There is no single best place to retire, but there is a short list of things that decide whether a place works, and most people only discover two of them after the boxes are unpacked. Taxes and weather get all the attention. Healthcare access, the real cost of running a household, and whether you can still get around when driving becomes harder matter more over twenty years. Here is how to compare places properly, and how the vehicles make the move once you have chosen.
The Five Things That Decide It
- Healthcare within reach. Not a clinic, a full-service hospital with the specialties you are likely to need, within a drive you would be willing to make in an emergency. Many attractive small towns fail this test quietly.
- Total household cost. Add insurance, property tax, utilities and the price of the things you actually buy. A state with no income tax can cost more per month than one with a modest one, once homeowners insurance and property tax are counted.
- Getting around without driving. Sidewalks, a grocery store within walking distance, a way to reach the doctor if you stop driving. This matters more each year, not less.
- Weather you can live in, not visit. A place is not its best month. Check the worst one.
- Proximity to people. Family, friends and the airport that connects you to them. Isolation is the most common reason retirement moves get reversed.
Where People Actually Go
Florida, Arizona and the Carolinas remain the destinations of choice, with Tennessee and Texas rising quickly on cost and tax grounds. Each has trade-offs the brochures leave out. Florida carries high insurance and rising coastal cost. Arizona’s summers are severe and its water future is a live question. The Carolinas balance climate and cost well but coastal insurance is climbing. Tennessee has no income tax and low property tax but the humidity is real and the health systems are concentrated in the cities. Texas is inexpensive outside the metros and very hot in them.
We move cars into all of them every week, and each has a state guide on this site with lane pricing from our own bookings: Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
The Vehicle Question Nobody Plans For
A retirement move is a one-way, long-distance move, usually with two cars, usually timed around a closing date, and usually made by two people who would rather not each drive 1,400 miles alone. The movers take the furniture. The cars are the loose end.
Shipping both on one order settles it. A carrier picks them up at the old house in the days before closing, the two of you fly or drive one car together, and both arrive at the new address within the week. Our multi-car shipping page explains how two vehicles share an order and a rate, and the cross-country page covers the long lanes.
Timing the Cars Around the Closing
The pickup window is the detail that matters. A carrier collects within a window of a few days, so schedule pickup for the last days you have possession of the old house and keep one car for errands until then if you can. At the other end, the cars can arrive before you if a neighbor, a property manager or a family member can sign for them. Tell the coordinator who will be there. If the new house is in a gated community, give the gate code or arrange a meet point at the entrance, because a large carrier cannot always enter.
Summer is the busiest moving season and the tightest for carriers. If the calendar allows, a spring or autumn closing gets a wider choice of trucks and a better rate. Book two to three weeks ahead in any season and a month ahead in June, July and August.
Preparing Two Cars to Ship
- Empty both. The carrier’s cargo insurance covers the vehicle, not what is inside it. Moving boxes travel with the movers, not in the trunk.
- Quarter tank each. Enough to load and unload.
- Photograph both. Every panel, the wheels and the glass, in daylight, the day before pickup. The bill of lading at pickup and again at delivery is the record that matters.
- Declare condition. A car that does not start ships as inoperable and is loaded by winch. Say so at booking so the right carrier is sent.
- Keys and documents. One key per car to the driver, registration and insurance card in the glove box, spare keys with you.
A Realistic Timeline
Six weeks before closing, run both cars through the calculator and settle the lane. Three weeks out, book the pickup window to fall in the last days you hold the old house, and book a month out if the closing lands in June, July or August. One week out, photograph both cars, empty them, and confirm who will receive them at the new address if they arrive first. In closing week, hand the keys to the driver, read the bill of lading before signing it, and keep the spare keys with you. The cars are usually in the new driveway within the week, and the two of you have made one trip instead of three.
Common Questions
Is it cheaper to ship two cars than to drive one and ship one? Often, yes, once fuel, a hotel night and a day of the move are counted against the second car’s share of a combined rate. Run both cars through the calculator and compare it with an honest count of the drive.
How long are the cars on the truck? A Northeast to Florida move is typically a few days after the pickup window. Midwest to Arizona or Northeast to Texas runs about a week. Your coordinator gives the window for your lane.
Can the cars arrive before we do? Yes, if someone can sign for them. Name that person when you book.
Open or enclosed? Open transport is the standard and the best value for everyday cars. Enclosed adds about a third and suits a classic, a low-clearance sports car or anything with a finish you would rather keep off the interstate.
What if the closing date slips? Tell the coordinator as soon as you know. Before a carrier is assigned, dates move freely.
Get a Quote
Put both cars, the two addresses and your dates into the instant quote calculator for a firm figure, or call (866) 821-4555 and a coordinator will plan the pickup around your closing. No deposit is taken until a carrier is assigned to your order.
