Ship a Car From Florida to Georgia: Cost & Transit Time (2026)

That is the 2026 range on open transport; enclosed is $575-$775. At 350 miles this is the shortest route we publish and the most expensive one per mile — $1.21 against an industry average of $0.50-$0.70.

That figure is not a markup. On a short route you are paying for two appointments, two inspections and the paperwork between them, and the 350 miles of driving are close to the cheapest part of the job. It also means the usual advice does not apply here: your city pair is worth up to $295, while the month you choose is worth $28-$100. That ranking is the reverse of every long-haul guide you will read.

And one thing most transport companies will not put at the top of the page: at five hours’ drive, shipping a single running car you are travelling with is usually the wrong choice. The four situations where it is the right one are set out below.

Price Ranges by Vehicle Type

Before the table, the honest framing: at 350 miles this is the shortest route we publish, and it is the one where you should genuinely ask whether shipping is the right answer at all. Five hours of driving and $56 of fuel is a real alternative in a way it simply is not on a 2,800-mile move.

There are good reasons to ship it anyway, and they are set out further down. But if you are moving one running car that you are also travelling with, you are probably reading the wrong page, and we would rather tell you that than sell you something.

What It Costs If You Do Ship

$350-$500 open, $575-$775 enclosed. Vehicle size moves it by about $150 open across the whole range:

A dually or a lifted truck is the one category that breaks out of the pattern, at $500-$650, because it can force a top-deck-only load. Everything else clusters inside $150 of everything else.

A non-running vehicle adds $150-$250, which on this route is up to seventy per cent of the base price. That is worth knowing early, because a car that will not start is also one of the best reasons to be shipping a 350-mile route in the first place — see inoperable vehicle shipping.

City-to-City Price Matrix

On a route this short, the city pair is not a detail — it is most of the price. The grid below spans $295 from cheapest corner to dearest, on a base of $350. That is a swing of over eighty per cent.

Why Miami Is Cheapest Despite Being Furthest

This looks wrong and is not. Miami is roughly 660 miles from Atlanta; Jacksonville is about 350. Yet Miami to Atlanta is the cheapest pairing on the grid and Jacksonville to Columbus the dearest.

South Florida generates enormous outbound volume. Trucks leave Miami northbound constantly, so a car joining one of those loads costs the carrier almost nothing extra. A car in Jacksonville needs a truck to be assembled around it. At 350 miles there is not enough distance for mileage to overcome that difference — the fixed costs of collecting and delivering dominate everything.

Atlanta is the cheapest destination for the mirror-image reason: it is the freight interchange for the Southeast, so northbound trucks are heading there anyway. Columbus costs $60-$105 more than Atlanta on every origin.

The One Decision Worth Making

If either end of your move has any flexibility, use it here. Starting the car further south and delivering it to Atlanta rather than Columbus is worth up to $200 — more than the seasonal swing, the lead-time penalty and the vehicle-size difference put together. On no other route on this site does geography matter this much.

A rural pickup or delivery adds $50-$100 on top, which at this price point is another fifteen to thirty per cent.

What Makes This Route Cost What It Does

$1.21 a mile, against an industry average of $0.50-$0.70. This is the most expensive route per mile on this entire site, and understanding why explains almost everything else on this page.

You Are Not Paying for the Miles

A shipment has costs that do not care how far it goes. A driver has to arrive at a specific address at a specific time. The car has to be inspected, documented and winched or driven onto a trailer. A Bill of Lading has to be completed. The same happens in reverse at the other end. Two or three hours of skilled labour, an appointment at each end, and paperwork — identical whether the truck then drives 350 miles or 2,800.

Divide those fixed costs into 2,800 miles and they vanish into a rate of about $0.55. Divide them into 350 and they are most of the bill. The 350 miles of actual driving between Florida and Georgia are close to the cheapest part of what you are buying.

So the per-mile figure is not a warning sign and it is not a markup. It is arithmetic, and it is the reason a comparison against long-haul rates tells you nothing. The number that matters here is $350-$500 in total.

