Car shipping in Orlando

Most Florida cities on our list live and die by snowbird season. Orlando doesn't. Its car traffic comes from people moving for work, families relocating between school years, students starting at UCF, and owners of vacation homes around Kissimmee and Davenport. The result is steady demand in every month, with bumps in summer and around the holidays rather than one big winter wave.

Geography helps too. Orlando sits in the middle of the state where I-4, Florida's Turnpike and the regional toll roads meet, so trucks bound for Tampa, the Atlantic coast or South Florida often pass through. A car going to or from Orlando can ride with loads headed almost anywhere in Florida.

Our coverage spans the four-county metro, and what the truck runs into varies a lot from one side of town to the other:

From the Midwest, Chicago to Florida trucks come down I-65 and I-75 and pick up the Turnpike into Central Florida (the Chicago end has its own page). From the Northeast, New York to Florida loads follow I-95 to Daytona Beach, then I-4 inland. Texas to Florida brings a lot of relocation traffic along I-10, and California to Florida is the long cross-country haul for families leaving Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

Because so many Orlando moves are whole households, multi-car shipping comes up often here. Two or three cars can sometimes travel on one truck, or be split across carriers when that's quicker. For a single daily driver, open car transport is the standard and plenty for most cars.

Orlando deliveries rarely fail on access. They slip on traffic and weather. Plan for these:

• I-4 sets the pace. The interstate through downtown is congested for much of the day, and drivers try to cross it outside rush hours. A delivery window of a few hours, rather than an exact time, is normal here.
• Stay off the tourist strips. International Drive and US-192 in Kissimmee are slow with visitor traffic and full of turn lanes. A driver won't unload there; we'll pick a quieter street or lot nearby.
• Gated enclaves need a heads-up. Windermere's lakefront communities, Bay Hill and the resort-style vacation-home communities toward Davenport each have their own gate procedures. Call ahead and ask whether a car carrier is allowed in.
• Narrow planned streets. Celebration and Baldwin Park were designed for cars, not 75-foot rigs. Rear-alley garages and tight corners usually mean meeting on a main road.
• Summer lightning. Central Florida's afternoon storms come with frequent lightning, and drivers stop loading or unloading when it's close. Morning windows hold up better from June through September.

Summer is the busiest stretch for household moves, since families aim to be settled before school starts in August. That's when a lot of cars ship in from Texas, California, the Midwest and the Northeast. University of Central Florida move-in follows in mid-to-late August, and our college student car shipping page covers timing a car around it. The holidays bring a second smaller bump.

Snowbird traffic is lighter than on the coasts but real. Some winter residents base themselves in the lakes country around Clermont, or at vacation homes they rent out the rest of the year. Two to four weeks of notice is usually enough for Orlando outside of summer. In June and July, aim for the longer end. Tropical storms are the other summer variable: a hurricane crossing the peninsula can pause deliveries for a day or two, even this far inland.

Most relocating families land at MCO and stay a night or two before the car arrives. If you're flying an ultra-low-cost carrier, check Sanford as well. Either way, give the driver a morning window and a phone number that will actually be answered: