Quick Answer
Shipping a car within Texas typically runs $500–$900 on an open carrier. Shipping to or from Texas typically runs $800–$1,500 depending on the lane — for example, Los Angeles to Dallas is typically $1,000–$1,500 and Chicago to Dallas $900–$1,300. Most in-state moves take 1–2 days; cross-country shipments take 3–6 days.
Shipping a car in Texas, without the runaround
Texas moves more vehicles than just about any state in the country — and not just because it's big. People relocate here for work, leave here for work, send cars to kids in college, bring classics home from auctions, and winter here by the tens of thousands. Whatever the reason, the pattern is the same: the car needs to get there safely and on a schedule.
That's the job we do at Freedom Transport Service. We're a nationwide auto transport broker with a 100% USA-based team — real people who answer the phone, no outsourced call centers — and a network of fully vetted, insured carriers running Texas lanes every day. We're open 6 days a week, and the way we price is simple: no bait-and-switch.
Most Texas shipments fall into a handful of buckets. Job relocations move families between the big metros and the coasts, especially as tech and energy employers shuffle people between Austin, Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, California, and the Midwest. Military families ship on PCS orders to and from Fort Cavazos, Joint Base San Antonio, and Fort Bliss. Students send cars to campus in the fall and home again in the spring. "Winter Texans" — seasonal residents who spend the cold months in the Rio Grande Valley and the Gulf Coast — ship cars south in the fall and back north in the spring rather than driving both ways. Add online car purchases, oil and gas rotations in the Permian Basin, and a serious classic-car culture, and you get a state where carriers run full, frequent routes — which is good news for your price and your schedule.
We ship daily drivers, family SUVs, and pickup trucks; classics and exotics (enclosed, always recommended); motorcycles and golf carts (enclosed only, for full protection); UTVs; and vans and heavy-duty trucks, which our team quotes individually. If it rolls, we can almost certainly move it.
Popular routes to Texas
These are the lanes Texans book most often inbound, with the typical ranges we see for a standard sedan in running condition. Your exact price depends on the specific pickup and delivery cities and ZIPs, the vehicle, and your dates — the ranges below are honest planning numbers, not a quote. Season is a factor too: prices run higher when demand peaks — snowbird season in the fall and spring, the summer moving season, and the year-end holidays — and lower in quieter months.
| Route | Open typically | Enclosed typically | Transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, CA → Dallas, TX | $1,000–$1,500 | $1,500–$2,200 | 3–5 days |
| Chicago, IL → Dallas, TX | $900–$1,300 | $1,300–$1,900 | 2–4 days |
| Atlanta, GA → Dallas, TX | $800–$1,200 | $1,200–$1,800 | 2–3 days |
| Phoenix, AZ → Dallas, TX | $900–$1,300 | $1,400–$2,000 | 2–4 days |
| Denver, CO → Dallas, TX | $800–$1,200 | $1,200–$1,800 | 2–3 days |
| Houston, TX → Dallas, TX | $500–$900 | $700–$1,300 | 1–2 days |
| San Antonio, TX → Dallas, TX | $500–$900 | $700–$1,300 | 1–2 days |
| Miami to Dallas car shipping | $1,000–$1,400 | $1,500–$2,100 | 3–5 days |
| Miami to Houston car shipping | $900–$1,300 | $1,400–$2,000 | 2–4 days |
| Orlando to Dallas car shipping | $900–$1,300 | $1,400–$2,000 | 2–4 days |
| Orlando to Houston car shipping | $900–$1,300 | $1,300–$1,900 | 2–3 days |
| Phoenix to Houston car shipping | $900–$1,300 | $1,400–$2,000 | 2–4 days |
Typical ranges for a standard sedan in running condition. Larger vehicles, non-running vehicles, and rural pickups or deliveries can price higher.
