Dallas to Tacoma Car Shipping
Dallas to Tacoma Car Shipping
Written by Richard Avery, President of Smart Auto Move · USDOT 2887232 · MC 969368
Most vehicles we move from the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex up to Tacoma, Washington belong to somebody starting a new job or reporting to a new posting. It is a relocation lane, not a vacation one, which shapes when it gets busy and what tends to go wrong. Our Lakewood office sits nine miles from where your car finishes its trip.
Shipping a mid-size vehicle from Dallas, Texas to Tacoma, Washington on an open carrier costs $1,600 to $1,900, with transit of about 5 days after pickup across roughly 2,110 miles. Pricing matches the southbound direction. Enclosed transport, inoperable vehicles and oversized trucks are quoted individually.
- Relocation & PCS lane
- Collection across DFW
- Open & enclosed options
- NAS Fort Worth JRB to JBLM
- BBB A+ accredited
How much does it cost to ship a car from Dallas to Tacoma? $1,600 to $1,900
Moving a mid-size vehicle from Dallas, Texas to Tacoma, Washington on an open carrier runs $1,600 to $1,900, taking around 5 days once it is collected. The figure holds in either direction on this corridor.
Where these numbers come from: the range reflects shipments Smart Auto Move has actually completed between the metroplex and Puget Sound. It is not a national average or a licensed rate index, and we republish it as the market moves.
Moving in spring or fall
Lower endApril to early June, and again from late September, the corridor is quiet in both directions and nothing on the route is weather-limited. This is where the bottom of the range lives.
Moving at peak or mid-winter
Upper endJuly and August carry the relocation crush, and December to February the northern plains can close. Either constraint narrows the pool of trucks willing to commit to a date.
Enclosed or non-running
Exact quoteCovered trailers, vehicles that will not roll, dual-wheel trucks and anything modified are rated on their own — put yours through the calculator.
| Route | Distance | Transit | Open transport |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas, TX → Tacoma, WA | 2,110 mi | 5 days | $1,600–$1,900 |
| Tacoma, WA → Dallas, TX | 2,110 mi | 5 days | $1,600–$1,900 |
Going north: the high plains problem
Every northbound version of this corridor spends two days somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000 feet on open, unsheltered country. That is the part worth understanding before you pick a date, because the risk on this run is wind and drifting snow far more than it is mountain grades.
West to Amarillo, then up the Front Range
The usual line leaves the metroplex on US-287 and I-40 through Amarillo, turns north on I-25 past Raton Pass, Denver and Cheyenne, then west on I-80 and I-84 through Utah and Idaho before dropping into the Columbia River Gorge and joining I-5 at Portland. It is the version most carriers quote.
Straight up I-35, then west
The alternative runs I-35 through Oklahoma City and Wichita, picks up I-70 or I-80 across the plains, and joins the same westbound leg in Wyoming. Slightly flatter, more exposed to crosswinds, and more common in high summer when the mountain routes are congested.
Wyoming is the one to plan around
Both routings cross Wyoming, where I-80 and I-25 close to high-profile vehicles for wind and blowing snow several times each winter — sometimes for a full day, sometimes longer. A loaded car carrier is exactly the profile those closures target. Between December and February, treat the five-day figure as a good week rather than a promise, and give the driver room in your delivery plans. Nobody quoting this lane at a fixed date in January is being straight with you.
When to book Dallas to Tacoma car shipping
Summer is the relocation crush
Families time a move north around the school calendar, so July and August are the tightest weeks on this corridor. Book three weeks ahead if you can. The compensation is that the whole route is open and the transit estimate is at its most reliable.
Late spring is the quiet sweet spot
Late April through early June gives you clear roads across Wyoming, no summer congestion, and carriers still looking for northbound freight. If your dates are yours to choose, choose here.
Winter needs a buffer, not a gamble
December to February the plains crossing can add a day or two without warning. It is entirely shippable — we run it all winter — but build slack into your arrival plans rather than booking a rental car that expires the day the truck was supposed to land.
Arriving before your household goods
Vehicles usually beat a moving truck on this corridor, which catches people out. If nobody will be at the Tacoma address yet, we can hold delivery coordination until you are — just tell us at booking rather than when the driver is an hour out.
Two university calendars, one week
SMU, TCU, UT Dallas and UNT release students as Puget Sound's campuses fill. Late August compresses both ends of this lane into the same handful of days.
