Connecticut Auto Transport Rates and Quotes

Shipping a car to or from Connecticut? What it costs depends on the route, the vehicle and whether it runs. We ran real quotes from our platform for twenty Connecticut lanes, from a 47-mile hop from New London to New Haven to a 2,896-mile haul from Los Angeles to Hartford, and an open-trailer sedan ranged from $132 to $1,715. Here’s what it costs by vehicle type, why leaving Connecticut cost more than arriving on 6 of the 9 corridors we quoted both ways, what Connecticut expects once your car arrives, and what shapes shipping in the state, from the I-95 corridor to winter and the low bridges of the Merritt Parkway. We also show eight real jobs from signed bills of lading, with photos.

What it costs to ship a car to or from Connecticut

Every figure below is a real quote from our platform for one vehicle on an open trailer, running, priced separately for each vehicle type on October 13, 2026. Hartford stands in for the center of the state, with Stamford for Fairfield County, New Haven for the shore and New London for the southeast corner, and each lane is labeled by its actual cities:

We did not quote coupes separately; in our earlier state guides a coupe was always priced the same as a sedan, so read a coupe off the sedan column. The platform rates its confidence in each price, and a few are less certain than the rest, such as the Miami to Hartford pickup (71 percent) and the Hartford to Los Angeles van (72 percent). Bigger is not always more expensive on short lanes: an SUV priced below the sedan on 7 of the 20 lanes, for example $199 for an SUV against $208 for a sedan from Stamford to Hartford and $1,079 against $1,131 from Hartford to Miami, so check the SUV price on your own route rather than assuming it is higher. Treat these as a guide, and get a live quote for your exact pickup and delivery points.

How the price per mile changes with distance

Distance is the biggest driver, but the price per mile falls fast as the trip gets longer. For a sedan it ran $1.64–$2.81 per mile under 350 miles and $0.53–$0.87 per mile at 1,100 miles or more. A short run costs more per mile because the driver still has to load, unload and reposition the truck whether the trip is 50 miles or 500. New London to New Haven is 47 miles and cost $132, or $2.81 a mile, while Hartford to Los Angeles is 62 times as far but a sedan cost only 13.0 times as much ($1,715 vs. $132).

Pickups and vans cost more than sedans

Size matters, and the gap grows with distance. On the lanes of 1,100 miles or more a pickup cost about 1.1 to 2.0 times a sedan, and the widest gap was Hartford to Denver, where a pickup was $2,634 against $1,295 for a sedan. On Hartford to Dallas a van was $1,739 against $1,311 for a sedan. On the short lanes under 350 miles the gap was small, and a sedan, SUV and pickup were within a few dollars of each other on Stamford to Hartford ($208, $199 and $206).

Popular Connecticut car shipping routes

Connecticut’s biggest corridors run south to Florida, along the Northeast corridor to New York, Boston and the mid-Atlantic, and across the country to California, Texas and Colorado, with what we quoted for a running sedan on an open trailer. Typical transit is the usual open-trailer range for the distance, not a guarantee, and the clock starts when the driver picks up the car.

Connecticut to Florida and Florida to Connecticut

Florida is the most-searched route in our Connecticut keyword research, with searches for Connecticut to Florida car shipping and Florida to Connecticut car shipping adding up to more than any other state. Hartford to Miami is 1,402 miles and a sedan was $1,131 going to Florida against $823 coming back to Connecticut, so leaving cost 37% more. New Haven to Orlando is 1,162 miles and was $1,010 out and $887 back. A pickup on the Miami lane was $1,536 out and $924 back. Allow about 3 to 6 days.

Connecticut to New York, Boston and the mid-Atlantic

New York to Hartford is 117 miles and a sedan was $292, against $310 coming back out of Connecticut. Boston to Hartford is 101 miles and cost $240, and Hartford to Boston was $192. Allow about 1 to 2 days for either. Farther down the coast, Hartford to Baltimore is 307 miles and a sedan was $503 going out and $685 coming into Connecticut, and Hartford to Wilmington, Delaware is 241 miles at $418 out and $480 back.

Connecticut to California and California to Connecticut

Los Angeles to Hartford is 2,896 miles and a sedan was $1,541, against $1,715 for Hartford to Los Angeles, a difference of $174. A van from Hartford to Los Angeles was $3,440. Allow about 7 to 10 days coast to coast.