What Actually Moves Your Quote

• The city pair: up to $295 — by a distance the largest factor, and unique to short routes
• Lead time: $100-$150, which on a $350 booking is thirty to forty per cent
• Vehicle size: about $150 from a compact to a full-size truck
• Open or enclosed: $225-$275
• Rural pickup or delivery: $50-$100
• Month: $28-$100, the smallest lever on this route rather than the largest
• Date flexibility: $50-$100 for taking “first available”

The Ranking Is Upside Down

On almost every other corridor, season is the biggest lever and geography is a rounding error. Here it is the reverse: where the car starts and ends is worth up to $295, and the month is worth $28-$100.

Advice written for long routes — wait for March, watch the calendar — is close to useless at 350 miles. Get the city pair and the lead time right and you have captured nearly everything available. Why quotes vary covers the general mechanics.

Monthly Price Calendar

Included for completeness, with a caveat: on this route the calendar is the least useful page on the wall. The full-year swing is $28-$100, against up to $295 for choosing different cities.

Reading It Honestly

March and April are cheapest, saving $25-$28. July is the peak and December is the worst month, adding $52-$125. Those are real numbers and worth having, but none of them is going to change your plans, and you should not delay a move to capture $28.

The part of the calendar that does matter is availability rather than price. In June to August and after mid-December, capacity tightens, and on a short route a tight market shows up as a longer wait for a carrier rather than a bigger number. Since the wait is already the slowest part of this process, that is the thing to plan around.

Open vs. Enclosed: The Price Difference

$575-$775 enclosed against $350-$500 open. The extra $225-$275 is the smallest enclosed premium on this site in cash terms — and, at around sixty per cent of the base, close to the largest in proportional terms.

Both facts are worth holding at once. If you have wanted to try enclosed transport, this is the cheapest opportunity you will get. If you are watching the budget, it is also the point at which enclosed inflates the bill most.

What the Road Argues

Almost nothing. I-75 and I-95 between Florida and Georgia are maintained interstate with no passes, no altitude, no salt and no seasonal closures. The exposure is one or two days. Whatever your car collects will be dust.

The scheduling cost is the real argument against. Enclosed trailers are around a tenth of the fleet, so assignment runs 3-10 days against 1-5 for open. On a corridor where the truck is only on the road for a day, waiting an extra week for the trailer is the entire experience.

The Cases Where It Is Right Anyway

• The car is worth $75,000 or more, where the per-vehicle insurance limit becomes a genuine question
• It is a classic, a show car or an exotic
• It is a soft-top convertible
• It sits low enough that open loading ramps are a risk — enclosed carriers usually load on a lift gate
• It is moving between dealers, to an auction, or to a buyer who is inspecting it on arrival

That last one matters more here than elsewhere. A 350-mile Florida-to-Georgia hop is a common dealer and auction movement, and in that context arrival condition is part of the transaction rather than a preference.

Open transport, enclosed transport and the full comparison cover the equipment differences.

Shipping vs. Driving: Dollar-for-Dollar

On most routes this section explains why shipping wins. On this one it does not, and pretending otherwise would be an insult to anyone who can do arithmetic.

Driving it. 350 miles at 25 MPG and $4.00 a gallon is $56 of fuel. A night on the road if you want one is $120, meals $45, and 350 miles of wear at $0.21 a mile is $73. Total around $294 — and realistically most people do this in an afternoon and skip the hotel entirely, which brings it closer to $130.

Shipping it. $350-$500, plus getting yourself there. Total $550-$800 if you fly, less if someone drives you.

Driving wins, clearly, on a five-hour trip. If you have one running car and you are going the same way, drive it.

