The cost to ship a car from Chicago to Orlando is typically $825 to $975 on an open trailer for an operable mid-size vehicle, and takes between 3 to 4 days in transit time. Pickups further out in Illinois move that a little: Peoria, Bloomington or Springfield sit at $800 to $950, and Rockford or Elgin at $850 to $1,000.

Three to four days on the road once the carrier has loaded your car. That is about 295 to 390 miles a day. It is what a driver legally covers under federal hours-of-service rules, with stops and other drops on the way. Add your pickup window to that for the full timeline.

About 1,175 miles. Kissimmee is about 1,195 miles, Celebration and Davenport about 1,205, and Lakeland about 1,225. Chicago to Tampa measures 1,180 miles, which is why Tampa and Orlando share the same range on this lane.

Because the band is a national average and this corridor is much busier than average. Our published band for a 500 to 1,500 mile trip is $900 to $1,600, and Chicago to Orlando comes in under the floor of it. Chicago is one of the densest freight origins in the country, and Central Florida is a dense inbound market. Your car fills a space on a trip that was already happening.

Yes. Smart Auto Move Inc is at 742 E 87th Pl, Chicago, IL, and the local line is 312-300-7773. It is one of our four staffed offices, and it sits at the pickup end of this lane. The people arranging your collection know the neighborhoods, the alleys and the viaducts.

Our Central Florida office is in Kissimmee rather than Orlando itself, at 2095 E Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy, Kissimmee, FL 34744, and the local line is 407-377-6073. That is about 18 miles from downtown Orlando, the same market for a delivery. We would rather name the real town than claim an Orlando address we do not have.

It does, and only a handful of our lanes can say that. Chicago and Kissimmee are two of our four staffed offices. Your car leaves a city where we have people and arrives in a market where we have people. On a 1,175-mile move that is the difference between a handoff and a handover.

All of Chicagoland and well beyond. The city itself, plus Naperville, Aurora, Joliet, Elgin, Schaumburg, Evanston, Arlington Heights, Orland Park, Oak Brook, Oak Park, Skokie and Cicero, then Rockford, Peoria, Bloomington, Normal, Champaign, Decatur, Springfield and the Quad Cities further out.

In most of Chicagoland, yes, straight to the curb. The tighter spots are the older grids: Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Wicker Park, Logan Square, Pilsen and Hyde Park. Cars fill both sides of the street there, and some viaducts sit too low for a loaded trailer. There the driver picks a wider street a block or two over, which costs nothing and takes a few minutes.

To the address you give us, in almost every case. Orlando, Winter Park, Altamonte Springs, Lake Nona, Dr Phillips, Windermere, Kissimmee, St Cloud, Celebration, Davenport, Clermont and Lakeland all take a full-size carrier on their main roads. That covers most addresses. The driver brings the truck as close as it can safely get and unloads there.

Very common here, and easy to plan around. Much of the Kissimmee, Celebration, Davenport and Windermere area is gated, or built on narrow resort loops a 75-foot trailer cannot turn in. The driver picks a wide lot nearby, often off US-192 or Highway 27, and meets you there. Telling your gate to expect a carrier saves everyone time.

Effectively yes. Carriers treat Central Florida as one delivery zone, so Orlando, Kissimmee, Winter Park, Celebration, Davenport, Lakeland and Tampa all sit in the same range. Fifty miles does not move a 1,175-mile price. Pick the address that suits you, not the one that sounds cheapest.

The shoulder months, so September and early October, or late April and May. This is the classic snowbird lane. Southbound fills up from October through April, then reverses in spring. Shipping just before or just after that rush gets you the bottom of the range and a shorter wait for a truck.

Two to three weeks ahead is the sweet spot from October to April. Trucks running south in those months are full, and the earlier you are on a driver's board the better your dates look. It is not that we cannot move a car in January, it is that a little lead time gets you a better one.

Our standard pickup window is 6 days from booking. Expedited narrows it to 3 days, which is 72 hours. Chicago is one of the busiest freight cities in the country, so on this lane collection often happens early in the window rather than at the end of it.

On this lane, often yes, and here is the arithmetic. Expedited cuts the pickup window from six days to three. It does not speed up the drive, because drivers work to federal hours-of-service limits. But when the drive is only three to four days, three days off the front is a big share of your whole timeline.

South out of Chicago on I-65 through Indianapolis, Louisville and Nashville. Then I-24 across to Chattanooga, I-75 the length of Georgia into Florida, and I-4 across to Orlando. It is one of the most heavily traveled truck corridors in the country, which is exactly why the price is what it is.

Rarely, and the route is the reason. Nothing on it climbs a mountain pass. Two things are worth naming. A January ice event around Nashville or Chattanooga delays a driver by hours rather than days. Atlanta traffic is something every driver already plans around. Hurricane season can affect Florida arrivals, and we watch it and keep you posted.