Connecticut to Texas and Colorado

Dallas to Hartford is 1,689 miles and a sedan was $1,032, against $1,311 for Hartford to Dallas. Denver to Hartford is 1,881 miles and was $1,155, against $1,295 for Hartford to Denver, where a pickup was $2,634 going out and $2,342 coming in. Allow about 4 to 7 days.

Within Connecticut

New London to New Haven is 47 miles and a sedan was $132, and Stamford to Hartford is 77 miles and was $208. In-state trips usually finish in 1 to 2 days, and they are common for dealer transfers, auction pickups and students and sailors moving between the shore, the capital and Fairfield County. For a lane we did not quote, such as Bridgeport, Waterbury, Danbury or Norwich, use the price explorer above to see the nearest real lanes, or get a live quote.

Real Connecticut jobs: how long they took

These are eight recent jobs that started in Connecticut, taken from the signed bills of lading and, for seven of them, the pickup and delivery photos the drivers filed. Five started at a dealership or wholesale lot, and the other three were owners shipping their own car to Florida, to Naples twice and Boca Raton once, with the same person named at pickup and delivery. That fits the snowbird pattern described below. Customer names, street addresses, VINs, plates, signs and carrier details are left out, and the photos are blurred where needed. Dates are the pickup and delivery dates on each bill of lading. Miles are approximate road distances between the cities, estimated by us because a bill of lading does not record them. It does not record the price either, so the prices on this page are our quotes above, not what these customers paid. A heavy-duty F-550 service truck is not a standard car type, so it needs a live quote rather than a table price.

Delivered

Three of the eight arrived within a day

• Same day and 1 day: Meriden to Massachusetts (130 miles), West Simsbury to New Jersey (190) and Plainville to Pennsylvania (250).
• 2 days: the Corvette to Hilton Head Island (850 miles).
• 3 and 4 days: the Jeep and the Challenger to Naples (about 1,400 miles each) took 3 and the Altima to Boca Raton took 4.
• 5 days: the Mercedes to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington (about 2,950 miles).

Examples, not promises: your timing depends on the lane, the carrier and your dates.

See the photos below ↓

Photos are from the drivers’ inspections at pickup and delivery. License plates, signs and bystanders are blurred or out of frame. The Jeep’s delivery photos on its bill of lading show another vehicle, so it appears in the table only.

Inoperable and enclosed vehicles: what they add

The quotes above are for running vehicles on open trailers, the most common and least expensive way to ship a car. Two options change the price, and on our platform they are priced as adjustments to the open quote:

• Inoperable (a car that does not run): adds about $100, because the driver needs a winch and extra time to load it.
• Enclosed transport: adds about 75% over the open price, because enclosed trailers carry fewer cars and fewer of them run on any given route.

Here is the 1,689-mile Hartford to Dallas lane with each option applied:

The inoperable and enclosed columns are calculated from the open quote, not separately quoted, so use them as a planning guide. Enclosed makes sense for luxury, classic and high-value cars, and for winter moves when you want the car out of road salt and slush; for most daily drivers, open transport is the standard. A salvage or auction vehicle that does not run is the usual inoperable case.

Does direction change the price?

In Connecticut it did, and the answer depended on how far the trip was. We quoted nine corridors in both directions:

On all five long corridors of 1,100 miles or more, a sedan leaving Connecticut cost more than the same trip arriving: Hartford to Miami was 37% higher than Miami to Hartford ($1,131 vs. $823), Hartford to Dallas 27% higher ($1,311 vs. $1,032), Hartford to Denver 12% higher ($1,295 vs. $1,155), New Haven to Orlando 14% higher ($1,010 vs. $887) and Hartford to Los Angeles 11% higher ($1,715 vs. $1,541).

The short Northeast hops went the other way. Baltimore to Hartford was 36% higher than Hartford to Baltimore ($685 vs. $503), Boston to Hartford 25% higher than the trip back ($240 vs. $192) and Wilmington to Hartford 15% higher ($480 vs. $418). New York was close, with the trip out 6% higher ($310 vs. $292). The price follows how many cars are moving each way on that lane, so if you can ship in either direction, or can drive one way and ship the other, check both.

Did you know?From 20 real Connecticut lanes, 4 vehicle types and 8 real jobs

1. 5× the cost per mile

   A 47-mile trip cost five times more per mile than a cross-country one

   New London to New Haven (47 miles) cost $132 for a sedan, or $2.81 a mile. Los Angeles to Hartford (2,896 miles) cost $1,541, or $0.53 a mile. The driver’s time to load, unload and reposition is spread over fewer miles on a short trip.

