Open is the default
An open trailer is the cheaper, more common option and the same equipment dealerships use to receive new inventory. Weather and road debris reach the vehicle, which matters more for a daily driver than a project car.
Cars and trucks, not parcels
How much it costs to ship a vehicle
A car or a pickup truck is never going to clear a parcel network's own size ceiling, so the honest starting point is admitting our calculator has nothing to say about one. What follows is the ceiling that rules it out, how the auto-transport trade actually prices a move, and where an actual vehicle request goes on this site.
FedEx ceiling citedRead 2026-08-18Freight review takes vehicles
A different trade from LTL
A crated part rides freight; a whole car rides a car hauler. Neither one rides a parcel scale.
Where the parcel ceiling sits
FedEx states the line plainly on its own page about shipping oversized items, read 2026-08-18: a shipment is classified as freight once its weight is heavier than 150 lbs, or once its combined length and girth is more than 165 inches. Either condition alone is enough. A car's curb weight is measured in thousands of pounds before a single passenger climbs in, and a pickup truck weighs more again, so both conditions are broken by a wide margin the moment the vehicle is still sitting in the driveway.
That is not a gap in what SMKlog offers so much as a description of what a parcel network is built to carry. Nobody straps a car to a conveyor belt. The trade that actually moves one runs on entirely different equipment, priced a different way, and the rest of this page is about that trade rather than ours.
How the auto-transport trade prices a move
Auto-transport is its own industry, running open and enclosed car-hauler trailers rather than parcel vans or LTL freight docks. Transporters publish their pricing as per-mile estimates in distance bands, and every one of them labels those figures as seasonal averages rather than quotes — the number for your specific car, on your specific lane, is set by a person after seeing the vehicle.
The shape of that pricing is consistent across the trade: the per-mile rate is highest on short moves and falls steeply as distance grows, so the total flattens out past the first few hundred miles. The expensive part of a vehicle move is the two ends — loading, routing, and scheduling — not the miles in between, which is the same shape freight and long-haul parcel pricing both take once distance stops being the dominant cost.
Season, vehicle type, modifications and route complexity all move the final number, which is why this page prints no per-mile dollar figures: any figure copied from one transporter's site on one day would be stale by the time you read it, and it would still not be a quote for your car.
Enclosed is a specific ask
A covered trailer costs meaningfully more per mile than an open one, and transporters price that premium by route and season. It earns its keep on a low-clearance, modified or collector vehicle rather than an ordinary commuter car.
Running matters to the loader
A vehicle that starts, steers and rolls under its own power loads in minutes with a ramp. One that does not needs a winch and more time on the lot, and that is exactly the kind of detail a person has to see before pricing it.
What SMKlog does with a vehicle request
Our checkout sells United States domestic parcel labels, and a vehicle is never going to be one of them. Vehicles sit alongside pallets, LTL, full truckload, containers, oversized freight and international moves as request types our freight review form is built to take. Send the make, the condition, both addresses and whether it runs, and a person tells you what is possible on that specific lane.
Where these figures come from
- FedEx, How to Ship Oversized Items — the 150 lb and 165 combined-inch freight threshold. Read 2026-08-18.
Every transporter publishes its own estimates and they change with the season. Every quote in this trade is per vehicle, per lane, set by a person after seeing the actual car or truck.
Shipping a vehicle, answered
Can I get a vehicle quote through the SMKlog calculator?
No. FedEx's own page on shipping oversized items, read 2026-08-18, states that a shipment is classified as freight once its weight is heavier than 150 lbs or its combined length and girth is more than 165 inches. A car's curb weight alone runs to several thousand pounds, well past that line before anyone opens a door. Vehicle moves are one of the categories our freight review form is built for, and a person answers what is possible on your route rather than a checkout guessing at it.
What does it cost to ship a car or truck across the country?
Auto-transport companies publish per-mile estimates in distance bands on their own sites, and every one of them labels those figures as seasonal averages that move with vehicle type and route — an estimate, not a quote. The honest cost answer for a specific car is a quote for that car on that lane: send it through the freight review form and a person prices the actual move.
What is the difference between open and enclosed transport?
Open transport carries the vehicle on an uncovered multi-car trailer, the same equipment that delivers new cars to dealerships, and it is the cheaper default. Enclosed transport shields the vehicle inside a covered trailer and costs meaningfully more per mile; transporters price that premium by route and season.
What else moves the number besides distance?
Transport companies name vehicle type, modifications and route complexity alongside seasonal demand as the variables that move their published estimates. None of those are figures a table can guess at from a make and a model, which is why an actual mover prices the specific vehicle rather than a distance band alone.
How do I get an actual quote for a vehicle?
Send the vehicle details and both addresses through SMKlog's freight review form. Vehicles sit alongside pallets, LTL, full truckload, containers and oversized freight as one of the request types that form is built for, and a person reviews the specific move instead of a rate table standing in for one.