Popular routes from Texas
Leaving Texas — or sending a car out to family, a buyer, or a second home — runs on the same busy corridors in reverse. Florida lanes stay active year-round thanks to relocations and seasonal residents, and the Houston–Los Angeles lane is one of the strongest cross-country routes in the network.
| Route | Open typically | Enclosed typically | Transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas, TX → Houston, TX | $500–$900 | $700–$1,300 | 1–2 days |
| Dallas, TX → Orlando, FL | $900–$1,300 | $1,400–$2,000 | 2–4 days |
| Dallas, TX → Denver, CO | $800–$1,200 | $1,200–$1,800 | 2–3 days |
| Houston, TX → Los Angeles, CA | $1,100–$1,500 | $1,600–$2,200 | 3–5 days |
| Houston, TX → Miami, FL | $900–$1,300 | $1,400–$2,000 | 2–4 days |
| Houston, TX → Dallas, TX | $500–$900 | $700–$1,300 | 1–2 days |
| Austin to Phoenix car shipping | $800–$1,200 | $1,200–$1,800 | 2–3 days |
| Dallas to Miami car shipping | $1,000–$1,400 | $1,500–$2,100 | 3–5 days |
| Dallas to Phoenix car shipping | $900–$1,300 | $1,400–$2,000 | 2–4 days |
| Dallas to Tampa car shipping | $900–$1,300 | $1,400–$2,000 | 2–4 days |
| Houston to Orlando car shipping | $900–$1,300 | $1,300–$1,900 | 2–3 days |
| Houston to Phoenix car shipping | $900–$1,300 | $1,400–$2,000 | 2–4 days |
Typical ranges for a standard sedan in running condition. Get a free quote for your lane.
Shipping within Texas
Plenty of Texas shipping never leaves Texas. Dallas to Houston is about 240 miles, San Antonio to Dallas about 275 — short hops by cross-country standards, but still a full day of driving each way, and still hard on a car you'd rather keep miles off. In-state shipping is the lane a lot of national companies treat as an afterthought; for us it's core business, because Texans move between these metros constantly: job transfers, college moves, cars bought at auction or from a seller three cities away, and second vehicles headed to a ranch, a lake house, or the coast.
In-state moves are also the fastest thing we do. On the main corridors, carriers run daily, pickup is usually quick, and most intrastate shipments deliver in 1–2 days. Open transport typically runs $500–$900 on the routes below; enclosed runs $700–$1,300 and is the right call for classics and exotics even on a short hop, thanks to Texas sun and road dust.
| Route | Open typically | Enclosed typically | Transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas, TX → Houston, TX | $500–$900 | $700–$1,300 | 1–2 days |
| Houston, TX → Dallas, TX | $500–$900 | $700–$1,300 | 1–2 days |
| San Antonio, TX → Dallas, TX | $500–$900 | $700–$1,300 | 1–2 days |
Texas cities we serve
We pick up and deliver door-to-door in every Texas metro and most smaller communities along the main corridors. Cities with a dedicated route guide link straight to it; everywhere else, your free quote gives you a price for your specific address.
The Texas car shipping guide
Shipping the car is the easy part. Owning it legally at the other end — and getting it through a Texas summer — takes a little local knowledge. Here's what we tell every customer moving a vehicle into, out of, or across the state.
Registering your car after a move to Texas
New residents have 30 days from the day they move to Texas to register their vehicle with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) through their county tax assessor-collector's office. Texas no longer requires a general safety inspection for personal vehicles — that requirement ended January 1, 2025 — so registration is mostly paperwork, unless you're moving to one of the 17 emissions counties below, where the car must pass an emissions test first. Don't let the 30-day clock sneak up on you: if your car ships a week after you do, handle registration as soon as it arrives.
Emissions testing in 17 counties
When Texas eliminated the annual safety inspection for non-commercial vehicles on January 1, 2025, it kept emissions testing where the air quality demands it: 17 counties require an emissions test before registration — including Harris (Houston), Dallas, and Tarrant (Fort Worth) counties — with a small inspection-program fee collected at registration in place of the old inspection. Cars that passed easily in another state occasionally need a little attention first (an aging catalytic converter or an EVAP leak will fail emissions), so build in a few days of cushion before your registration deadline.
Insurance minimums
Texas law requires minimum liability coverage of 30/60/25 — $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. If your current policy was written in a state with lower minimums, your insurer will adjust it when you update your garaging address. (While your car is on one of our carriers, it's covered by the transport insurance included with every shipment.)
Toll roads and TxTag
Texas runs a lot of toll roads, and carriers use them too. Before pickup, remove or pause your toll tag (TxTag, EZ TAG, or NTTA TollTag) — a tag left in the car can keep charging your account as the carrier passes toll points on the trailer. The same goes for out-of-state transponders like E-ZPass. It's a two-minute job that saves a month of mystery charges.
