$1,450 to $1,600 for an operable mid-size vehicle on an open trailer, over about 2,430 miles in six to eight days on the road. Los Angeles prices the same and the return leg runs a little under. Your collection window comes before the road days and is separate.

The loads behind our Kissimmee to Los Angeles route, which is the same corridor out of central Florida. We are straight about its limits: the comparable loads we reviewed were south Florida origins on slightly longer runs, so this is a good read rather than a perfect one. Ask us for the live number and you get today's answer.

Because the ends of a trip cost more than the middle. San Diego is roughly 90 miles nearer to Orlando than Los Angeles is, since Interstate 8 cuts the corner off the Interstate 10 run. Ninety miles of driving on a 2,400-mile trip is worth tens of dollars, and the loading, paperwork and two handovers cost the same either way.

It is the easy one, and that is worth knowing. Your car travels Interstate 10, the southernmost transcontinental highway in the interstate system. No mountain pass on it closes for the season, which is not something we can say about the northern crossings.

Barely. The highest point on Interstate 10 sits just east of Tucson, about 20 miles west of Willcox, Arizona, where the westbound lanes briefly cross above 5,000 feet. That is a rise in the desert rather than a pass in the mountains, and it is the whole of the elevation story on this trip.

About as safe as a summer one, which is unusual for a coast-to-coast run. Occasionally ice near El Paso or a dust storm in Arizona closes a stretch for a few hours. Set against a Cascade or Sierra pass that can shut for a day at a time, this is the route to pick if your date is fixed in January.

Six to eight days on the road, counted from when the car goes on the trailer. That is in line with the rest of our long routes at this distance. Federal rules cap the hours a driver may spend at the wheel and there are other cars coming off along the way.

The spread of days we work within to get a trailer to you, six days as standard or three with expedited. It runs before the road days rather than inside them. Central Florida is a busy market in both directions, so a car here often gets placed at the early end of that spread.

North out of Orlando to pick up Interstate 10 across the Panhandle, then west the whole way through Mobile, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Tucson and Phoenix. Interstate 8 peels off near Casa Grande and drops down to San Diego. It is interstate the entire distance.

Our staffed Florida office is at 2095 E Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy in Kissimmee, about 18 miles south of downtown Orlando, on 407-377-6073. It is an operations base rather than a depot, so your car is collected from your own address rather than dropped anywhere.

All of them. Downtown, Winter Park, College Park, Baldwin Park, Lake Nona, Dr Phillips, Windermere, Altamonte Springs, Sanford, Oviedo, Kissimmee, Celebration, St Cloud and Clermont. Central Florida is straightforward ground for a full-size rig in most neighborhoods.

In most of the metro, yes. Wide roads and space to load are normal across the suburbs. The older streets around downtown and parts of Winter Park are tighter, and there the handover moves to a broader street or a lot a short walk away, agreed at booking and carrying no charge.

Very common here and easily planned around. Tell us at booking if your gate needs a code or a call ahead, and the driver will have it. Around the resort corridor the driver will usually suggest a spot away from the busiest stretches, which saves everybody time.

Across the county. Downtown, La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Point Loma, Mission Valley, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside, Carlsbad and Coronado. We also keep a staffed office in Los Angeles, about two hours north, so the far end of this route is somewhere we have people.

A few want a meeting point, which is routine. La Jolla's coastal streets, parts of Point Loma and the older downtown blocks put narrow roads together with steep grades and resident parking. The driver proposes a flatter, wider spot a few minutes away and it costs nothing extra.

Steadily, in both directions, and for two different reasons. Florida to California carries relocations and military moves all year. The reverse direction carries a lot of seasonal traffic, since central Florida is where a great many people spend the winter.

Summer for relocations and college moves. Then October through December southbound into Florida and March through May coming back out, as the winter season turns over. Booking two to three weeks ahead matters most in those stretches.

For nearly every car making it, yes. Nine or ten vehicles travel together on a two-deck trailer with no roof or sides, exactly the equipment franchise dealers receive new inventory on. Those trailers carry the most cars, so the most of them are running and waits are shorter.

It is a fair question on a 2,400-mile run, and the argument out here is road debris rather than weather. Enclosed costs about 80 percent above open. For a collector car, an exotic, fresh paintwork or very low bodywork it is worth pricing. Ask for both and compare the two numbers.

No, it tightens the collection window from six days to three. Driving hours are capped by federal rule and money does not change them. Across 2,400 miles that makes expedited a modest gain rather than a large one, and you should hear that from us before you spend on it.

Give us a wide collection window and book a week or two out. A driver with one space left takes whichever car is convenient rather than driving further for a better-paid one. Every extra day you can offer is another chance to be that convenient car.

Carrier Cargo Insurance, and the policy belongs to the trucking company assigned to your vehicle rather than to us. It is live from the moment the car is loaded in Orlando until it comes off in San Diego. We hold the certificate as soon as a carrier accepts and it is yours to see whenever you ask.

Yes, on a federal database, in about a minute. SAFER is the FMCSA's free public lookup. Enter a USDOT number and it returns whether that company holds authority to operate and what insurance sits on file. Ours is USDOT 2887232, MC 969368.

No. Whoever loads it in Orlando is whoever unloads it in San Diego. No second company takes over in Houston or Phoenix, and it spends no nights in a yard. That handover is where most damage claims in this business begin.

Usually yes, within reason. Around a hundred pounds, in the trunk, nothing piled where the driver needs to see out. The cover is on the vehicle rather than its contents, so anything valuable travels with you. Take the toll transponder off the windshield as well.

Wash it so the condition report is accurate, clear your belongings out, leave about a quarter tank of fuel and switch the alarm off. Photograph all four corners in daylight the day before. Five minutes there makes the handover in San Diego simple.

Yes, on a trailer with a winch and a driver equipped to use it. Budget $200 upward on top of the figures on this page. Tell us at the quote stage whether it rolls, steers and brakes, because those three answers decide which rig we send.

Both standard on this lane. A bigger vehicle takes more of the deck and adds weight, so it prices above a mid-size sedan. Send the year, make and model plus any lift or oversized tires and we will price the vehicle you own.

Yes, and households moving west do it often. Two vehicles on one trailer to the same address save the driver a stop, and that saving shows up on the second car. Ask for them as a pair rather than as separate orders.

Yes, and plenty go this way. Leave it at about half charge, give us the exact model so the weight is right, and switch off anything that wakes the car while it sits. Heavier EVs price a little above a comparable gas car, because weight is what a trailer is limited by.

No. Door to door is how we run this route and it is already in the figures above. Where a street cannot take a 75-foot rig safely, the driver arranges a spot close by, and that is included too.

Yes. The price we quote is the price you pay, as long as the vehicle, the route, the condition and the shipping details stay the same. That is the Smart Price Promise, and it is why we tell you plainly which of our figures are measured tightly and which are a good read.