The cost to ship a car to or from Chesapeake, Virginia is typically $450 to $2,100 on an open trailer, and takes between 1 to 10 days in transit time. Richmond starts at $450 to $650 over about 95 miles. Los Angeles reaches $1,850 to $2,050 over about 2,730. The table on this page prices every route we run most often out of Hampton Roads.

Because Hampton Roads is a destination market rather than a freight origin. Cars arrive here with orders and with families moving in. Fewer leave. So a driver loading in Chesapeake has less choice than one loading in a big freight city, and the rate reflects it. Our own two figures on the same route show it. Chesapeake to Los Angeles is $1,850 to $2,050 over about 2,730 miles. Los Angeles back to Chesapeake is $1,650 to $1,900 over the same 2,730 miles. About $200 apart, and the more expensive direction is outbound.

Yes, and both are true. A price follows the freight density of the place the car starts. Chicago is one of the busiest freight origins in the country, so leaving it is cheap. Chesapeake is a destination market, so leaving it costs a little more. Same rule, two different answers. It is worth knowing which side of it you are on before you book.

Richmond, at $450 to $650 over about 95 miles in a single day. After that it is Raleigh at $475 to $700 and Washington DC at $500 to $725. Chesapeake sits close to a lot of big cities, which is the real advantage of shipping from here.

Four things. How far the car is going, which is why the table is sorted by distance. What the vehicle is, since a mid-size SUV adds about $150 and a full-size pickup or three-row SUV about $300. Which direction, because outbound from Hampton Roads sits a little above inbound. And the season, since summer PCS months are the busiest weeks of the year here. Your quote is one price for the whole trip, worked out for its distance and the route it takes.

A mid-size SUV or crossover adds about $150 to the sedan figure. A full-size pickup or a three-row SUV adds about $300. Those are the steps our Hampton Roads to Los Angeles page already publishes, and they hold across the table. They come from deck space and weight rather than anything else, and they are in your quote from the start.

They are careful estimates, reviewed against the market. Fuel is the largest single cost in hauling a car, and it moves. So we review these rows against it rather than letting them go stale. Once you accept a quote, the Smart Price Promise holds it. That holds as long as the vehicle, the route, the condition and the shipping details stay the same.

Door to door pickup and delivery, loading and unloading, the road miles, and Carrier Cargo Insurance for the whole trip. There is no terminal fee. There is no fuel surcharge added later. Enclosed transport and a vehicle that will not start are priced up front, not at the curb.

Enclosed costs about 80 percent more than open on the same route. It is the right call for a classic, a collector car, an exotic, a fresh restoration or anything low to the ground. Salt air is the other reason people choose it here. A car that has sat near the water for years is worth keeping in a box for the trip out.

A vehicle that will not start needs a winch truck. That adds $200 or more, depending on what the driver has to do to get it aboard. There is no flat fee. A car that rolls and steers is a very different job from one that does neither. Tell us the true condition when you request a quote and the figure is in your price from the start.

Give us the widest pickup window you can live with. That is the single best lever you have. A driver filling the last space on a trailer will often take a nearby car rather than travel further for a better paying one. A wider window gives us more chances to catch one of those. Also ask about the military, student and senior discounts before your price is confirmed.

Yes, and it is the discount most used on this page. It applies in either direction, on a PCS move or a personal one. Ask before your price is confirmed and it is built into the figure you agree to, rather than adjusted afterwards. Student and senior discounts work the same way.

Between 1 and 10 days on the road, depending on distance. Richmond is one day. Raleigh, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Charlotte and New York are 1 to 2. Atlanta, Jacksonville and Orlando are 2 to 3. Tampa, Miami and Chicago are 3 to 4. Dallas and Houston are 4 to 5. Los Angeles and Seattle are 7 to 10.

When your car is loaded, not when you book. The pickup window comes first and the road days follow it. That is why the two numbers are quoted separately on every route in the table. Plan your dates around both.

