Snowbird car shipping is a round trip: south in the fall, north in the spring, on the same corridors every year. That predictability is good for planning and hard on capacity.
When to book
The southbound rush out of New York, New Jersey, New England and the Midwest to Florida peaks in October and November, and carrier availability tightens across the whole corridor. For the best choice of carriers, book the trip south before mid-October. The return north peaks in April and May; book a few weeks ahead of the date you want the car to move.
How it works
Open transport is the usual choice for a daily driver; enclosed is available for classic or high-value cars. The carrier collects at your northern address, or a meeting point near it, and delivers to your winter address or a nearby lot if the community restricts truck access. You or an agent, such as a neighbor or property manager, must be present at both ends.
Preparing a car for a season away
Leave a quarter tank or less, remove personal items and toll tags, and photograph the car. If the car will sit for months, consider a battery tender and tell your insurer about the change of address.
Our snowbird guide below covers registration, insurance and inspection questions for cars that winter in Florida.
Why the corridor behaves the way it does
Hundreds of thousands of seasonal residents move south in the fall and north in the spring, and most of them want to travel in the same few weeks. Car haulers follow the demand, so in October and November trucks heading to Florida are full and trucks heading north are empty, and in April and May the reverse. That is why southbound rates and waits peak in the fall and why shipping against the flow, north in October or south in April, is the cheapest and quickest direction on the corridor.
Our busiest lane is the New York metropolitan area and the rest of the Northeast to the Florida east coast and Gulf coast, with Arizona, the Carolinas and the Texas Gulf coast behind it. The routes pages and the Florida page show typical timing.
Booking the round trip
You do not have to book the return at the same time as the trip south, but telling us your approximate spring dates helps us flag the window early. Book the southbound leg before mid-October and the northbound leg three to four weeks before you want the car to move. Flexible pickup windows matter more in these weeks than at any other time of year, because a truck with one free slot will take the order that fits its circuit.
What the Terms say: pickup and delivery dates are estimates and delivery dates are not guaranteed (Section 2e); a guaranteed pickup date is available as a paid Additional Service (Section 1); one bag up to 100 pounds may travel in the trunk at the customer's risk, declared before loading (Section 3d of our Terms and Conditions).
Gated communities and condo buildings
Many winter communities bar commercial trucks or restrict them to certain hours, and a 75-foot car hauler cannot use most community roads anyway. The usual arrangement is a meeting point at a shopping center or a wide road near the entrance, agreed with the driver the day before. Tell us at booking which community the car is going to; we often already know the access situation from previous deliveries, and Section 4c of the Terms asks you to meet the carrier where access is restricted.
Registration, insurance and inspection
A car that spends the winter in another state usually keeps its home registration, but residency rules, insurance territory and inspection dates can be affected by a long stay. Florida's rules are on the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles site; tell your insurer where the car will be garaged, because premiums and coverage can change with the garaging address. Check that your home-state inspection or registration does not expire while the car is away.
Preparing a car for a season
Quarter tank or less under Section 3b, personal items out, toll tags removed so the truck's tolls are not billed to you, and photographs from every angle. At the winter address, a battery tender, a sunshade and a tire pressure check in the first week prevent most of the problems a car develops sitting in heat. For the spring return, do the same in reverse and give us a few weeks' notice.
Two cars, two households
Couples often send two cars, or one car south and one into storage. Two cars on the same order from and to the same addresses can sometimes be placed on the same truck, which simplifies the handover; ask when you book. Our snowbird car transport page covers the service in full, and the open transport page describes the trailer most seasonal cars ride on.
Carriers on the corridor run under the same federal hours-of-service limits as everywhere else, summarized on the FMCSA website, which is why a loaded truck leaving New York reaches South Florida in days rather than hours even on an empty road.
Related questions
- How far in advance should I book car shipping?
- What is the cheapest way to ship a car with Rivalane?
- Can someone else accept delivery of my car for me?
Go deeper: Shipping a Car to Florida for the Winter: How Snowbird Season Actually Works.