Latitude on dates pays for itself
Over 2,110 miles, "any day next week" and "Tuesday" are different products. The first slots you onto a trailer already heading north; the second means finding one leaving the metroplex that morning.
Collecting your vehicle across the metroplex
Dallas–Fort Worth is an easy place to load and a hard place to schedule. The built-up area runs past 9,000 square miles, and a truck working its way out of the region has to sequence collections geographically or it loses half a day doubling back.
Name the suburb when you book
Frisco, Mansfield and Rockwall are three different mornings for a driver leaving the metroplex. Telling us the collection city up front means you get slotted into the run properly instead of appended to the end of it.
Most DFW addresses load at the curb
The suburbs north and west — Plano, Allen, Southlake, Keller, Flower Mound — have the road width and turning room a full-size carrier needs. Loading happens at the address itself far more often here than in older cities.
If you are flying out first
Relocations often mean the car leaves after you do. A neighbour, a property manager, a colleague or a family member can hand it over and sign the condition report. We just need their name and number at booking.
Metroplex cities we collect from
- Dallas
- Fort Worth
- Plano
- Frisco
- McKinney
- Allen
- Arlington
- Irving
- Garland
- Richardson
- Denton
- Carrollton
- Lewisville
- Grapevine
- Southlake
- Mesquite
- Rockwall
- Mansfield
- Grand Prairie
- Flower Mound
- Prosper
- Celina
- Waxahachie
- Keller
The metroplex is covered as a service area on the national line, 888-709-9078. See the southbound page for the same lane in the other direction.
Two things worth doing before a Texas car heads north
Photograph existing hail damage
North Texas sits in one of the most active hail corridors in the country, and a great many DFW vehicles carry small dents on the hood and roof that the owner stopped noticing years ago. Those panels are exactly where a carrier's condition report gets scrutinised at delivery. Photograph the roof and hood in daylight before collection and make sure the driver records what is already there. It takes five minutes and removes the single most common cause of a disputed handover on this lane.
Assume the rubber is older than it looks
Texas sun ages wiper blades and door seals faster than mileage does, and Tacoma will find out within a two weeks of arrival. Tires that felt fine in 100-degree heat also read differently in Puget Sound cool, so check pressures in the first week. None of this affects the shipment — it affects the first rainy Tuesday after it.
Handing the vehicle over in Tacoma
Tacoma delivers cleanly on the I-5 side of the city. If your new address is in the North End, Stadium District, Proctor or Hilltop, we normally meet you at a nearby lot instead — the grades and street widths there suit a smaller vehicle better. Everywhere south and east of downtown is straightforward.
Street-by-street detail lives on our Tacoma car shipping page, and the Lakewood office that coordinates the handover is nine miles from the city center. Meeting a truck at a lot costs nothing extra and is usually quicker than working the truck up those streets.
Registering your vehicle in Washington
If this is a permanent move, budget time for the Department of Licensing before you need the car for anything official. New residents title and register within a set window of arriving, and use tax can apply to a vehicle brought into the state depending on how long you have owned it and what tax you already paid in Texas. There is no emissions test to book — Washington ended that program — which is a pleasant surprise coming from the DFW counties where it still applies.
One local wrinkle: parts of Pierce County fall inside the Sound Transit district, where an additional motor vehicle excise tax applies at registration. Whether your Tacoma address is inside it depends on the address rather than the city, so check before you budget. Confirm all of this with the Washington Department of Licensing, since thresholds and boundaries change.
NAS Fort Worth JRB to JBLM vehicle shipping
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth sits on the west side of the metroplex; Joint Base Lewis-McChord runs along the edge of Lakewood, where our Washington office is. This corridor connects them, and we work it through the year.
Give us the span, not the day
Report dates rarely survive contact with reality, and we would rather build for that from the start. Tell us the earliest and latest your orders allow and the car generally leaves Texas sooner and for less. If things change afterwards, call Lakewood on 253-200-5645 and we move the booking without moving the price.
Shipping ahead of your housing
Arriving at JBLM without a confirmed address is normal. Delivery can go to a sponsor, a spouse or a reachable spot near the base, and it can be changed while the vehicle is still on the road. Whoever meets the truck simply needs the authority to sign for it.
