 2, 2019. December 31, 2022.
5. Tyron Jones, Cheap Auto Insurance, “Average Miles Driven Per Year or Month Per Person for Each State,” July 2020. December 31, 2022.
6. Brian Tefft, AAA Foundation, “Rates of Motor Vehicle Crashes, Injuries and Deaths in Relation to Driver Age, United States, 2014–2015,” June 2017. December 31, 2022.