The standard pickup window is 6 days. Expedited narrows it to 3 days, which is 72 hours. Hampton Roads is well served by I-64 and I-95, so there is usually a truck within reach. Summer PCS season is the one time to book further ahead.

Yes. Expedited scheduling narrows the pickup window from 6 days to 3, which is 72 hours. The road days stay the same. Federal driving-hour limits apply to every driver on the interstate, and no service moves them. What you are buying is a faster start, not a faster truck.

Federal rules cap how long a driver may be behind the wheel each day. There are also eight or nine other cars on the trailer, each with its own pickup and delivery point. The route is built around all of them. That is why a 2,730-mile run to Los Angeles is 7 to 10 days rather than four.

It can, and it is easy to plan around. The Atlantic season runs June through November, and Hampton Roads sits on the coast. A named storm closes bridges and slows the interstate for a day or two rather than weeks. If you are shipping between August and October, give us a wider pickup window and build one extra day into your plan.

Less than most people expect. Hampton Roads gets far less snow than the rest of the Mid-Atlantic, so a January pickup in Chesapeake is usually straightforward. The weather that matters is at the other end of the trip, so a run to Chicago or Denver in February is worth one extra day of flexibility.

Usually yes, and Chesapeake is one of the easier cities we serve. A full-size carrier is about 75 feet long and needs room to turn. Greenbrier, Great Bridge, Deep Creek, Western Branch and the newer subdivisions almost all have the space. Where a cul-de-sac or a gated entrance is too tight, we meet you a few minutes away at no extra cost.

No, and that is a real advantage of shipping from here. Chesapeake sits on the south side of the harbor. A carrier reaches it on I-64, I-464, the south end of I-664, US-17 or US-58, with no harbor crossing needed. Newport News and Hampton are on the other side of the water, so a truck going there has to pick a tunnel. Your Chesapeake pickup does not.

Because a loaded car carrier is one of the tallest things on the road. The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel on I-64 has 13 feet 6 inches of clearance westbound and 14 feet 6 inches eastbound. The Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel on I-664 has 14 feet 6 inches. There is over-height detection near Willoughby Spit and fines of up to $2,500. So drivers choose their crossing carefully. Chesapeake pickups avoid the question entirely.

All of them. Greenbrier, Great Bridge, Deep Creek, Western Branch, Hickory, South Norfolk, Indian River, Camelot, Edinburgh and the Battlefield Boulevard corridor. Chesapeake covers 338 square miles, so a pickup in Hickory and a pickup in Greenbrier are two rather different jobs. Give us the street address at booking and the route is planned around it.

It shapes the plan rather than the price. Chesapeake is the second-largest city by land area in Virginia at 338.51 square miles, and a big part of the southwest is the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. So the north and east of the city are dense and quick to reach, while the rural south takes a little more planning. Both are door to door, and the address is what tells us which is which.

Yes. We do it regularly. Narrow shoulders and soft ground are the two things to tell us about, because a 75-foot trailer needs firm level ground to load on. If the road will not take one, we agree a spot on Battlefield Boulevard or another wide route nearby, and the handover happens there.

It is a nearby spot with room for the truck, and it costs nothing extra. Normally a wide road or a retail lot a few minutes from your address. We use one when a street cannot take a 75-foot carrier safely. The paperwork and the inspection are exactly the same, and the car is loaded in the open where you can see it.

Yes, all of South Hampton Roads. Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Suffolk price with Chesapeake, and Portsmouth is one of our six service areas. Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg and Smithfield are on the north side of the water and are quoted the same way. One call covers the whole region.

Yes. Tell us at booking and we will plan for it. Some gates will not clear a 75-foot trailer and some HOA rules keep commercial vehicles off the street. Either way we agree a spot just outside, often the clubhouse lot or the nearest wide road, and you meet the driver there.

We will meet you nearby instead. Port property is tightly controlled and a car carrier has nowhere to work inside it. So we arrange a meet-point close by, and plenty of Chesapeake customers use that for a car arriving or leaving by sea.