Open, enclosed and expedited Dallas to Tacoma transport
Open transport
The default, and what every figure on this page describes. Five days of plains dust and mountain spray, none of which survives a car wash.
Enclosed transport
Sealed against grit, road salt and whatever Wyoming is doing that week — the sensible call for a restored, collector or freshly painted car making this crossing. Rated on its own — ask for a figure.
Expedited pickup
Buys a tighter collection date out of the metroplex when a slot exists. It has no effect on the drive itself: hours-of-service rules are federal and the road is still five days long.
Support near your delivery
Smart Auto Move Inc — Lakewood, Washington
Address: 5607 Boston Ave SW, Lakewood, WA 98499
Local: 253-200-5645
National: 888-709-9078
Rating: ★★★★★ 4.5 out of 5 across 31 Google reviews — part of more than 120 Google reviews of our offices, averaging 4.7
| Monday – Thursday | 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM |
| Friday | 6:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Saturday | 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM |
| Sunday | Closed |
Which end has the office matters
On this lane the staffed office is at the delivery end, which is the more useful of the two. Collection in Texas runs on the national line; arrival in Tacoma is handled by people fifteen minutes away who know which streets a carrier can turn into. If a delivery needs rearranging at short notice, that is where it gets handled.
Your car never sits anywhere
It goes from your address straight onto the carrier and stays covered under Carrier Cargo Insurance for the entire trip. Our offices are where dispatchers book your transport and keep you posted, not somewhere your vehicle waits around.
Where our offices are
Lakewood, WA — 5607 Boston Ave SW · 253-200-5645
Los Angeles, CA — 5111 Harold Way Ste 301 · 213-766-0064
Chicago, IL — 742 E 87th Pl · 312-300-7773
Kissimmee, FL — 2095 E Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy · 407-377-6073
Corporate headquarters: 4208 Six Forks Rd Ste 1000, Raleigh, NC 27609.
How Dallas to Tacoma car shipping works, step by step
1. Ask for a figure
Give us the DFW collection city and ZIP, the Tacoma delivery ZIP, the vehicle, and the earliest date it can go.
2. Agree the booking
Look over the routing, trailer type, dates and access notes at both ends against the quoted figure. Nothing is committed until you say so.
3. Collection in Texas
The carrier records the vehicle's condition on a Bill of Lading — this is where your hail photographs earn their keep — and loads it.
4. The drive north
Roughly five days up the Front Range and west through Wyoming and Idaho, governed by hours-of-service rules, weather and pass conditions.
5. Arrival call
Your driver phones ahead as the truck nears Puget Sound to agree a spot where the car can legally come off the trailer.
6. Check it over
Walk the car against the Texas condition report in decent light and note anything new before you sign for it.
What customers on this lane say
Dallas to Tacoma car shipping FAQs
How much does it cost to ship a car from Dallas to Tacoma?
Shipping a mid-size vehicle from Dallas, Texas to Tacoma, Washington on an open carrier costs $1,600 to $1,900 as of August 2026, from shipments Smart Auto Move has completed on this corridor. Spring and fall moves sit toward the lower end; the summer relocation peak and mid-winter sit toward the upper end. Enclosed transport, non-running vehicles and oversized trucks are quoted individually.
How long does it take to ship a car from Dallas to Tacoma?
Around 5 days on the road once the vehicle is collected, covering roughly 2,110 miles from Dallas, Texas to Tacoma, Washington. Collection itself lands inside whatever availability window you gave us, so count on the whole thing taking a few days longer than the driving figure alone.
What route do carriers take from Dallas to Tacoma?
The common line leaves the metroplex on US-287 and I-40 through Amarillo, turns north on I-25 past Raton Pass, Denver and Cheyenne, then runs west on I-80 and I-84 through Utah and Idaho before entering the Columbia River Gorge and joining I-5 at Portland. The alternative goes straight up I-35 through Oklahoma City and Wichita and crosses the plains on I-70 or I-80. Both are about 2,110 miles and five days of legal driving.
Can winter weather delay a Dallas to Tacoma shipment?
Yes, and Wyoming is the reason. Both routings from Dallas, Texas to Tacoma, Washington cross it, and I-80 and I-25 close to high-profile vehicles for wind and blowing snow several times each winter — a loaded car carrier is precisely the profile those closures target. Between December and February, treat five days as a good week rather than a guarantee and leave slack in your arrival plans.
