Car shipping in Scottsdale

Scottsdale has an unusually high share of cars that shouldn't ride uncovered: collector cars, exotics, freshly restored classics, and cars on their way to or from auction. It also has some of the most carefully guarded residential communities in Arizona. Put those together and a Scottsdale shipment often takes more planning than the mileage suggests. You may need an enclosed truck, sometimes with a liftgate, and an agreed gate pass or meeting point.

The rest of the market looks like the rest of the metro: winter residents arriving in fall, relocations, and everyday cars on open carriers. If you're in the wider Valley, our Phoenix car shipping page covers the bigger picture.

We arrange service across Scottsdale and the towns around it. Where you live changes how the truck reaches you more here than in most of the Valley:

Most of Scottsdale's fall arrivals are seasonal residents from the Midwest. Chicago's North Shore and suburbs feed Chicago to Arizona, along with Minnesota and Wisconsin households heading for North Scottsdale golf communities. Californians are the other big group, many moving here for good, on California to Arizona, which is short enough that a car can be picked up in Orange County and delivered in Scottsdale within a few days. Some owners split the season between Scottsdale and the desert resorts around Palm Springs, and a car going between the two homes is a straightforward I-10 trip. A smaller number of winter residents come from Canada on Toronto to Arizona.

Then there are the collector cars. In January they arrive from all over the country for the auctions and leave for wherever their new owners live. Those moves are almost always enclosed, and they're covered on our classic and luxury car transport page.

An enclosed car carrier is a long, heavy, tall vehicle, and North Scottsdale wasn't designed with it in mind. These are the details we sort out before dispatch:

• Know your community's truck rules. Guard-gated communities such as DC Ranch, Silverleaf and Desert Mountain each set their own policy. Some admit a carrier with a pass for a set window, some send trucks to a service entrance, and some keep tractor-trailers outside. Rules change, so check with your HOA and tell us what they say.
• Low cars need a liftgate or long ramps. Tell us the ground clearance and any front splitter, side skirts or aftermarket exhaust. We'll match the car with an enclosed carrier that has a hydraulic liftgate, so it never scrapes on a ramp.
• Desert driveways stop trucks. Crushed-granite drives, steep grades and tight boulder-lined turns are common in Troon, Pinnacle Peak and Desert Mountain. The car comes off on the nearest paved road, and you drive it the rest of the way.
• Old Town has its own traffic. Valet stands, event closures and narrow streets mean the driver usually meets you on a wider road just outside the core.
• Condo garages have height limits. At Kierland and in Old Town, the car is unloaded at the curb and you drive it into the garage.

Scottsdale's January collector-car auctions, led by Barrett-Jackson at WestWorld, bring a wave of enclosed carriers into town over a few weeks. Trucks start arriving the week before to deliver consignments, and an outbound wave follows the final sale. If your car is going to or coming from an auction, book enclosed transport well ahead. It's one of the busiest enclosed windows of the year in the Southwest. Each auction publishes its own receiving hours and check-in paperwork, and we schedule delivery inside them.

After that, February brings the PGA Tour crowds at TPC Scottsdale and the start of spring training, and the city stays full until April. Winter residents ship cars in from October to December and back out in April, so book the spring return early. Summer is quiet and hot. Morning deliveries are the norm from June to September, and an enclosed trailer keeps a dark-colored car out of the sun on the way in.

Airline passengers land at Sky Harbor, and private flyers use Scottsdale's own airport in the Airpark. If your car is arriving after you, either works fine with a rental or car service for a day or two: