Florida to Illinois car shipping
Shipping a car from Florida to Illinois costs roughly $1,150–$1,310 and takes 4–5 days over 1,121 road miles (Orlando to Chicago). Below is what moves that number, and how to get real quotes for this lane.
| Vehicle & trailer | Price | Transit |
|---|---|---|
| Sedan, open trailer | $1,150–$1,310 | 4–5 days |
| SUV or crossover, open | $1,240–$1,400 | 4–5 days |
| Any vehicle, enclosed | $1,550–$1,760 | 4–5 days |
Estimates from distance and vehicle type. Actual price depends on how busy the lane is the week you ship.
Orlando to Chicago gains latitude and nothing else. The road runs north; east and west, it runs level. That matters because the seasonal term in the price book reads the compass. On lanes flagged for retiree migration while running east or west, that reading is a technicality. Here it is not: this corridor points the way the migration itself points.
So the month is the lever with real travel on it. The road back is not a separate market; it is this one in the opposite season, which is why it draws searches of its own. The distance, the transit window and the direction term render live in the panel beside this text. Nothing numeric is typed into this copy, so a refit cannot quietly make the page wrong.
This corridor, measured
| Florida → Illinois | back | |
|---|---|---|
| Measured between | Orlando → Chicago | Chicago → Orlando |
| Road miles | 1,121 | 1,121 |
| Transit | 4–5 days | 4–5 days |
| Open carrier, sedan | $1,150–$1,310 | $1,160–$1,310 |
| Direction multiplier | 0.985 | 0.986 |
| Carrier reloads at the far end | 0.88 — with some hunting | 0.87 |
| Licensed companies based there | 609 | 128 |
Distance is measured between Orlando and Chicago by a routing engine, not as a straight line. Registered companies at the Florida end cluster in Miami, Hialeah, Kissimmee; at the Illinois end, in Chicago, Plainfield, Schaumburg. A register counts businesses filed at an address, not trucks on this road today.
The other direction has its own page: Illinois to Florida.
The short register at the Chicago end does not land on the price
Florida's other northbound corridors mostly finish somewhere the federal register runs thin, and on those lanes the thin end is the whole price story: the carrier prices the risk of emptying out where there is nothing to pick up. Illinois' register is short as well — Chicago leads it, with Plainfield, Schaumburg, Naperville and Downers Grove behind. Here the price does not follow the count. The reload reading at the Chicago end is strong enough that this direction takes a discount rather than a premium, and a deeper one than the road back out of Illinois takes.
The return leg is asked about, which is unusual out of Florida
Search demand on Florida's outbound lanes is usually one-sided to the point of being a monologue — the leg away from the state gets the interest and the leg home barely registers. Not here. This direction is the busier of the pair by a clear margin, and the return still carries real demand of its own. A corridor that is pure latitude and flagged for migration should behave exactly that way: the same road serves the trip out and the trip home, and the calendar, not the compass, decides which side of it is scarce that month.
When to ship it
This lane runs against the retiree migration. Florida fills up from October and empties from March, so the direction you are going is the cheap one in autumn and the dear one in spring — trucks come back out of it needing a load.
| Month | Sedan, open trailer | vs year-round |
|---|---|---|
| January | $1,270–$1,440 | +10% |
| March | $1,390–$1,570 | +20% |
| May | $1,150–$1,310 | level |
| July | $1,290–$1,470 | +12% |
| October | $1,020–$1,150 | -12% |
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. 1,121 miles puts this lane at about $1.10 a mile. Past 1,200 miles the per-mile rate keeps dropping but driver hours start to bind — the run needs rest stops, and a carrier will hold for a second or third car before rolling.
- 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 north, it fills up in spring when the same vehicles go home.
- Direction. Illinois is a dense freight market, so a carrier delivering here can reload quickly and does not need the trip to pay for the run back. This direction usually prices a little under Illinois to Florida.
- Trailer. Enclosed protects from weather and road debris and costs about 35% more here ($1,550–$1,760). 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 Florida to Illinois 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 Florida
- Miami103
- Hialeah28
- Kissimmee27
- Homestead26
- Orlando22
- Jacksonville20
- Cape Coral19
- Boca Raton16
- Coral Springs12
- Lehigh Acres12
Delivering around Illinois
- Chicago10
- Plainfield6
- Schaumburg5
- Naperville4
- Burbank3
- Downers Grove3
- Tinley Park3
- Addison2
- Beardstown2
- Buffalo Grove2
Counts are companies with active FMCSA authority registered in each city.
Licensed companies based in Florida
609 companies with active FMCSA authority are registered in Florida.
- 2 J'S AUTO TRANSPORT INC.LAKE PARK, FL · broker · bonded
- 365 CAR TRANSPORTBOYNTON BEACH, FL · broker · bonded
- ROAD AMERICA AUTO TRANSPORTCOCONUT CREEK, FL · broker · bonded
- LITE AUTO TRANSPORT CORPLUTZ, FL · broker · bonded
- A OK AUTO TRANSPORT LLCDEERFIELD BEACH, FL · broker · bonded
- ABOVE THE REST AUTOTRANSPORTBOCA RATON, FL · broker · bonded
All Florida auto transport companies →
Florida to Illinois: common questions
Is the Chicago to Orlando direction priced the same?+
No. Each leg is priced on its own direction term, and this northbound one is the lower of them, though the gap is slight. The larger difference is the calendar: the seasonal swing is directional, so the months that discount this leg are the months that tighten the leg back down. If you plan to send the car home later, price that trip when you need it rather than assuming it mirrors this one.
The distance says Orlando to Chicago and my move is neither. Does the estimate hold?+
As a shape, yes; as your mileage, no. Chicago is where Illinois' registered companies sit, so a delivery near Plainfield, Schaumburg, Naperville or Downers Grove is a small variation on the run the routing engine measured. The Florida end does not work that way: Miami, Hialeah, Kissimmee and Homestead each hold more registered companies than Orlando, the metro the distance was measured from, and a pickup at any of them is a different length of road. Give the real addresses.
Does it matter whether the company is registered in Florida or in Illinois?+
Not much. Florida's register is far the deeper of the ends, so a Florida-registered company answering a northbound request is the ordinary case, not a warning sign. What matters is the authority behind whoever replies: check the MC number on the FMCSA register before you pay anything. This site is neither carrier nor broker — no operating authority, no trucks, never custody of your car. Your request goes to licensed companies and what they quote is theirs.
How much does it cost to ship a car from Florida to Illinois?+
Expect $1,150 to $1,310 for a running sedan on an open trailer. An SUV on the same lane runs about $1,240–$1,400, and an enclosed trailer about $1,550–$1,760.
How long does it take to ship a car from Florida to Illinois?+
About 4 to 5 days in transit over 1,121 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 Florida to Illinois?+
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 Florida
More lanes to Illinois
Where is the car going?
Two ZIP codes. No account, no obligation.
Shipping somewhere else in Illinois? Illinois car transport →