$1,100 to $1,350 for an operable mid-size vehicle on an open trailer, over about 1,450 miles in three to five days on the road. San Diego back to Houston runs the same. Your collection window comes before those road days and is separate.

Two published Texas to Southern California lanes that agree with each other, plus the loads behind our Houston to Los Angeles run. We show both of those lanes in the table on this page so you can see the working rather than take our word for it.

Because of the road, not the map. Interstate 10 runs west to the Los Angeles basin at about 1,566 miles. Turn onto Interstate 8 near Casa Grande and you cut the corner straight down to San Diego in roughly 1,450. San Diego is the nearer of the two by a little over a hundred miles, which catches most people out.

A little, and less than the mileage suggests. Most of what you pay for happens at the two ends: reaching your address, the condition report, loading, the paperwork and two handovers. Those cost the same whatever the distance. Only the driving scales, so a hundred fewer miles is worth tens of dollars rather than hundreds.

If your Southern California address has any give in it, ask us to price both before you decide. They are close enough in distance and price that the answer usually comes down to where you actually want the car, which is how it should be.

Three to five days once the car is on the trailer. Federal rules cap the hours a driver may spend at the wheel and he has other vehicles to drop along the way, and between them those two things set the pace rather than the speed limit.

Six days as standard, or three if you choose expedited. That is your collection window and it sits ahead of the road days rather than inside them. Houston is a busy freight city, so a car here often gets placed at the early end of that spread.

Interstate 10 west out of Houston through San Antonio, El Paso, Tucson and Phoenix, then Interstate 8 down through Yuma and across to San Diego. It is desert interstate almost the whole way, with no mountain passes that close and no seasonal problems.

Not for your car, and the drivers plan around it. The stretch through west Texas and Arizona runs very hot from June to September, so carriers start early and take their breaks in the afternoon. It is a scheduling habit rather than a risk, and it does not add days.

All of them. Downtown, the Heights, Montrose, River Oaks, Memorial, Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, The Woodlands, Spring, Cypress, Clear Lake and Pasadena. Houston is one of our service areas, so this is a market we work in rather than one we reach into.

Almost always. Houston is built for trucks, with wide roads, deep driveways and room at the curb in most neighborhoods. The exceptions are the tighter streets inside the Loop, where the driver will suggest a wider spot a short walk away, agreed when you book at no charge.

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 up in Los Angeles, so the Southern California end of this route is somewhere we have people.

A few need a meeting point, which is routine. La Jolla's coastal streets, parts of Point Loma and the older blocks downtown combine narrow roads with steep grades and parked cars. The driver will propose a flatter, wider spot a few minutes away and it costs nothing extra.

Yes. The bridge takes commercial traffic, so a carrier can cross, though on a busy weekend the driver may suggest handing over on the mainland side instead. Say at booking that Coronado is your address and it will be planned rather than improvised.

Yes, and it is regular work on this lane. Send us the date on your orders with the booking and we will build the schedule around it. The handover happens at an accessible spot off base, since access rules belong to the base, and it is arranged when you book at no extra charge.

That is the normal way round on a move this length and it is easily handled. Name whoever will actually be there on the order, with a cell number. Any responsible adult can take delivery and sign the condition report, so a friend, a relative or a neighbor all work.

For all but a handful of cars crossing to California, yes. Think of the uncovered double-decker trailer that arrives at a dealership loaded with new stock. That is what yours travels on, sharing the deck with eight or nine others. Those trailers are the most numerous on the road, which is why waiting times are short.

Collector vehicles, anything with a valuable finish, low bodywork or unusual value. Expect roughly 80 percent above the open price. Crossing the desert the argument is stone chips rather than rain. Have us price it alongside open and compare the two.

It tightens the collection window from six days to three, which is the part you can move. The drive itself is unchanged, since a driver's hours are capped by federal rule. On a three to five day run that window is a real share of your timeline, so it is worth more here than on a coast to coast move.

Book early and stay loose on the collection date. Drivers with one slot left take whichever vehicle is convenient rather than detouring for a better-paid one, and every extra day in your window is another chance to be that convenient vehicle.

Summer is heaviest, with relocations and university moves stacking into the same months. Texas to California runs steadily all year otherwise, and midwinter is usually the easiest stretch to schedule. The route itself is open year round.

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 Houston 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.

You can, and it is quick. The FMCSA runs a free public database called SAFER. Feed it a USDOT number and it reports whether that company is authorized to operate and what insurance it has filed. Ours is USDOT 2887232, MC 969368.

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

Usually yes, kept sensible. A hundred pounds or so is the guide, stowed in the trunk and out of the driver's sightlines. Insurance attaches to the car itself and not to its contents, so anything you would hate to lose travels with you. Pull the toll tag off the glass while you are at it.

Run it through a wash, because dirt hides marks the condition report ought to record. Empty it. Leave a quarter of a tank. Disable the alarm. Then take a picture from each corner while the light is good. That small effort pays off at the San Diego end.

We can still move it, on a trailer carrying winch gear with a driver trained to use it. Budget $200 upward on top of the figures on this page. We will ask three things when quoting, so have the answers: will it roll, will it steer, will it brake.

Somewhat, yes, and Texas sends a great many of both to California. Length and weight are what a trailer is limited by, so anything larger than a mid-size sedan sits higher. Tell us year, make, model and any lift kit or oversized tires and you get a real figure.

Very common on this lane with families relocating west. Sending both on the same trailer to one address saves the driver a stop, and that saving shows up on the second vehicle. Quote them as a pair and you will see the difference.

Yes, and we see plenty heading to Southern California. 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, it is simply how we run this lane, and it is already in the figures above. Where a street will not take a 75-foot rig safely, the driver arranges a spot close by, and that is included too.

Not from our end. 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. We call it the Smart Price Promise. Standing behind it is exactly why the table above shows the two lanes our figure rests on.