2. 5 of 5 long corridors

   Leaving Connecticut cost more than arriving on all five long corridors

   On every corridor of 1,100 miles or more a sedan cost more leaving Connecticut: Hartford to Dallas was $1,311 against $1,032 coming back, Hartford to Denver $1,295 against $1,155 and Hartford to Los Angeles $1,715 against $1,541.

3. $308 more going to Miami

   Hartford to Miami cost $308 more than Miami to Hartford

   The same 1,402-mile route, but $1,131 for a sedan going south and $823 coming back. That works out to $0.81 a mile to Florida and $0.59 a mile back.

4. 3 of 8 within a day

   Three of eight recent Connecticut jobs arrived within a day

   From signed bills of lading: a Ford Ranger went about 130 miles from Meriden to Massachusetts the same day, a Toyota Tacoma about 190 miles to New Jersey in one day and a Ford F-550 about 250 miles to Pennsylvania in one day. The Florida jobs took 3 to 4 days and the longest, a Mercedes to Washington state, took 5.

5. 36% more into Hartford

   Baltimore to Hartford cost 36% more than Hartford to Baltimore

   A sedan from Baltimore to Hartford was $685 and from Hartford to Baltimore $503. Short Northeast hops reverse the long-haul pattern: Boston to Hartford ran 25% above the trip out and Wilmington to Hartford 15% above.

Get a Connecticut auto quote →

Snowbirds, sailors, students and when to ship

A few patterns recur in Connecticut car shipping. These are general industry experience and Connecticut’s own calendar, not our October quote data, so compare a live quote for your date:

• Snowbirds. Many Connecticut owners spend the winter in Florida, so cars head south in the fall and come back north in the spring. Florida was the biggest route in our keyword research, and that may be one reason leaving Connecticut cost more than arriving on every long corridor we quoted.
• Military moves. Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London generate permanent change of station moves. Those follow the military’s own summer peak, so summer pickups in the New London area are busier. Ask your carrier how gate access will work, and consider meeting the driver outside the base.
• Students. August move-in and May move-out are busy at Yale in New Haven, UConn in Storrs, Wesleyan in Middletown, Trinity in Hartford and the other Connecticut campuses, and many students ship a car to or from out of state.
• Winter weather. Snow and ice can delay carriers from December through March, and nor’easters can slow or close highways for hours. Keep your pickup window flexible for winter moves.

A flexible pickup window of a few days usually gets a faster carrier match, and booking a few days ahead matters more around the summer military moves and the August student moves.

Distance, transit time and the main corridors

Connecticut is small, but its highways are busy, and a car carrier has fewer choices than it might expect:

• I-95 runs along the shore from the New York line through Stamford, Bridgeport, New Haven and New London to Rhode Island, and is the main route for New York, Boston and the Southeast. It is also one of the most congested, so pickups in Fairfield County are best timed away from rush hour.
• I-84 crosses the state from Danbury through Waterbury and Hartford to Massachusetts, and I-91 runs north from New Haven through Hartford to Springfield. Hartford to Boston and Hartford to New York were both about 100 to 117 miles on our lanes.
• I-395 links New London and Norwich to Massachusetts.
• The Merritt Parkway (Route 15) through Fairfield County prohibits trucks, trailers and commercial vehicles because of its low bridges, and state signs at the entrances say so, so a car carrier will use I-95 instead. If your pickup is on a street the driver can reach only from the Merritt, tell your carrier, because a truck that follows a car-only GPS route can get stuck under a bridge.

Typical open-trailer transit is about 1 to 2 days for trips under 350 miles, 3 to 6 days for 1,100 to 1,900 miles and 7 to 10 days coast to coast. Those are industry-typical ranges rather than guarantees, and the clock starts when a driver picks the car up, not when you book. Our recent Connecticut jobs (see the real jobs section) took from the same day for about 130 miles to 4 days for about 1,330 miles to Boca Raton and 5 days for about 2,950 miles to Washington state. A flexible pickup window of a few days usually gets a faster carrier match.