We meet you near it rather than inside it. Airport property is controlled and there is nowhere for a carrier to load. A meet-point close by works well, and a lot of our customers fly one way and meet the car at the other end.

Yes, and Richmond is about 95 miles up I-64 from Chesapeake. It is the cheapest row on this page at $450 to $650, and it has a page of its own. Petersburg, Williamsburg, Newport News and Hampton all price near it.

Yes, and it is a large part of what we do here. Naval Station Norfolk is the world's largest naval station, with 75 ships, 14 piers and 134 aircraft. Add Naval Air Station Oceana, Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Langley Air Force Base and the Coast Guard at Portsmouth. Orders move a lot of cars through this region, and we ship them in both directions.

May through August, and it is not close. Summer is when most families move, so capacity across Hampton Roads tightens and the best pickup dates go first. Book as soon as you have orders in hand. Four to six weeks ahead makes a real difference to both the date and the price.

Yes. Any adult you nominate can hand the car over or take delivery, as long as we have their name and number at booking. Spouses, a family member or a neighbor all work. Plenty of our Hampton Roads shipments are arranged by someone who is not standing next to the car.

Yes, and it is usually the better deal. Both cars go on the same carrier and arrive together, which is what most families want on a move. Tell us both vehicles when you request the quote and the price covers the pair.

Yes, anywhere in the lower 48. Common ones from Hampton Roads are San Diego, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Bremerton and Everett near our Lakewood office, plus Great Lakes north of Chicago. Tell us the destination and we will price it, whether or not it is in the table.

Nothing unusual for the transport itself. We need your name, both addresses, both phone numbers and the vehicle details. Keep your orders handy for the military discount. The Bill of Lading is the only document that changes hands at pickup and delivery, and the driver brings it.

No. Virginia only tests in Northern Virginia: the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford, plus the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park. Chesapeake is not on that list, and neither is anywhere else in Hampton Roads. A car shipped here needs no emissions test at all.

Yes, and it is the one Virginia requirement that does apply in Chesapeake. Virginia runs an annual safety inspection, with a sticker on the windshield. It is a straightforward check at an approved station, and it is worth booking soon after your car arrives so you are not driving on an out-of-state sticker.

Thirty days. Virginia asks a new resident to title the vehicle and register it at a DMV customer service center within 30 days of moving. Liability insurance has to stay in force even on a car that is not being driven. Check the current requirements and fees at the Virginia DMV before your car arrives so the paperwork is ready.

Yes, and we do it every week. We pick up from a dealer, an auction, a private seller or a storage lot and deliver to your Chesapeake address. Have the seller ready with the keys and the paperwork. Tell us if the car has been sitting long enough that it may not start, so the right truck is assigned.

Yes. Old Dominion University and Norfolk State in Norfolk, Regent in Virginia Beach, William and Mary in Williamsburg, Christopher Newport in Newport News, and VCU and Virginia Tech further inland. Late August and mid-May are the tightest weeks. Book two to three weeks ahead and the student discount applies.

Yes. Your car travels under the assigned carrier's Carrier Cargo Insurance. Cover starts the moment it is loaded and ends when it is handed back to you. It goes from your address straight onto the trailer. No terminal, no holding lot, no gap in between. You can check any carrier's active authority and insurance on the FMCSA SAFER system before your car is loaded, and we will tell you who the carrier is.

Someone does, at both ends. The driver walks the car with you and records its condition on the Bill of Lading, and you both sign. It takes a few minutes, and it is what protects you. Worth being there rather than leaving the keys.

Usually yes, within reason. Keep it light and keep it low. Use the trunk or the footwells rather than the seats or the parcel shelf, so the driver can see out and the weight stays sensible. Take anything valuable or irreplaceable with you. Tell us at booking if you are packing more than a suitcase or two, and the assigned carrier will be expecting it.

