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California to Florida car shipping
Shipping a car from California to Florida costs roughly $1,640–$1,860 and takes 7–9 days over 2,509 road miles (Los Angeles to Orlando). Below is what moves that number, and how to get real quotes for this lane.
| Vehicle & trailer | Price | Transit |
|---|---|---|
| Sedan, open trailer | $1,640–$1,860 | 7–9 days |
| SUV or crossover, open | $1,750–$1,990 | 7–9 days |
| Any vehicle, enclosed | $2,250–$2,560 | 7–9 days |
Estimates from distance and vehicle type. Actual price depends on how busy the lane is the week you ship.
Every California corridor written up here reads the same way round: California is the deep end, the state with more licensed companies filed with the FMCSA than wherever the car is going. Los Angeles to Orlando breaks that pattern. On this lane the delivery state holds the longer roster, and it is not close.
Depth and ease are separate readings, though, and here they part company. Florida returns a deck to paying work less readily than California does, so the crowded roster and the quick turnaround sit at opposite ends of this crossing. The legs are priced on separate multipliers, and the eastbound figure you are reading is the higher of them. Going west is the cheaper crossing, and it is also the one more people come looking for.
This corridor, measured
| California → Florida | back | |
|---|---|---|
| Measured between | Los Angeles → Orlando | Orlando → Los Angeles |
| Road miles | 2,509 | 2,510 |
| Transit | 7–9 days | 7–9 days |
| Open carrier, sedan | $1,640–$1,860 | $1,620–$1,850 |
| Direction multiplier | 0.989 | 0.976 |
| Carrier reloads at the far end | 0.87 — with some hunting | 0.95 |
| Licensed companies based there | 303 | 609 |
Distance is measured between Los Angeles and Orlando by a routing engine, not as a straight line. Registered companies at the California end cluster in Los Angeles, San Diego, Fontana; at the Florida end, in Miami, Hialeah, Kissimmee. A register counts businesses filed at an address, not trucks on this road today.
The other direction has its own page: Florida to California.
The crowded end is the slower end
A carrier prices the crossing in front of it and the idle time behind it. Florida files a longer roster of licensed carriers and brokers than California does, and still returns a deck to paying work less readily than the Los Angeles end would. Deep roster, middling turnaround: an odd pairing, and the reason the eastbound leg carries the higher multiplier. Send the same truck the other way and it finishes where decks are claimed quickly, so the westbound factor gives that back. Neither figure sits above the model's flat line — what divides them is a lean, not a penalty.
A snowbird lane that starts a continent away
Cars reach Florida from everywhere, but the lanes detailed here feed it from the east and from the middle of the country — runs where the retiree season and the road tell the same short story. This one is the outlier: the whole width of the map, and still flagged as migration traffic with the compass pointed the way the flow runs. So the scarce-side lift the model reserves for those lanes lands on the leg you are reading, and softens once the season turns and the decks point back west. Pick your month before you compare anything else.
When to ship it
This lane runs with the retiree migration, and that migration is one-way at a time: Florida fills up from October and empties from March. Whichever way the trucks are scarce is the way that costs more, so a month of flexibility is worth more here than any amount of negotiating.
| Month | Sedan, open trailer | vs year-round |
|---|---|---|
| January | $1,800–$2,050 | +10% |
| March | $1,440–$1,640 | -12% |
| May | $1,640–$1,860 | level |
| July | $1,840–$2,090 | +12% |
| October | $1,970–$2,240 | +20% |
Indicative only. Fuel is indexed to the U.S. weekly retail diesel average, last read 2026-09-07.
What drives the price on this lane
- Distance. 2,509 miles puts this lane at about $0.70 a mile. Coast to coast is the cheapest per mile and the slowest in days. Trucks fill up completely before departing, so flexible dates are worth real money here.
- Season. This is a snowbird lane. Southbound fills from October and northbound from April, and in those windows a week of lead time is worth more than any amount of haggling. Running south, this lane competes with everyone else heading for warmer weather in autumn.