Moving to Connecticut: registration, emissions, insurance and taxes

If you are moving to Connecticut, the car arrives before the paperwork starts. These are the rules the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles publishes for vehicles brought in from another state:

1. Register within 90 days. The DMV gives new residents 90 days to register an out-of-state vehicle in Connecticut (older guides still say 60). The service is by appointment at a DMV office, and you transfer your license at the same visit.
2. Bring the title and the application. You need the original out-of-state title, proof of identification, proof of Connecticut insurance and the Application for Registration and Title (form H-13B). If the car is leased or financed, the lienholder holds the title, so ask early.
3. Pass an emissions test or get a VIN verification. Connecticut tests most gasoline vehicles for emissions, and vehicles that are newer than about four model years are exempt, as are very old vehicles, some heavy vehicles and fully electric cars. Exempt vehicles get a VIN verification instead, so the car needs to be with you for the visit.
4. Carry Connecticut insurance. Connecticut requires liability of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for injury and $25,000 for property damage, and it also requires uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage at the same limits.
5. Check the sales tax and property tax. A new resident who had the car registered in their own name in another state for at least 30 days before moving generally owes no Connecticut sales tax, and claims that on form H-13B. The car is then taxed as local property by your town, with the main bill due July 1 for vehicles on the October 1 grand list and a supplemental bill for cars registered later.

Rules and fees change, and Connecticut’s state sites do not always load for automated checks, so confirm each item with the DMV before you go:

Connecticut DMV: register an out-of-state vehicle →   Connecticut emissions testing program →   Sales tax on registrations →

Sailors, students, commuters and the I-95 corridor

Several things make Connecticut a steady car-shipping market, even though the state is small:

• The Navy and Coast Guard. Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton and the Coast Guard Academy in New London bring a steady flow of moves in and out of the southeast corner of the state.
• Universities. Yale, UConn, Wesleyan, Trinity, Fairfield, Quinnipiac and the other Connecticut campuses draw students from across the country.
• New York commuters and relocations. Stamford, Greenwich and the rest of Fairfield County are part of the New York area, and many moves between New York and Connecticut involve a second car. New York to Hartford was only 117 miles on our lanes.
• Winters in Florida. Owners who split the year between Connecticut and Florida often ship one car each way instead of driving.

Dealerships and auctions in Connecticut

Dealers and auction yards are some of the most common pickup and delivery points for car carriers, and they are commercial addresses where a full-size trailer can usually reach. There is no single official ranking of Connecticut’s dealerships, so these are examples drawn from the companies’ own sites and published directories rather than a top-ten list.

Auction yards

• Copart Hartford — in New Britain, at the center of the state.
• Copart Hartford Springfield — in East Granby, north of Hartford near the Massachusetts line.

Copart sells salvage and damaged vehicles that often do not run, so price those as inoperable. Each yard has its own release and gate-pass rules, so confirm them before the driver arrives, and auction schedules and locations change, so check Copart’s location finder. Dealers shipping cars to out-of-state buyers, and buyers having a car delivered to their Connecticut home, are both common, and the same open, enclosed and inoperable pricing above applies.

How to choose a car shipping company in Connecticut

Searches for the best car shipping companies in Connecticut find long lists of names, but there is no official ranking, and the right company is the one that is licensed, insured and clear about price. Check these before you book with anyone:

• Look up the company’s federal registration. Every interstate auto transporter or broker needs a USDOT number and operating authority. You can check them on the FMCSA company snapshot and the FMCSA licensing and insurance search.
• Know whether you are dealing with a broker or a carrier. A carrier owns the trucks. A broker or marketplace like Transportli matches your car with a vetted carrier on your lane and shows you the price up front.
• Ask what the quote includes. Our quotes are for one vehicle on an open trailer, and inoperable and enclosed are priced as adjustments, as shown above. Be wary of a price far below the others, because it may not find a driver.
• Understand the pickup window. Carriers give a window, not an exact time, and a flexible window of a few days usually gets a faster match.
• Inspect and document at both ends. The bill of lading is your condition report. Take dated photos, note any damage before you sign, and keep your copy.

Nor’easters, road salt and transit reliability

Connecticut’s weather is the most common cause of delay. Snow, ice and nor’easters between December and March can slow I-95, I-84 and I-91, and carriers may hold cars until roads are plowed. Coastal storms can flood shoreline streets and low underpasses. If you ship in winter, leave extra time and keep your pickup window flexible.

Weather matters for the car as well. Road salt and brine from Connecticut winters are hard on paint and underbodies, so keep the car in a garage or covered spot until the driver arrives, and ask about enclosed transport for a high-value car or a classic.

Preparing your car for pickup

Wash the car so existing damage is easy to see, take dated photos from every side, remove personal items and toll tags, leave about a quarter tank of fuel and note anything that does not work. Our auto transport guide has the full checklist, including what to inspect at delivery before you sign.

Connecticut auto transport: frequently asked questions

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