New York to Florida Car Shipping

For a standard car on an open carrier, the middle half of the New York to Florida open-carrier car orders on our own book since 2023 ran $1,000 to $1,250. For a trailer, the middle half of our New York to Florida enclosed car orders ran $1,400 to $1,750. A big SUV or a full-size pickup prices at the top of the open band or beyond it. Southbound runs a little below the northbound direction, because the fall demand is spread over more months than the spring rush, and an October quote will sit higher in the band than a September one.

This is the tightest lane we publish for finding a truck. Across the moves we have dispatched since 2023 the median was 4 days from booking to an assigned carrier, and three quarters had a carrier within 7 days; southbound haulers out of the metro area are never far away. After loading, 1,200 to 1,300 miles of Interstate 95 with other pickups and drops along the way usually means three to five days between Long Island and Palm Beach. Take that as a distance estimate rather than a measured number; what our records measure is the assignment, not the drive.

From Long Island and the boroughs, over the Verrazzano or through the Cross Bronx to the George Washington Bridge and onto the New Jersey Turnpike; from Westchester and the Hudson Valley, down the Thruway to the Tappan Zee crossing and the Turnpike. Then Interstate 95 the whole way: Delaware, the Baltimore and Washington beltways, Richmond, Florence, Savannah, Jacksonville. Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Miami Beach come straight down Interstate 95 or the Turnpike; Naples and North Port on the Gulf side take Interstate 75 across from the Turnpike or Interstate 4.

Half. Half of the New York to Florida moves we have dispatched since 2023 went enclosed, the highest share of any lane on this site, because the people sending a car south for the winter are often sending the car they care about, and a trailer keeps three days of fall weather and road salt off it. The enclosed band above is what that has actually cost. If the car is a commuter, the open band is the right one, and we will tell you so instead of upselling the trailer.

Long Island and the boroughs lead our New York pickups on this lane: Staten Island, Brooklyn, Southampton and Farmingville appear most often, with Westchester and the Hudson Valley behind them. In Florida, Palm Beach is the most frequent delivery point, followed by Stuart, Miami Beach, Boca Raton and North Port, with Naples and Pompano Beach behind them. A Brooklyn street or a Palm Beach gate usually means meeting the truck a few minutes away; the driver proposes the spot by phone the day before, and everywhere else the car is collected and delivered at the door.

The whole East Coast ships south from October into January, and rates and waits rise with it. In our own book, though, September has been the busiest booking month on this lane since 2023, ahead of January, then July and December, because the organized winter residents book before the rush and the January group arrives after the holidays. If your dates fall in the fall peak, book two to three weeks ahead and give the driver a three to five day window; if you can choose, choose September.

Occasionally, and it depends on where you start. Amtrak’s Auto Train runs between Lorton, Virginia and Sanford, north of Orlando, and you ride with the car. It does not start in New York: you drive to Lorton, about 250 miles, and you collect the car in Sanford and drive on to Palm Beach or Naples yourself. For a Long Island to South Florida move with a car you would rather not put miles on, door to door transport is usually the simpler answer; our guide to shipping a car by train walks through when each one wins.