- Trailer. Enclosed protects from weather and road debris and costs about 37% more here ($2,250–$2,560). The premium grows with distance — an enclosed trailer carries fewer cars, so the longer the run the more deck revenue the carrier gives up. Worth it for low-clearance, classic or high-value cars; rarely worth it otherwise.
- Condition. A car that does not run needs a winch at both ends and adds about $200. Tell the broker up front — a driver who finds out at pickup can refuse the load.
Pickup and delivery on this lane
The companies that run California to Florida are registered in these cities. A carrier based near either end is the one most likely to already be heading your way, which is what makes the difference between a quote and a quote you can actually book.
Picking up around California
- Los Angeles12
- San Diego10
- Fontana9
- Chula Vista8
- Hesperia8
- Jurupa Valley8
- Riverside8
- Stockton7
- Burbank6
- Corona6
Delivering around Florida
- Miami103
- Hialeah28
- Kissimmee27
- Homestead26
- Orlando22
- Jacksonville20
- Cape Coral19
- Boca Raton16
- Coral Springs12
- Lehigh Acres12
Counts are companies with active FMCSA authority registered in each city.
Licensed companies based in California
303 companies with active FMCSA authority are registered in California.
- AA UNITED AUTO TRANSPORTS INCGLENDALE, CA · broker · bonded
- ABC AUTO SHIPPINGIRVINE, CA · broker · bonded
- STAR CAR SHIPPINGLOS ANGELES, CA · broker · bonded
- ALL STAR DIRECT AUTO SHIPPING, LLCSANTA MONICA, CA · broker · bonded
- ALPHA AUTO TRANSPORT LLCDUBLIN, CA · broker · bonded
- AMAX AUTO TRANSPORTATION INC.BUENA PARK, CA · broker · bonded
All California auto transport companies →
California to Florida: common questions
Florida has the longer register. Does that mean anything for my quote?+
Not on its own, and on this lane the roster argues with itself. The Florida end files more carriers and brokers than the California end, and it is also the end that returns a deck to work more slowly, so the count settles nothing. A request from here goes out to companies holding their own authority; what any of them decides to send back is theirs. We carry none, run no trucks, and your car is never in our hands.
Does the westbound crossing, Florida back to California, price the same?+
No. Westbound carries the lower multiplier, because it ends where a truck is put back to work faster, and it is the busier direction in the search data besides. That leg is written up and priced separately, not derived from this one. Shipping a car west, read it there — reversing what sits beside this text will not give you the same answer.
The pickup is not Los Angeles and the delivery is not Orlando. Does this still apply?+
As the measurement it is. What sits beside this text was worked out between those metros. California's registered companies are spread through San Diego, Fontana, Jurupa Valley and Hesperia as well, and Florida's through Miami, Hialeah, Kissimmee and Homestead, so on this corridor the real addresses tend to move the mileage at either end, not just at pickup. Hand the companies the actual points and let them quote the road they will cover.
How much does it cost to ship a car from California to Florida?+
Expect $1,640 to $1,860 for a running sedan on an open trailer. An SUV on the same lane runs about $1,750–$1,990, and an enclosed trailer about $2,250–$2,560.
How long does it take to ship a car from California to Florida?+
About 7 to 9 days in transit over 2,509 miles, plus one to three days to schedule pickup after you book.
Can the carrier pick up and deliver to my door?+
Yes on almost every lane. The truck gets as close as it legally and physically can — on a narrow residential street the driver will ask you to meet at a nearby lot.
How do I ship my car from California to Florida?+
Give the two ZIP codes and what you drive, and the request goes to a panel of licensed companies at once instead of you calling down a list. They quote, you compare side by side, and you deal directly with whoever you pick — we take no commission and nobody gets your number until you hand it over. You do not travel with the car: the driver collects it, you both sign an inspection report, and the same happens at the far end.
More lanes from California
More lanes to Florida
Where is the car going?
Two ZIP codes. No account, no obligation.
Shipping somewhere else in Florida? Florida car transport →