Why Some Car Shipping Routes Are Harder and More Expensive Than Others

One of the most common questions I get in auto transport is some version of this:

"It's only ___ miles. Why does it cost that much?" It's a completely reasonable question. The problem is that auto transport pricing isn't based on mileage alone. I've been in this business long enough to see a 1,000-mile shipment that's easy to get picked up and a shorter shipment that carriers barely want to touch. Sometimes a customer will even have two vehicles traveling roughly the same distance in different parts of the country and wonder why one costs hundreds more.

The answer usually comes down to one thing: Where does the truck want to go? I'm Shawn, owner of Vice Auto Transport, and here's how difficult auto transport routes actually work.

Carriers don't get paid for driving home empty

This is probably the easiest way to understand the entire thing because a carrier isn't only thinking about your vehicle. They're thinking about what happens after they deliver it, where there next stops are, and how many cars are going on a similar route. Take a shipment going into Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles or South Florida. Those are large markets with a lot of vehicles moving in and out, so a carrier delivering there has a decent chance of finding another vehicle relatively quickly.

Now send that same truck several hours away from a major transport market.

The driver might deliver your vehicle and then have to drive 150 or 200 miles empty before finding the next decent load. Those are called deadhead miles, and they're definitely not free. The truck is still burning diesel while the driver is still using his allotted driving hours. Tires, maintenance and insurance don't stop costing money because there's no vehicle on the trailer. That gets factored into what carriers are willing to accept.

A great example: Buffalo, NY to Edinburg, TX

We recently discussed a shipment from Buffalo, New York to Edinburg, Texas with a customer. At first glance, somebody might look at the mileage and think: "Okay, New York to Texas. Plenty of trucks run that." Technically, yes. But look at the actual cities. Buffalo is tucked up near the Canadian border. Edinburg TX is deep in South Texas and well outside the major Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio transport markets. You're basically asking a carrier to go from Canada to Mexico and that's a very different proposition from New York City to Dallas. A quote around $1,800 for that route might initially sound expensive to a customer. But if $1,600 or more of that money is actually being offered to the carrier, the price may not be the problem at all. The route itself may simply suck and that's an important distinction.

This is why I tell customers to ask one question -If your vehicle has been sitting for a while and nobody is accepting the load, ask your broker: "How much are you actually offering the carrier?" That tells you considerably more than simply asking why your car hasn't been picked up. If you paid $1,700 and the broker is offering a realistic amount of that to the truck, you may genuinely have a difficult route. Give it some flexibility and let them work, but if you paid $1,700 and the vehicle is sitting on the load board at $900 while everybody waits for some desperate carrier to take it? Well... Now we know why your car isn't moving. The offer to the carrier just isn't attractive enough.

Fresno is another good example

Fresno, California isn't exactly the middle of nowhere. But that doesn't mean it's an ideal pickup market for every cross-country carrier. We've had customers shipping from Fresno to the East Coast who were willing to drive a little to make pickup easier. In some situations, I'll recommend Sacramento. Why? Because moving the pickup point into a stronger transport market can give us access to more trucks already traveling the direction we need. That doesn't mean everybody in Fresno should drive their car to Sacramento. If the savings are $75 and you've got to burn half a day getting there, forget it. But if a vehicle has been difficult to dispatch or the customer already has flexibility, changing the pickup location can sometimes solve the problem faster than continually throwing money at the original route.

Major city to major city is usually easier

This is why routes such as: Los Angeles to Dallas New York to Miami Atlanta to Houston Chicago to Florida Philadelphia to Los Angeles are generally easier to work with than two equally distant rural locations. There are simply more vehicles and carriers moving between major population centers and more freight means carriers have a better chance of building an efficient trailer/route which is what they're really doing.

A 9-car carrier isn't looking at nine completely separate road trips.

The dispatcher is trying to assemble a profitable route where the pickups and deliveries make sense together. Your car needs to fit into that puzzle and short distance doesn't automatically mean cheap. This catches people off guard too. You might only be moving a vehicle 250 miles, surely that should be dirt cheap, right? Not necessarily. A large 9-car carrier running interstate will have absolutely no interest in interrupting its route for your short local move. For those shipments, we often look for a smaller carrier running a dually with a 2- or 3-car trailer. Those hotshot-style setups can be perfect for short-distance transportation but the carrier still has to drive to your pickup location, load the vehicle, secure it, deliver it and make enough money for the trip to be worthwhile.

There's a minimum amount of work involved whether your car travels 100 miles or 1,000.

Rural pickup and rural delivery can compound the problem

One rural location isn't necessarily a big deal. Two can be. Imagine asking a carrier to leave a major interstate corridor, drive 90 miles to pick up your vehicle, come back to the highway, drive across the country, then leave another major corridor and travel another 100 miles to deliver it. That's potentially hundreds of unpaid miles added to the trip and additional time.