The familiar two-level trailer carrying nine or ten cars, and every price on this page is an open price. It moves the large majority of cars on this route and it is what franchise dealers receive new inventory on. Your car picks up road dust across 1,175 miles and arrives wanting a wash, which is the whole of the downside.

Enclosed runs about 80% more than open. Against $825 to $975, expect somewhere around $1,475 to $1,750. The car travels inside a closed trailer with no weather and no road grit. It is the right call for a collector car, an exotic, anything low to the ground, or fresh paint, and on a winter departure it keeps Midwest road salt off the underside.

Yes. It needs a trailer fitted with a winch and a driver equipped to use it, and we have plenty of both. Budget $200 upward on top of the running price, depending on the condition. Three answers decide which rig we send, so have them ready: does it roll, does it steer, does it brake.

A mid-size SUV usually adds $75 to $150 over the sedan ranges here. A full-size pickup or a three-row SUV such as a Suburban or an F-250 typically adds $150 to $300. A trailer is limited by height and weight, so a bigger vehicle takes room the driver could have sold to someone else.

Usually yes, within reason. Keep it to around a hundred pounds, in the trunk and below the window line so the driver can see out. Carrier Cargo Insurance covers the vehicle rather than its contents, so anything valuable or hard to replace travels better with you.

Wash it, because dirt hides the marks the condition report should record. Leave about a quarter tank of fuel. Turn the alarm off. Then photograph all four corners, the roof and the wheels in daylight. Five minutes of that makes the handover in Florida straightforward.

Your vehicle moves under the assigned carrier's Carrier Cargo Insurance, live from loading in Illinois to unloading in Florida with nothing uncovered between. We confirm each carrier's coverage is active before dispatch and we will email you the certificate for your specific carrier whenever you ask.

Smart Auto Move operates under USDOT 2887232 and MC 969368. Both are public on the FMCSA SAFER system, and we would rather you checked them than took our word for it. Looking those numbers up is the fastest way to tell a real transport company from a website.

Ten days, and this one catches people out. Florida asks new residents to register a vehicle within 10 days of establishing residency. The driver license window is 30 days. So the car is the urgent part, which is a good argument for shipping it to arrive with you rather than weeks later.

Florida insurance first, then the vehicle. The state requires a minimum of $10,000 in PIP and a minimum of $10,000 in PDL, from a carrier licensed to do business in Florida. Sort the policy out before you go to the tax collector's office, because it is checked at the counter.

It needs a VIN and odometer verification, which is a quick visual check rather than a mechanical test. Florida uses HSMV form 82042, the Vehicle Identification Number and Odometer Verification, or the same section of the title application, HSMV form 82040. A notary, a law enforcement officer or a DMV compliance examiner can complete it.

Yes, and plenty of customers plan it that way. Many send the car to a relative, a friend, a workplace or a short-term rental while their own travel catches up. Give us the delivery contact when you book and tell us early if the address changes, so the driver has the right details before dispatch.

Someone does, and it need not be you. Any responsible adult will do: a partner, a relative, a neighbor, a building manager, a coworker. They hand over or receive the keys, walk the car with the driver and sign the condition report. Give us their name and a cell number at booking.

It is the inspection you and the driver both sign at pickup, recording every existing mark on the car, and sign again at delivery. Keep your copy, because that document is what any conversation at the Florida end refers back to. Compare the car against it in daylight before you sign it off.

Note it on the condition report before the driver leaves, photograph it, and call us that day. That written note at the curb is what makes a Carrier Cargo Insurance claim straightforward, and we file it with the carrier for you. It is uncommon, and it resolves far faster when the paperwork happens on the spot.

Yes, and it usually beats two separate bookings. Two vehicles from one Chicago address to one Central Florida address save the driver two stops. That efficiency shows up on the second car. Ask for both when you request the quote and we will price them as a pair.

You get the driver's name and direct number once the carrier is assigned. Drivers will tell you roughly where they are and give you a real delivery window about a day out. Our Kissimmee office also picks it up at the Florida end, so there is someone local to call as the car gets close.

Not with us. Whoever loads it in Illinois unloads it in Florida. No second company partway, no night in a storage yard. Damage in this business clusters at exactly that transfer, so a route without one removes the opportunity rather than insuring against it.

A deposit goes on a card once the carrier is assigned, and the balance is settled with the driver at delivery. That balance is usually cash, a cashier's check or a money order, and your driver confirms which they take when the delivery window is set.

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. What changes a quote is a change in the facts, so tell us early and we re-price it before dispatch rather than after.

Registered business address: 4208 Six Forks Rd Ste 1000, Raleigh, NC 27609. Our four staffed offices are in Lakewood, Washington; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Kissimmee, Florida. Two of those four sit on this lane.

Use the form at the top of this page with both ZIP codes, the year, make and model, and whether the car runs. You will have a real figure in minutes rather than a teaser rate that moves later. You can also call Chicago on 312-300-7773 or Kissimmee on 407-377-6073 and speak to someone at either end of the lane.