The Cost of Shipping Your Car vs the Cost of Driving the Car Yourself

Traffic on the Highway

Many people think of shipping their vehicle as something out of their reach. These people assume the cost is much higher than it is and that it is a complicated process to arrange to have a car shipped. This may be true in some cases but most of the time having your car shipped is in your best interest.

But this post is about money. Green stuff. So while there are other factors like time that play a huge role in making auto transport the superior option over driving yourself, we are going to look at solely cost.

We are going to compare the cost of shipping a Toyota Camry (the most popular car in the US) from Miami to Los Angeles to the cost of driving it from Miami to Los Angeles.

Shipping the car would cost $1500. One fee and you are done.

Since driving the car is a number of different costs I am going to break it down to make it more clear what you are paying for.

The trip from Miami to Los Angeles is approximately 2,700 miles. The Camry gets 35 miles per gallon on the highway so you are going to be using about 77 gallons which will cost $285 with gas at $3.70.

You will also need to stay in a hotel somewhere in between Florida and California. You can find a decent hotel for about $150. So two nights at a hotel will run you about $300.

You’ll need to eat too, three meals a day at about $10, the cost of food on the trip will be another $100 with snacks and drinks factored in. Double, triple, quadruple for any additional people you have in the car with you.

So the cost of driving a car to Los Angeles from Miami is about $700, half the price of shipping it. So depending on how much you value your time paying $800 may or may not be worth it. If you need a quote for shipping your car visit our Get a Quote page.