A recent job involved shipping a 2016 Honda Odyssey that traveled 1,315 miles from Stanwood, Washington, to Lakeside, California, for a charge of $1,100.00, or $0.84 per mile.
The Odyssey could be started and drove itself up the ramp to begin the shipment. Minivan on a long haul from north to south is most often a family moving, and that begs a question that needs an answer. When does one coordinate the shipment of a car with a move?
The route
The drive of 1,315 miles from Stanwood to Lakeside is the distance of the West Coast along one interstate.
Stanwood lies north of Everett in Snohomish County. The drivers start from I-5 south and travel along it through Seattle and Tacoma, cross the Columbia River and enter Oregon at Portland, and proceed along the Willamette Valley through Salem and Eugene.
Afterwards, I-5 passes the Siskiyou Pass into California and proceeds through Redding and Sacramento down the Central Valley past Stockton and Bakersfield and then crosses Tejon Pass on the Grapevine into the Los Angeles basin.
Then I-5 travels south through Irvine and Oceanside to San Diego. Lakeside lies inland in East County, and therefore the truck completes its route on I-8 and CA-67.
Timing a vehicle shipment around a move
Most vehicle transports are booked as part of a larger move, and they are not always necessarily compatible. Here is what actually matters.
Never book until you know your arrival date. Vehicle transport is much easier to schedule according to an exact arrival date than an estimated one. Let us know about the uncertainty in your closing or lease start rather than making guesses.
Your household goods and your car follow separate schedules. They use different companies and different networks and different schedules. If a moving company gives you a two-week delivery window, this has no effect on the time of your vehicle’s delivery and vice versa.
A time gap is expected and should be planned for. On a trip such as this one, transit takes several days after the pick up. If you go ahead, you will arrive before your vehicle arrives. Short-term rental of a vehicle at the destination is normally less expensive and less complicated than trying to fit the transportation schedule into the move schedule.
With two vehicles, two strategies apply. Families who own more than one vehicle commonly drive one vehicle and ship another one. This is a great strategy, and it means that you will have one car available at the destination while the second one is in transit.
Try to keep from loading it up. Minivan looks like extra cargo space during the move and this temptation is very strong. But our 100-pound weight limit is valid. Items must go in the rear cargo area and below the window line, and personal items are not covered by the cargo insurance of the carrier.
A person needs to be available at both ends. An adult has to be present in order to release the vehicle at the pick up and receive it at the delivery point. This doesn’t have to be you, but it has to be someone and we need to know their name and number in advance.
And tell us if the delivery address changes. Address changes during the middle of a move take place all the time and it’s much easier to deal with them prior to dispatch than after.
What $0.84 per mile reflects
Behind the rate there are two key factors.
Distance is the first. Being 1,315 miles away gives the fixed costs of pick-up, loading, securing and delivery sufficient distance to spread out, but not that large one that allows a coast-to-coast rate fall to below 70 cents.
The second factor is vehicle size. The Odyssey measures slightly above 200 inches in length, providing some deck space that is longer than in case of a sedan and shorter than in case of a full-size SUV. It occupies a regular spot in the cargo hold without making trouble.
As for the corridor, it is the best possible. I-5 is the main north-south corridor for transporting goods in the West Coast and is constantly used from both directions; the Seattle and San Diego markets are at each of its ends. Availability of carriers was not an issue.
Open transport
The Odyssey went out on an open trailer, which is the only sensible way to move a finished family car.
Enclosure is required for vehicles where rock chips can be considered a monetary concern. A nine-year-old minivan bound for its new home does not fall under this category, and at more than 1,315 miles, the extra cost of enclosure would not be worth it for such protection. We already made that clear.
Ground clearance never came into consideration. The Odyssey was at standard ride height, making the ramp angle of no consequence in either direction.
Transport summary
- Origin: Stanwood, WA 98292
- Destination: Lakeside, CA 92040
- Distance: 1,315 miles
- Service cost: $1,100.00
- Cost per mile: $0.84
- Vehicle: 2016 Honda Odyssey
- Condition: Operable
- Trailer type: Open
- Route: Stanwood, WA → I-5 south through Seattle and Tacoma → Portland, OR → Salem and Eugene → over the Siskiyou Pass → Redding and Sacramento, CA → Stockton and Bakersfield → over Tejon Pass → Los Angeles → Oceanside → I-8 / CA-67 → Lakeside, CA