The corridors carriers actually run
Four interstates do most of the work in Texas. I-35 ties Laredo, San Antonio, Austin, Waco, and Dallas–Fort Worth together and continues north to Oklahoma City and Kansas City. I-45 runs Dallas to Houston. I-10 crosses the entire state from El Paso through San Antonio and Houston to Louisiana — at about 880 miles, the longest single-state interstate stretch in the country. I-20 runs east–west across the top of the state through Dallas–Fort Worth and Abilene, and I-40 crosses the Panhandle through Amarillo. If your pickup or delivery sits on or near one of these corridors, scheduling is fast and pricing is at its best. Off-corridor addresses — ranch country, deep West Texas, the far Panhandle — simply need a little more lead time.
Summer heat, open vs. enclosed
Texas summer heat is the one weather factor that matters most here. On an open carrier, your car rides through triple-digit stretches with direct sun and road dust — fine for a daily driver, and what the vast majority of Texas shipments use. For a classic, an exotic, a fresh paint job, or anything with a soft top, enclosed transport keeps the car sealed away from the heat and grit entirely. Either way, don't leave anything heat-sensitive inside the vehicle.
Hurricane season on the Gulf Coast
Atlantic hurricane season runs June through November, and it affects Houston, Corpus Christi, Beaumont, and Rio Grande Valley pickups and deliveries. When a storm is tracking toward the coast, carriers reroute or pause, and pickup windows can move by a few days on either side of landfall. If you're shipping to or from the coast in season, a little schedule flexibility goes a long way — and we'll always tell you honestly if weather is about to affect your dates.
Military moves & college shipping
Two groups ship more cars in Texas than anyone else — and both move on somebody else's calendar, which makes planning ahead worth real money.
Military & PCS moves
Texas hosts some of the largest installations in the country, and we ship to and from all of them:
- Fort Cavazos (Killeen) — one of the largest Army posts in the world
- Joint Base San Antonio — Fort Sam Houston, Lackland, and Randolph
- Fort Bliss (El Paso) — a major armor and artillery hub
Carriers can't always enter the installation itself, so pickup or delivery usually happens at a visitor center or a convenient spot just outside the gate — we coordinate that with you in advance. Ask about our military pricing when you book.
Students & families
Shipping a car to campus beats a two-day drive and a flight home. We serve every major Texas school, including:
- UT Austin and Texas A&M (College Station)
- Texas Tech (Lubbock) and Rice University (Houston)
- University of Houston — plus TCU, Baylor, SMU, and UTSA
Book fall and spring moves early — the first and last weeks of the semester are the busiest of the year. Ask about student pricing when you book.
Special pricing — just ask
We offer special pricing for select groups, including military members, students, seasonal travelers, and healthcare professionals. Mention it when you request your quote and we'll apply whatever you're eligible for.
How Texas car shipping works
Three steps, start to finish. We handle the carrier, the scheduling, and the updates — you just hand over the keys.
Get your quote & book
Get your free quote and book with $0 due upfront.
We assign your carrier
We match your vehicle with a vetted, insured carrier already running your lane, and confirm your pickup window with you.
Pickup & delivery
The driver inspects and loads your vehicle at your door, and delivers it at the other end with updates along the way.
Open vs. enclosed transport in Texas
Open transport is the standard multi-car carrier you see on every interstate — and it's the right choice for most Texas shipments. It's the most affordable option, the easiest to schedule, and your car is fully insured in transit either way. Daily drivers, family vehicles, trucks, and SUVs ship open every day of the year.
Enclosed transport puts your vehicle inside a covered trailer, protected from weather, sun, dust, and road debris. Texas makes the case for enclosed better than most states: summer runs cross hundreds of miles of triple-digit heat and blowing dust, and spring can add hail season in North Texas. For classics, exotics, collectibles, show cars, and anything with significant value or fresh paint, enclosed is the honest recommendation — and for motorcycles and golf carts, enclosed is the only way we ship them. Expect enclosed to run roughly 40–60% more than open on the same lane, as the tables above show.
Not sure which fits your car? Tell us what you're shipping when you get your quote and we'll give you a straight answer — including when open is all you need.
What affects your Texas price
Four things drive the number on any Texas lane:
- Distance. The biggest factor, always. Texas distances surprise people — El Paso is closer to Los Angeles than it is to Houston, so "in-state" doesn't automatically mean "short." Longer hauls cost more in total but less per mile.