When Shipping Is Still the Right Call

There are four situations where the arithmetic above simply does not apply, and they account for most of what actually moves on this corridor:

• Two cars, one driver. The commonest reason by far. Somebody has to be in each vehicle, and $350-$500 is cheaper than a second driver’s time and a second tank of fuel plus getting them home
• The car does not run. An inherited vehicle, a project car, a non-starter being moved to a workshop. Driving is not an option at any distance
• Nobody is travelling with it. A car sold to a buyer in the other state, an auction purchase, a vehicle going to a relative. There is no driver to save money
• You cannot make the trip. Medical reasons, a licence issue, or you simply are not going to Georgia

If none of those describes you, the honest recommendation on a 350-mile move is to drive it and keep the $400. We would rather you came back to us for the 1,400-mile one.

9 Ways to Save Money on Florida to Georgia Shipping

These are ordered by what they are actually worth on a 350-mile route, which is not the order you will find them in on a long-haul guide.

1. Get the city pair right — up to $200

The single biggest lever, and one most people do not know exists. Starting further south and delivering to Atlanta rather than Columbus is worth more than every other item on this list combined.

2. Book two to three weeks ahead — $100-$150

On a $350 booking that penalty is thirty to forty per cent. The same $150 on a transcontinental job is under ten. Lead time has never mattered more proportionally than it does here, and it is free.

3. Stay on open transport — $225-$275

Large in cash terms, but only relevant if you were considering enclosed. One or two days on flat southern interstate is not a reason to.

4. Avoid a rural pickup or delivery — $50-$100

Fifteen to thirty per cent of the base price for an address off the corridor. Meeting the truck at a retail car park on the interstate is worth the drive.

5. Take “first available” — $50-$100

A named day makes the carrier build a route around you. A three-day window makes you the easy load to add, and on a short route that also shortens the wait.

6. Ship a smaller vehicle if you have the choice — up to $150

Only relevant when you are moving two and can pick which one goes on the truck. Send the compact and drive the SUV.

7. Get three quotes — $50-$100

Short-route pricing varies more between brokers than long-route pricing does, because so much of it is the fixed cost each one happens to be carrying that week.

8. Ship in March or April — $25-$28

Genuinely the cheapest months, and genuinely not worth rearranging anything for. Included because it is true, not because we recommend acting on it.

9. Consider not shipping at all — $400

If it is one running car and you are travelling the same way, driving costs about $130 in an afternoon. That is the largest saving on this page and we would be misleading you to leave it off.

Red Flags: Quotes Too Good to Be True

That is the specific hazard here. On a $1,500 route a bait quote stands out by hundreds of dollars. On a $350 route the gap between a real price and a fake one is small enough to look like a good deal rather than an impossibility.

What to Check

• A price under $227. The floor is set by two appointments and an hour of labour at each end, not by mileage. There is no efficiency that gets below it
• A deposit over $200, or over a quarter of the total. On a short route some brokers ask for the whole thing up front. That is worth questioning, not accepting
• No DOT or MC number. Public, free to check, and instantly disqualifying if withheld
• “This price expires today.” Freight rates move over weeks. Urgency is a script
• Nothing written down. The price, the pickup window, the deposit and the insurance limit should all be on paper before money changes hands
• A quote before the questions. A real price needs both cities specifically — which on this route is worth up to $295. A number offered without them is not a quote

How It Actually Plays Out

The load is posted at a rate no carrier will accept, so nothing happens. Days pass. Then you get a call explaining that the market has moved and it needs another $150 — which on a $350 job is a forty per cent increase, arriving at the point where your moving date is close enough that paying is easier than starting again.

Nobody refuses your booking. They just never assign it, and short routes are where this works best because the sums involved feel too small to argue about.

Payment Methods and Deposit Info

Two payments: a deposit to the broker at booking, and the balance to the driver at delivery. On a short route that split gets distorted, and it is worth knowing how.

At Booking: $0-$200

Card or debit, holding your slot while a carrier is found. Plenty of brokers now take nothing until a truck has actually been assigned, which is the arrangement to ask for.

Here is the distortion: a $200 deposit is a routine figure industry-wide, but on a $350 job it is more than half the price. The usual advice — never pay more than a quarter up front — would cap it at $88. If a broker wants $200 on a $350 booking, that is not automatically dishonest, but it is worth asking whether they will hold it at $0 until assignment instead.

