Texas to Michigan car shipping
Shipping a car from Texas to Michigan costs roughly $1,240–$1,410 and takes 4–6 days over 1,293 road miles (Houston to Detroit). Below is what moves that number, and how to get real quotes for this lane.
| Vehicle & trailer | Price | Transit |
|---|---|---|
| Sedan, open trailer | $1,240–$1,410 | 4–6 days |
| SUV or crossover, open | $1,320–$1,500 | 4–6 days |
| Any vehicle, enclosed | $1,660–$1,890 | 4–6 days |
Estimates from distance and vehicle type. Actual price depends on how busy the lane is the week you ship.
The model marks both legs of this corridor down from its neutral line, and the northbound leg you are reading takes the smaller reduction. That makes it the dearer direction, though dearer means less of a discount rather than a penalty, and the margin between the legs is thin. The seasonal term agrees: the model reads this pair as migration traffic and puts this page on the side pointed north.
The searching runs the other way. More people look up the southbound run than this one, so both of the model's levers point at the leg fewer people ask about. Those are different measurements — what gets typed into a search box is not what a carrier prices — and only the pricing side of it reaches your estimate.
This corridor, measured
| Texas → Michigan | back | |
|---|---|---|
| Measured between | Houston → Detroit | Detroit → Houston |
| Road miles | 1,293 | 1,298 |
| Transit | 4–6 days | 4–6 days |
| Open carrier, sedan | $1,240–$1,410 | $1,230–$1,400 |
| Direction multiplier | 0.992 | 0.985 |
| Carrier reloads at the far end | 0.82 — with some hunting | 0.86 |
| Licensed companies based there | 272 | 69 |
Distance is measured between Houston and Detroit by a routing engine, not as a straight line. Registered companies at the Texas end cluster in Houston, El Paso, Dallas; at the Michigan end, in Macomb, Davison, Dearborn. A register counts businesses filed at an address, not trucks on this road today.
The other direction has its own page: Michigan to Texas.
The month moves this more than the direction does
Each direction on this pair carries its own factor, and they sit close together, both under the model's neutral line. Reverse the arrow and the driving barely reprices. The migration term is the part with travel in it. On a pair pointed north, the stretch when cars come home off the warm end is the tight one going this way, and the estimate lifts for it; when the trucks are running back down to fetch them, the model eases instead. If the dates are still open, set different months in the panel and let the estimate itself tell you what the calendar is worth here.
Most of the searching on this corridor is for the other direction
The gap in that searching is not a rounding difference: the leg back down to Texas is looked up considerably more often than the one you are on. It is a record of what people typed, not a count of trucks, and it predicts nothing about how many companies will answer a request on this side. What it does say is that the return deserves pricing on its own rather than read off this page backwards. It carries a factor of its own, and the season lands on it differently. If the car goes up now and comes back later, price the way home when you need it.
When to ship it
This lane runs against the retiree migration. Texas 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 | $1,360–$1,550 | +10% |
| March | $1,480–$1,690 | +20% |
| May | $1,240–$1,410 | level |
| July | $1,390–$1,570 | +12% |
| October | $1,090–$1,240 | -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. 1,293 miles puts this lane at about $1.02 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.
- Trailer. Enclosed protects from weather and road debris and costs about 34% more here ($1,660–$1,890). 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 Texas to Michigan 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 Texas
- Houston27
- El Paso17
- Dallas12
- Mcallen12
- Brownsville9
- Katy8
- Edinburg7
- Austin6
- Laredo6
- Pharr6
Delivering around Michigan
- Macomb4
- Davison3
- Dearborn3
- Lansing3
- Troy3
- Van Buren Twp3
- Dearborn Heights2
- Detroit2
- Owosso2
- Taylor2
Counts are companies with active FMCSA authority registered in each city.
Licensed companies based in Texas
272 companies with active FMCSA authority are registered in Texas.
- 360 AUTO TRANSPORTWOODWAY, TX · broker · bonded
- AG CAR SHIPPINGFORT WORTH, TX · broker · bonded
- ALL STATES CAR MOVERS LLCPLANO, TX · broker · bonded
- TANIS AUTO TRANSPORTSAN JUAN, TX · broker · bonded
- AMERI AUTO TRANSPORTATION LLCSUGAR LAND, TX · broker · bonded
- AUTO SHIPPERS USA INCGARLAND, TX · broker · bonded
All Texas auto transport companies →
Texas to Michigan: common questions
The car is not being collected in Houston and not delivered in Detroit. Does this page still hold?+
The corridor does; the measured line does not. Every figure beside this text sits on the road measured Houston to Detroit, and those metros are measuring points rather than addresses. On a run in the long band, a pickup or a delivery well off that line is a different road altogether. Read the page for how this pair behaves, then give the companies your real addresses and let them price what they will actually drive.
Is the Michigan to Texas direction priced the same as this one?+
No. Each leg carries a factor of its own, and the southbound one takes the deeper markdown, which leaves the leg on this page as the dearer of the pair. Both still sit under the model's neutral line, so the word dearer is doing modest work here — the gap between them is narrow enough that the month you choose will move your estimate further than the arrow does.
Who actually moves the car, and does this site have any say in who answers?+
The licensed company you choose moves it, and no. This site holds no operating authority, owns no trucks and is never party to your contract; it passes your request to licensed companies and shows what they quote. Which of them replies, and what they put in the reply, is theirs and not ours — nothing on this page predicts it. Verify the MC number of whoever answers against the FMCSA register before you send a deposit.
How much does it cost to ship a car from Texas to Michigan?+
Expect $1,240 to $1,410 for a running sedan on an open trailer. An SUV on the same lane runs about $1,320–$1,500, and an enclosed trailer about $1,660–$1,890.
How long does it take to ship a car from Texas to Michigan?+
About 4 to 6 days in transit over 1,293 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 Texas to Michigan?+
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 Texas
More lanes to Michigan
Where is the car going?
Two ZIP codes. No account, no obligation.
Shipping somewhere else in Michigan? Michigan car transport →