Auto Shipping for Travel Nurses
Travel nursing runs on 13 week contracts, and that number governs everything about how you handle a vehicle. Too short to sell and rebuy, too long to rent economically, and usually too far to drive comfortably between assignments. For most travelers the answer is shipping the car between contracts, and the arithmetic is more favorable than people expect.
The Three Options, Priced Honestly
Driving yourself is free until you count it. Fuel at your car’s real economy, a night or two of lodging on a long relocation, meals, and the mileage you are adding to a vehicle you rely on. Then the days themselves, which for a traveler are frequently unpaid days between contracts.
Renting for the whole assignment is the option that looks simplest and costs the most. A rental for 13 weeks runs into serious money, and rental agreements are rarely designed for that length of stay. It also means driving a car you do not know in a city you do not know.
Shipping the car and flying is the third, and on any assignment more than a few hundred miles away it is usually the cheapest of the three once everything is counted. It also puts you in your own vehicle, insured on your own policy, from day one.
How It Fits a 13 Week Cycle
The scheduling is the part worth planning, because assignments end and begin tightly.
Transit is typically one to three days regionally, three to five across half the country and seven to ten coast to coast, once collected. Add a few days for a carrier to be assigned. Work backwards from your start date and book two to three weeks ahead.
Give a range of pickup days rather than a single date. It lets a carrier fit you into a route already forming, which usually costs less and moves sooner, and travelers generally have more flexibility here than a family relocating.
If your contracts run back to back with no gap, ship the car to arrive a few days after you do rather than before. A vehicle delivered to a city where you have not yet arrived becomes a storage problem.
Housing Stipends and Where the Truck Can Stop
Travel nurse housing is frequently an apartment complex, an extended stay hotel or short term furnished accommodation, and none of those are straightforward delivery addresses.
A loaded car hauler is around 75 feet long and 13 feet 6 inches tall. Apartment complexes rarely admit one, hotels have no space for it, and many will not accept a vehicle on behalf of a guest who has not arrived.
The normal arrangement is a meeting point at a large retail lot near a highway, agreed when you book. If you will not be in the city when the vehicle lands, name somebody who can receive and inspect it, because whoever signs the bill of lading accepts the condition recorded on it.
Insurance and Registration Across State Lines
This is the administrative piece travelers most often get wrong, and it is straightforward once handled.
Keep your home state registration. A travel nurse on temporary assignment normally remains a resident of their home state, and short term contracts do not usually trigger a registration requirement elsewhere. Where it gets ambiguous is a long run of consecutive contracts in one state, so check that state’s threshold if you extend.
Tell your insurer where the vehicle will actually be garaged. Premiums are location based, and an insurer who does not know the car is in another state has a reason to argue at claim time. Most will handle a temporary relocation with a phone call.
Keep coverage active for the whole period including while the vehicle is on the truck. Cargo insurance covers damage in transit; it does not cover you once you are driving again.
Making the Stipend Work Harder
Travel contracts are usually structured with a taxable hourly rate and non taxable stipends for housing and incidentals, and how you handle the vehicle interacts with that.
Transport costs between assignments are a legitimate part of your relocation budget, and some agencies reimburse travel between contracts or offer a relocation allowance. Ask specifically what is covered before you book, because the answer varies by agency and by contract and it is rarely volunteered.
Where a car genuinely pays for itself is in housing choice. Being able to live fifteen minutes outside an expensive hospital district, rather than walking distance from it, frequently saves more per month than the shipping cost for the whole assignment. That is the calculation worth doing, and it is the one that usually settles whether to bring a car at all.
Keep the receipts either way. Whether any of it is deductible depends on your tax situation and whether you maintain a genuine tax home, which is a question for an accountant who understands travel healthcare rather than for a transport company.
Preparing the Car
Wash it so existing marks are visible, then photograph every panel in daylight, including the wheels, the lower bumpers and the rocker panels, which are what loading marks. Photograph the odometer.
Leave about a quarter tank of fuel. Empty the cabin and the trunk, since personal items are not covered by cargo insurance and they add weight. It is worth stressing for travelers, because the temptation to move your life in the car is real and it is not permitted.
Fold the mirrors, disable a motion sensitive alarm, remove the toll transponder and hand over a physical key rather than a phone. At delivery, inspect before signing and note anything unexpected on the bill of lading while the driver is present. Our first time car shipping guide walks through the process end to end.
Common Questions
Is shipping cheaper than renting for 13 weeks? On most assignments, considerably. A three month rental is one of the more expensive ways to solve this.
How far ahead should I book? Two to three weeks, with a range of pickup days. Work backwards from your contract start date.
Can it be delivered to my housing? Usually not. Apartment complexes and extended stay hotels rarely take a 75 foot truck, so plan a meeting point.
Do I need to re-register in the assignment state? Normally no, if you remain a resident of your home state. Check the threshold if you run consecutive contracts in one place.
Should I tell my insurer? Yes. Rates are based on where the vehicle is garaged, and an unreported relocation is a reason for an argument at claim time.
Get a Quote
Call Ship A Car, Inc. at (866) 821-4555 with both zip codes, your contract start date and where the driver can meet you, or price the move with the instant calculator.