At Delivery in Georgia: $150-$500

Paid directly to the driver once you have walked the car: cash, cashier’s cheque or money order. Drivers do not take cards at the kerb, so sort this out before the day rather than on it.

Inspect first, then pay. A signature on the Bill of Lading says the car arrived as described, and after that there is nothing to raise. On a one-day transit it is tempting to treat this as a formality; it is the same document it would be after ten days.

Paying Everything Up Front

Some brokers offer a small discount for prepaying the full $350-$500 by card. The card gives you a chargeback route, but you give up the only leverage you have at delivery. On a booking this size the discount is rarely worth the trade.

Pricing FAQ

How much does it cost to ship a car from Florida to Georgia?

$350-$500 on open transport in 2026, $575-$775 enclosed, over roughly 350 miles with 1-2 days of transit. Your city pair moves that figure more than anything else.

Should I just drive it instead?

If it is one running car and you are going the same way, yes. Five hours and about $130 in fuel and wear against $350-$500. Shipping makes sense when you are moving two cars with one driver, when the car does not run, when nobody is travelling with it, or when you cannot make the trip yourself.

Why is the per-mile rate $1.21 when the industry average is $0.50-$0.70?

Because you are not paying for miles. Two appointments, two inspections, the paperwork and the loading cost the same at any distance. Over 2,800 miles they disappear into the rate; over 350 they are most of it. The 350 miles of driving are nearly the cheapest part of the job.

Why is Miami cheaper than Jacksonville when it is much further from Georgia?

Carrier volume. South Florida sends trucks north constantly, so adding a car to one costs the carrier very little. A Jacksonville pickup needs a load built around it. At 350 miles there is not enough distance for the mileage difference to overcome that.

What is the cheapest possible booking?

Miami to Atlanta, open transport, compact car, booked two weeks out on flexible dates in March or April. Around $315-$475.

Does the month matter?

Barely, and this is the route where that is true. The full-year swing is $28-$100, against up to $295 for the city pair. March and April are cheapest; 15-31 December is worst. Do not delay a move to capture $28.

How far ahead should I book?

Two to three weeks. Booking inside five days costs $100-$150, which here is thirty to forty per cent of the total — the steepest proportional lead-time penalty of any route we publish.

Is a $250 quote realistic?

Just about, for a compact on the cheapest city pair. Below about $227 it is not, because that is roughly what two appointments and the labour at each end cost before anyone has driven anywhere. The risk on short routes is that fake quotes sit only $100 under real ones, so they look like bargains rather than impossibilities.

How long does it take?

1-2 days in transit, but 1-5 days for a carrier to be assigned first. The wait is several times longer than the journey, so plan against roughly a week from booking to delivery.

Are there hidden fees?

There should not be. Watch for charges that appear after you commit — fuel surcharges, terminal fees, an insurance line. Get the total in writing before paying a deposit and there is nothing to argue about later.

How much deposit should I pay?

$0-$200 is the industry norm, but note that $200 on a $350 job is over half the price. Ask for $0 until a carrier is assigned. Never more than a quarter of the total.

Can I negotiate?

Not really on the rate, which is set by what carriers accept. What you can change is everything around it — the city pair, the pickup window, the lead time. On this route those are worth far more than haggling would be.

Worth Reading Next

• typical rates for auto transport
• picking the right trailer for your car
• how your car gets collected and delivered
• how vehicle transport works, start to finish

Related reading

The reverse direction is Georgia to Florida, priced on the same short-route logic. If your move is longer than it looks, Florida to Tennessee at 700 miles and Florida to South Carolina show how quickly the per-mile rate falls once distance is added.

From the Georgia end, Georgia to Texas and Georgia to Washington show what Atlanta’s freight density is worth on longer runs. For the opposite extreme, Florida to California is 2,800 miles at less than half the per-mile rate of this page.

On the mechanics: why per-mile rates rise on short routes, cost by distance, why two quotes differ and open versus enclosed.