Sometimes the cheapest solution isn't raising the carrier rate.

It may be meeting the truck somewhere easier. A shopping center, dealership or large parking lot near an interstate can occasionally make a difficult shipment much easier. That also helps when you're dealing with neighborhoods where a 75-foot truck and trailer has absolutely no business trying to squeeze down the street, low hanging trees, narrow bridges or tight corners are all things the driver has to take into consideration when planning each stop.

Timing matters too

Carrier availability changes constantly. Weather matters. Diesel prices matter. Snowbird season matters. Auction volume matters. The number of vehicles moving in each direction matters. Even the day of the week can affect what's available.

That's why I'd be suspicious of anyone claiming they can tell you the exact price of every vehicle shipment months in advance. We can estimate extremely well from experience and market data but ultimately, the carrier market decides what the truck moves for.

Cheap quotes don't fix difficult routes

This is where customers sometimes get burned. Let's say the realistic carrier rate for a difficult shipment is around $1,300. Broker A quotes you $1,550. Broker B quotes $1,475. Broker C says: "$899 GUARANTEED!!!" Guess who gets the booking? Unfortunately, in most cases it's Broker C. But quoting $899 didn't magically make a carrier willing to haul a $1,300 load for $750.

Eventually somebody has to deal with that difference and that's where the infamous phone call comes from: "We found a driver, but he wants another $600." Suddenly, the $899 quote is right back to what the other legit brokers were quoting, and you feel like you've been cheated because the quote went way up. All that really happened was that you're back to paying the REAL market rate for the route, but a shady broker used "bait and switch" to get your commitment and then ultimately charged you the normal price it should have been from the beginning. We NEVER play those games, it's dishonest, deceptive and just a scummy thing to do. Always, ALWAYS check the reviews for any broker you decide to work with, check for a history or pattern of people complaining about the rates changing and use your best judgement when deciding who to work with. There are no magic coupons in the auto transport industry that will drop the price 30-40% less than everyone else.

Sometimes markets legitimately change and brokers have to have uncomfortable pricing conversations. That happens, but deliberately quoting a price that was never realistic just to get the customer committed is something completely different.

Flexible customers often have more options

If you tell me: "My car absolutely must be picked up Tuesday between 10:00 AM and noon." I've got a much smaller pool of trucks to work with. If you tell me: "The car is ready Monday and somebody can hand the keys over anytime through Thursday." Now we've got options. Flexibility won't magically turn a terrible route into Los Angeles to Dallas. But it gives your broker a better chance of matching your vehicle with a carrier whose existing route makes sense and sometimes that's worth more than simply increasing the price. In some cases, the cheapest solution may be changing the route and this is something consumers rarely hear.

Sometimes I'll look at a shipment and tell somebody:

Don't ship it from there. Drive the vehicle an hour or two toward a better market. Have the dealership meet the carrier somewhere accessible. Ask a friend near a major city to handle pickup. Meet the truck near the interstate. Not every shipment needs this. Door-to-door transportation works perfectly well for the majority of customers. But when we're dealing with a genuinely difficult lane, changing one end of the route can definitely save money and get the vehicle moving faster. That's part of what a good broker should be figuring out, not just simply posting your vehicle and waiting to get a call.

What should you do if your car isn't getting picked up?

Before assuming you're being scammed or immediately offering another $500, ask your broker what's actually happening. Ask: What are you offering the carrier? How many carriers have looked at the load? Is my pickup or delivery location causing the problem? Would changing the pickup window help? Would meeting the carrier closer to a major city or interstate help? A good broker should be able to have that conversation with you.

Sometimes the answer really is: "We need to offer the truck more money." But sometimes there's a smarter solution.

Final thoughts

Auto transport is a marketplace and distance matters but carrier demand and available cars on a similar route matters just as much.

A route between two strong transport markets can be surprisingly easy. A seemingly simple shipment into an undesirable market can be a pain in the butt. Shipping cars from Montana to Louisiana, West Virginia to Idaho, South Dakota to Kentucky are vastly different than transporting cars from Miami to Los Angeles, New York to Atlanta or shipping cars between Philadelphia to San Francisco.

Understanding that difference makes it much easier to recognize a realistic quote, avoid lowball pricing and understand what your broker is actually doing to get your vehicle moved.

I'm Shawn, owner of Vice Auto Transport. We arrange vehicle shipping nationwide using open and enclosed carriers, and difficult routes are honestly some of the more interesting ones we deal with. If you've got a route that's giving you trouble, feel free to reach out.

Get A Quote Here or give us a call -

1-800-541-0696

Sometimes moving a pin on the map by 75-100 miles makes more difference than adding $300 to the quote.

Let Vice Auto Transport handle the miles. 🚛🚛