Why Is Car Shipping Harder During the Holiday Season?
Car shipping during the holiday season gets harder because demand climbs while the number of working carriers drops. Drivers take time off like everyone else, routes fill weeks ahead, and winter weather slows the trucks still running.
The result is fewer open slots, wider pickup windows, and very little room to move your dates if something changes. Booking early is the one thing that reliably helps, because it puts your vehicle on a truck before the schedule tightens.
Which Holidays Actually Affect Car Shipping?
The holidays are not one single period. Three separate dates shape carrier availability, and each one affects a shipment differently.
Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November, while Christmas Day and New Year's Day sit on fixed dates. For the 2026 season that works out as follows.
- Thanksgiving, Thursday November 26, 2026. The shortest disruption, but a sharp one. Many carriers stop for the Thursday and the Friday, and the Wednesday before is one of the heaviest travel days of the year on US highways. Pickups booked either side of that window often slip by a day.
- Christmas Day, Friday December 25, 2026. The longest slowdown. Because Christmas falls on a Friday in 2026, it runs straight into the weekend, so the practical stoppage covers December 25 to 27. Do not plan a pickup or a delivery on Christmas Day itself.
- New Year's Day, Friday January 1, 2027. Another Friday, so another three day block through January 3. The stretch between Christmas and New Year is the quietest dispatch week of the year, and it is the one most people underestimate.
If your dates can move at all, the first half of December and the week after January 3 are far easier to schedule than the stretch in between.
Do Carriers Run on Christmas and Thanksgiving?
Some do, but far fewer than usual, and you should not plan around finding one. Auto transport is not a government service, so no rule shuts the industry down. Individual carriers set their own schedules, and most independent drivers, who make up a large share of the market, take the same days off as everyone else.
Work from the safer assumption: pickup and delivery will not happen on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, or New Year's Day, and the days immediately around them are unreliable. Build that into your plan instead of hoping around it.
Why Can Nobody Guarantee a Holiday Delivery Date?
Because federal law caps how much time a driver can make up, and winter is when that cap bites.
Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hours of service rules, a driver who runs into snow, ice, sleet, fog, or unusual road conditions may extend driving time by up to two hours. That is the adverse driving conditions exception in 49 CFR Part 395, and two hours is the entire allowance. It also applies only when those conditions could not reasonably have been known before the trip started.
FMCSA guidance is explicit on the rest: a driver's wish to get home, or pressure from a shipper, does not count as an emergency. So when a December storm closes a corridor, the driver cannot legally drive through the delay. The schedule absorbs it instead.
That is why any company promising a guaranteed holiday delivery date is selling something it does not control. Rivalane gives you a pickup window and keeps you updated as the route develops. We would rather set that expectation in October than on December 23. For more on how conditions move timelines, see how weather affects vehicle shipping.
When Should You Book Car Shipping for the Holidays?
Book three to four weeks before your first available pickup date. Carrier schedules tighten quickly once December begins, and the later you book, the smaller the pool of trucks you are choosing from.
Booking ahead of the rush gives you three practical advantages:
- A real choice of carrier, instead of whatever is still uncommitted.
- Room to absorb a weather delay without missing the date that matters.
- A pickup window you helped set, rather than one you were handed.
If you are already inside that window, you still have options, though fewer of them. Our last minute car shipping guide covers what changes when time is short.
How Much Does It Cost to Ship a Car During the Holiday Season?
Shipping over the holidays usually costs more than the same route in a quiet month, because demand rises while capacity falls. How much more depends on your route, your vehicle, your trailer type, and how close to the peak you book.
The factors that move the number most:
- Distance, and how busy your corridor is. Dense freight lanes cost less per mile than a rural pickup well off the interstate.
- How far ahead you book. Late bookings compete for whatever space is left.
- Open or enclosed transport. Enclosed costs more and is scarcer in December.
- Pickup and delivery access. A driver who can load easily near a main road spends less time on your shipment.
- Date flexibility. A fixed day costs more than a range.
Price your exact route with the Rivalane calculator in about a minute. For how rates move across the rest of the year, read our guide to the best time to ship a car.
Is Open or Enclosed Transport Better During the Holidays?
Open transport is the right call for most vehicles over the holidays, and the reason is availability rather than price. Open trailers make up the large majority of the fleet, so they are much easier to book in a tight week. Enclosed trailers are a small slice of that fleet, and in December a small slice of a stretched fleet means waiting.
This runs against the usual winter advice, which is to book enclosed for protection from snow, ice, and road salt. That advice holds up in an ordinary winter month. It holds up less well across the holiday peak, where choosing enclosed often means choosing a later pickup.
How to decide:
- Choose open transport for a daily driver. A few days in the open air is a non event, and you will get on a truck sooner.
- Choose enclosed transport for a classic, exotic, low clearance, or freshly painted vehicle, and book it earlier than you think you need to.
- If your dates are fixed and your vehicle is an ordinary one, let availability decide rather than the trailer roof.
How Should You Prepare Your Vehicle for Holiday Shipping?
Cold weather and tight schedules leave little room for surprises at pickup, and a driver who arrives to find an unexpected problem may simply move on. Work through this before your pickup window opens.
- Wash the car. A clean surface makes existing scratches and dents visible at inspection, which protects you later.
- Photograph the condition in daylight, with dated images of every panel.
- Remove personal items. They are not covered in transit and they move around.
- Leave about a quarter tank of fuel. Enough to load and unload, without the extra weight.
- Check the battery, tire pressure, and fluid levels. A car that has been parked since autumn is the most common cause of a failed pickup.
- Handle the winter items: top up antifreeze, and make sure the door seals and locks will not freeze shut.
- Say so in advance if the vehicle does not run. A non running car ships perfectly well, but it has to be quoted and loaded as one.
What Should You Confirm About Insurance Before You Book?
Carriers operating legally are required to hold cargo insurance, but limits and exclusions vary between them. Confirm the detail before you hand over the keys rather than afterwards.
Ask about, and get in writing:
- The carrier's cargo coverage limit, and what it excludes.
- Whether personal items left in the vehicle are covered. Usually they are not.
- How a damage claim is filed, and the deadline for filing one.
- What your own auto policy covers while the vehicle is in transit.
You can check any carrier's operating authority and insurance status yourself through the FMCSA SAFER Company Snapshot. Rivalane operates as a licensed transport broker under USDOT 4178374 and MC-1608310, arranging shipments through vetted carriers in our network rather than running trucks of our own.
Who Ships a Car Over the Holidays?
Three groups drive most of the seasonal volume, and they compete for the same trucks.
- Snowbirds heading south before winter arrives. Southbound lanes into Florida, Arizona, and Texas fill first. Our guide to snowbird car shipping explains why the direction of travel matters more than the distance.
- Students bringing a car home for winter break, then taking it back in January. Both moves land squarely on the busiest weeks.
- Buyers and gift givers moving a vehicle bought in another state so that it arrives before the holiday itself.
Booking Your Holiday Shipment With Rivalane
Rivalane is a broker. We do not own trucks or employ drivers. We match your vehicle with vetted carriers from a nationwide network, handle the dispatch, and stay reachable while your car is moving.
For the holiday season that comes down to one practical point: the earlier you book, the more carriers there are to choose from, and the more say you have over your dates. Get a price for your route, or contact our team with your dates and we will tell you honestly what is realistic.
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