Yes, and it matters more here than in most places. Hampton Roads has tolled crossings and your transponder will read while the car rides on a trailer. Take it off, or seal it in its shielded bag. Do the same with any other toll tag before the driver arrives.

About a quarter of a tank is ideal. That is enough to load, unload and drive away at the far end. It also avoids weight the trailer does not need. A full tank on nine cars adds up fast.

It helps, and in a salt-air city it helps more than usual. A clean car makes the condition report at pickup much easier to read, which makes the inspection at delivery easier too. Photograph it in daylight from all four corners once it is clean and you have your own record.

It is the condition report for your car, and the most useful piece of paper in the whole trip. The driver records the car's condition at pickup and you both sign. At delivery you compare the car against it before signing again. Keep your copy until the delivery is complete and you are satisfied.

Note it on the Bill of Lading at delivery, before you sign, and photograph it. That is the record that matters. Then call us. We handle the claim with the carrier from there rather than leaving it with you. It is rare, and it is why the two inspections are worth the few minutes they take.

Yes, every week. A mid-size SUV or crossover adds about $150 to the sedan figure. A full-size pickup or a three-row SUV adds about $300. Minivans and work vans ship on open trailers too. Oversized lifted trucks and dual-rear-wheel pickups are quoted individually.

Yes, and tell us about it when you book. Low ground clearance, a front splitter, a wide body or oversized wheels all change which trailer and ramps the job needs. Given the details up front, we assign a carrier equipped for it. For anything very low that is usually enclosed transport with a lift gate.

Yes, and enclosed transport is what we recommend for one. It costs about 80 percent above the open price. It keeps the car away from weather, road debris and salt for the entire trip. On a car that has lived near the Chesapeake Bay for years, that last point is the one owners care about most.

Cars, SUVs, pickups and vans are what we move. Motorcycles can often be arranged on the right equipment, so ask and we will tell you straight away whether we can help. For anything else, we would rather point you somewhere better than take a job we are not the right company for.

No. Your car goes from your address straight onto the carrier and stays covered under Carrier Cargo Insurance for the whole trip. There is no terminal and no holding lot in the middle. One less place for a car to sit, and one less handover to go wrong.

Portsmouth is our Hampton Roads service area, and it covers Chesapeake. It is a service area rather than a walk-in office, so your shipment is arranged on the national line at 888-709-9078 by the team that books this region every week. Our four staffed offices are in Chicago, Lakewood in Washington, Los Angeles and Kissimmee in Florida.

Three of them. Chicago, Los Angeles, and Kissimmee for the Orlando row, with Lakewood covering the Seattle and Tacoma row. On those routes a Smart Auto Move team handles the far end as well as the Hampton Roads end.

Smart Auto Move is a car shipping company. We arrange and manage your transport end to end. The job goes to a vetted carrier from a network of more than 16,000 transport professionals nationwide, and we stay with it until the car is delivered. You will know which carrier has your car. You can check their authority and insurance yourself before it is loaded.

Look us up on the FMCSA SAFER system under USDOT 2887232 and MC 969368. Both numbers are on every page of this site for exactly that reason. We are also BBB A plus accredited. We will give you the assigned carrier's USDOT number so you can check them too.

No. We do not call or text quote-form leads. Your quote comes back to you, and the next move is yours. If you would rather talk it through, call 888-709-9078 and we will quote you on the phone.

No. Information you share with Smart Auto Move for the purpose of receiving a quote is used for that purpose only. We do not sell your information. That is why the quote form on this page does not turn into a week of calls from companies you have never heard of.

Smart Auto Move provides nationwide car shipping throughout the lower 48 states, backed by four strategically located staffed offices, six additional service areas, and a trusted carrier network of more than 16,000 transport professionals nationwide. Service is not currently available in Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico.

Start with the quote form on this page, or call 888-709-9078. We need both ZIP codes, plus the year, make and model. Then whether the car runs, your first available date, and open or enclosed. You will have a price to look at, and nothing is booked until you say so.