- Corridor vs. rural pickup. Addresses on I-10, I-20, I-35, and I-45 sit on routes carriers already run, so they price at the best rates and schedule fastest. Rural West Texas, Panhandle, and ranch-country pickups may need a carrier to detour, which costs more and takes a little longer to arrange.
- Vehicle size and condition. A compact sedan is the baseline. Full-size trucks, large SUVs, and vans take more deck space and weight; non-running vehicles need a winch and extra handling. Heavier and larger prices higher.
- Season and direction. Fall fills up with Winter Texans heading south and spring fills with them heading home; summer is peak relocation season statewide. Booking a little ahead of the rush — or shipping against it — usually prices better.
The ranges on this page are typical planning numbers — get your free quote for your specific addresses, vehicle, and dates. No bait-and-switch, ever.
Preparing your car for pickup
A few simple steps before the carrier arrives make pickup smooth — and protect you if anything comes up in transit.
- Keep the tank about a quarter fullThat's plenty for loading and unloading, without the extra weight of a full tank.
- Remove personal itemsCarriers aren't insured for belongings left inside the vehicle, so clear out anything you can't replace.
- Wash the car before pickupA clean car makes the pre-shipment inspection photos accurate, so existing marks are documented clearly.
- Note existing damage with the driverWalk the car together at pickup and make sure it's recorded on the bill of lading before you sign.
- Disable alarms and remove toll tagsIt prevents surprise alarms in transit and toll charges piling up along the way.
- Have a spare key readyThe driver needs a working key for loading and unloading at both ends.
Texas car shipping FAQs
How much does it cost to ship a car from Texas to Florida?
On the most common lane, Dallas to Orlando typically runs $900–$1,300 open and $1,400–$2,000 enclosed, with a 2–4 day transit. Houston to Miami is similar at $900–$1,300 open. Your exact price depends on the specific cities, your vehicle, and your dates.
How much does it cost to ship a car from California to Texas?
Los Angeles to Dallas typically runs $1,000–$1,500 open and $1,500–$2,200 enclosed, taking 3–5 days. It's one of the busiest lanes in the country, so scheduling is usually fast. Northern California origins and rural Texas deliveries can price a bit differently — get a free quote for your specific addresses.
How much does it cost to ship a car from Texas to Colorado?
Dallas to Denver typically runs $800–$1,200 open and $1,200–$1,800 enclosed, with a 2–3 day transit. The reverse lane (Denver to Dallas) prices the same, since carriers run the corridor in both directions daily.
How much does it cost to ship a car within Texas?
Most in-state routes — Dallas to Houston, Houston to Dallas, and San Antonio to Dallas — typically run $500–$900 open and $700–$1,300 enclosed, with delivery in 1–2 days. Longer in-state hauls, like Dallas to El Paso, price higher because the distance is genuinely cross-country scale.
How long does Texas car shipping take?
Most in-state moves take 1–2 days. Regional lanes like Dallas to Denver or Atlanta run 2–3 days, and cross-country shipments — Texas to either coast — typically take 3–6 days depending on the lane. Your carrier confirms a pickup window when you book and keeps you updated in transit.
Do I need to register my car after moving to Texas?
Yes. New Texas residents must register their vehicle with the TxDMV through their county tax office within 30 days of moving. Texas no longer requires a general safety inspection for personal vehicles, but if you're registering in one of the 17 emissions counties — including Harris, Dallas, and Tarrant — the car must pass an emissions test first. You'll also need Texas liability insurance of at least 30/60/25.
Can I ship a car to a military base in Texas?
Yes — we ship to and from Fort Cavazos, Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Bliss, and other Texas installations regularly. Because carriers usually can't enter the installation, pickup or delivery typically happens at a visitor center or a spot just outside the gate, coordinated with you in advance. Ask about military pricing when you book.
How do I book, and do I pay anything upfront?
Get your free quote or call us at 800-507-2629 — we're open 6 days a week. There are $0 upfront booking fees: you pay nothing to schedule.
Is my car insured while it's being shipped?
Yes. Every shipment includes insurance coverage while your vehicle is in transit, and we only work with vetted, insured carriers. At pickup, you and the driver document the car's condition together on the bill of lading, which is what protects you if anything comes up along the way.
Can the carrier pick up my car at my home?
Yes — our service is door-to-door wherever a carrier can safely and legally reach. If your street is too narrow for a full-size transport truck, the driver will meet you at a nearby parking lot or wide street, usually within a few minutes of your address.