No road reaches Hawaii, so every vehicle crosses by sea. Rivalane moves your car overland to the mainland departure port, where the shipping line takes over for the ocean crossing, so you know from the start who is handling which part. Tell us the pickup address and the island it is heading for, and we will plan the road leg around the sailing.
5-Star Average Rating
Fully Insured
Top Rated Service
Nationwide Coverage
Licensed, Vetted Carriers
On a mainland move the delivery date is the whole job. On a Hawaii move the road leg has to land inside a window someone else sets, because the terminal will not accept a vehicle far ahead of its sailing and will not hold it once the cutoff passes. Rivalane plans the pickup backwards from that window, keeps one point of contact on the road leg, and tells you what the terminal expects before the carrier arrives.
A Hawaii move runs in five steps across three parties. Here is the order things happen in:
Give us the pickup address and the port your vehicle sails from, and you get a price for the road leg. That is the part Rivalane carries. Ocean freight is quoted separately by the shipping line, so ask for both numbers before you settle on a budget.
Book space with one of the ocean carriers running the lane from the West Coast. Departures run to a fixed schedule, so the sailing date sets the timing for everything else rather than the other way round. Confirm which island the booking terminates at before you fix anything else.
Clean the car inside and out, take dated photos, and remove every personal item, since carriers refuse vehicles with belongings inside. Keep the fuel low. Have your title, registration and any lienholder authorisation in hand, and confirm the shipping line accepts your vehicle type before the truck is booked.
A carrier matched to your route collects the vehicle and runs it to the terminal, documenting its condition at pickup. Rivalane's part of the move ends at the terminal gate, where the shipping line takes over and issues the bill of lading.
The vessel carries the car to its island terminal, and the port releases it against the bill of lading once it lands. The safety inspection, the use tax and registration with your county all come after that, and the bill of lading forms part of the file you hand over.
Rivalane handles the overland side of a Hawaii move, from any mainland address to the port and back again. Here is what that covers and what the shipping line decides instead of us.
We collect from any address on the mainland and run the vehicle overland to the port your sailing leaves from, including origins far inland where the road leg is the longer half of the journey.
Your vehicle travels on an open trailer for the run to the port. It is the usual choice and the lower cost one. How the car is stowed at sea is the shipping line's decision rather than a trailer type you pick.
An enclosed trailer shields the vehicle from weather and road debris on the way to the port, which suits classics, low clearance builds and high value cars. It costs more than open, and like open it covers the road leg only.
Shipping lines set their own acceptance rules and those rules change. Electric and plug in hybrid vehicles are currently refused by at least one carrier on this route, and a vehicle can also be turned away for cracked glass, for not running, or for personal items left inside. Confirm eligibility before the road leg is booked, because a car refused at the terminal has already made the trip.
Not every shipping line on this route carries motorcycles, and vehicles over standard height or width are handled separately from cars. Tell us what you are moving before the road leg is planned, since the vehicle itself decides which sailings are open to you.
Getting a car to Hawaii means at least two companies carry it and two government offices are waiting when it lands. Most of what goes wrong happens in the gaps between them. Here is what to check before you book anyone, and what a well run company raises before you have to ask.
Ask which company is carrying the car on each leg, and what each one's liability limit is on its own leg.
Ask whether the number you are quoted covers the inland transport only, the ocean freight as well, or the use tax that follows once the car lands.
Ask how your island is served and what the cutoff is, since sailings run on a fixed schedule rather than on demand.
Get a quote to the departure portLooking to ship your car to another state or across the country? Rivalane moves vehicles overland in all 50 states. Choose a state to see what shipping to and from it involves.
Hawaii's vehicle terminals sit across five islands, so the ZIP areas below group around ports rather than around cities. Honolulu on Oahu takes the largest share of arrivals, with Kahului on Maui, Nawiliwili on Kauai and Hilo on the Big Island handling the rest, and smaller volumes reaching Molokai and Lanai. Which terminal your booking ends at shapes how the vehicle reaches you once it lands, and Rivalane's own work sits on the mainland side of that journey.
.png)
