Ship a car from Chicago to Florida

Chicagoland has a long tradition of wintering on Florida's Gulf Coast: Tampa Bay, Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples all fill up with Illinois plates between January and April. Outside the winter rush, the lane carries relocations, second-home buyers and students headed to Florida schools with a car they'll need on a spread-out campus. Our college car shipping page covers the student side.

The distance runs about 1,050 to 1,400 miles. The Panhandle and North Florida are the near end; Naples and Miami are the far end. Starting in the Loop or Naperville makes little difference, because the truck is on I-65 or I-57 within the hour.

Most carriers leave the Chicago area on I-65 through Northwest Indiana, Indianapolis, Louisville and Nashville. From there the route depends on where the car is going:

• Peninsula Florida (Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, Naples): I-24 from Nashville to Chattanooga, then I-75 down past Atlanta, Macon and Valdosta to the state line. That puts the Gulf Coast directly on the route.
• The Panhandle (Pensacola, Destin, Panama City): I-65 stays south through Birmingham and Montgomery, and the truck reaches the coast without touching Atlanta.
• An alternative start is I-57 down through central and southern Illinois to I-24. Carriers use it when they have pickups downstate.

Weather is the variable at the northern end. Lake-effect snow off Lake Michigan can slow I-65 and I-94 through Gary and Merrillville in December and January, and an ice storm through Kentucky or Tennessee can stop trucks for most of a day. Drivers wait those out instead of driving through them, and we'd rather they did.

This lane's southbound season starts a little later and runs a little longer than the East Coast lanes. Plenty of Chicago households stay through Thanksgiving or the holidays and send the car in December or early January. That stretches the peak from late October into January. The return trip clusters in March and April, timed around Easter and the first warm weeks back home.

For any pickup between Thanksgiving and New Year's, get in touch about a month ahead. A two- or three-day window makes December far easier, when weather and holiday schedules both squeeze carrier capacity.

Open car transport carries most of the cars on this lane, and that's the right default for a daily driver. Chicago does salt its roads hard, though. A car shipped in December arrives with a film of salt on the lower panels. If it's a car you keep immaculate or drive only in summer, an enclosed truck keeps it out of the spray, or request the upper deck on an open carrier. Either way, wash the underside once it's in Florida.

If you're weighing the two, our guide to what car shipping costs explains how each option changes the price.

Chicago has a few pickup quirks that catch people out. Our Chicago car shipping guide covers the city in more depth; these are the ones that matter most for a Florida run:

• Alleys. If your garage opens onto an alley, as many in Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Logan Square and Bridgeport do, the truck can't get to it. Bring the car around to a main street.
• Lake Shore Drive is closed to commercial vehicles, so lakefront high-rise pickups happen on a side street or at a lot west of the Drive.
• Winter parking bans. From December 1 to April 1, certain arterial streets ban overnight parking, and snow-route bans kick in after heavy snowfall. Don't leave the car where it could be towed the night before pickup.
• The suburbs. Naperville, Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Oak Brook and Orland Park are generally easy, with curbside pickups or a nearby shopping center lot. The North Shore suburbs (Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka) have narrower, tree-lined streets, so expect to meet at a main road like Green Bay Road or Sheridan.
• Northwest Indiana (Munster, Crown Point, Valparaiso) sits right on the I-65 corridor and is one of the easiest pickups on the lane.

Gulf Coast deliveries are this lane's specialty. In Tampa Bay, that can mean a causeway or bridge to St. Petersburg or Clearwater. In Naples, it usually means a gated golf community with rules about trucks. In Orlando, it's mostly suburban and easy. On the Panhandle, the beach-town streets along 30A and in Destin can't fit a full carrier, so delivery often happens at a lot on US-98 or US-331.