My car has hail damage. Will that be a problem?
Not for the shipment, but it is worth documenting before it leaves. North Texas is one of the most hail-prone regions in the country and many DFW vehicles carry small hood and roof dents the owner no longer notices — which is exactly where the condition report gets examined on arrival in Tacoma. Photograph the roof and hood in daylight before collection and make sure the driver logs the existing damage on the Bill of Lading. It is the most common cause of a disputed handover on this lane and the easiest to avoid.
Which DFW suburbs do you collect from?
All of them, including Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Arlington, Irving, Garland, Richardson, Denton, Carrollton, Lewisville, Grapevine, Southlake, Mesquite, Rockwall, Mansfield and Flower Mound. Name the collection city when you request the quote rather than just saying Dallas — the built-up area passes 9,000 square miles, and Frisco, Mansfield and Rockwall are three different mornings for a driver working his way out of the region.
Does shipping a car from Tacoma to Dallas cost the same?
Yes. Southbound from Tacoma, Washington to Dallas, Texas matches this direction at $1,600 to $1,900 for a mid-size vehicle on an open carrier, over about 5 days. The Tacoma to Dallas car shipping page covers that direction, including how the route changes when it runs the other way.
Can a transport truck reach my address in Tacoma?
South and east of downtown, almost certainly. In the North End, Stadium District, Proctor and Hilltop, the grades and street widths suit a smaller vehicle better, so we meet you at a nearby lot instead. There is no extra charge, and it is usually quicker than working the truck up those streets.
Do I need to register my car in Washington after shipping it from Dallas?
Only if you are moving permanently. New Washington residents title and register with the Department of Licensing within a set window of arriving, and use tax can apply to a vehicle brought in, depending on how long you have owned it and what you paid in Texas. There is no emissions test, since Washington ended that program — a change from the DFW counties where it still applies. Parts of Pierce County also sit inside the Sound Transit district, where an extra motor vehicle excise tax applies at registration, and that depends on your specific address. Confirm the current position with the Department of Licensing.
My car will arrive before I do. Can you hold delivery?
Yes, and it comes up often on the Dallas to Tacoma lane, because vehicles usually outrun a household moving truck on this corridor. Tell us at booking rather than when the driver is an hour out, and we coordinate delivery around your arrival. Alternatively, anyone over 18 you nominate can receive the vehicle and sign the condition report on your behalf.
Do you ship vehicles for military families from NAS Fort Worth JRB to JBLM?
Yes. Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth is on the western edge of the metroplex and Joint Base Lewis-McChord borders Lakewood, Washington, where Smart Auto Move's office is. The Dallas to Tacoma corridor connects them and we run it year-round. A confirmed JBLM address is not needed at booking, since the delivery point can be changed while the vehicle is still on the road.
Will Smart Auto Move call or text me after I request a quote?
No. Requesting a Dallas to Tacoma car shipping quote from Smart Auto Move does not put you on a call or text list. Information you provide for a quote is used only by Smart Auto Move to respond to you directly, and it is never sold to third parties for marketing.
Other Tacoma car shipping routes
- Tacoma → Dallas
- Tacoma → Houston
- Tacoma → Denver
- Tacoma → Phoenix
- Phoenix → Tacoma
- Tacoma → New York
- Tacoma → Portland
- Tacoma → Sacramento
- Tacoma → Boise
- Tacoma → Las Vegas
Tacoma Car Shipping
Every Tacoma route priced in a single table, with delivery access notes by neighborhood.
View Tacoma PageLakewood Car Shipping
The office that coordinates your arrival, fifteen minutes from downtown Tacoma.
View Lakewood PageAlso useful: the Washington car shipping page, the car shipping cost guide, and how the Smart Price Promise works.
Written by Richard Avery
President, Smart Auto Move Inc
Richard Avery has worked in auto transport since 2012 and writes about vehicle shipping routes, pricing factors, carrier coordination and practical transport planning. The Dallas to Tacoma pricing on this page comes from shipments Smart Auto Move has completed on the corridor, and is revised as the market moves.
August 19, 2026
Ready to ship a car from Dallas to Tacoma?
We need the metroplex city it leaves from, the Tacoma address it lands at, and the earliest date it can go. Or call Lakewood and speak to the office that will handle its arrival.