Ship a car from Ottawa to Florida

Ottawa to Florida is about 1,250 to 1,650 miles (roughly 2,010 to 2,660 km). Jacksonville is the near end and Naples or Miami the far end. The drive is long enough to make twice a year, and the stretch through upstate New York in December is rarely pleasant.

Ottawa is closer to the St. Lawrence crossings than to Toronto's or Montreal's ports, so it has its own corridor. No matter which crossing the carrier picks, the border paperwork is identical; our Canada to US car shipping page lists every document.

• Prescott–Ogdensburg. Highway 416 runs almost straight south from Ottawa to the Ogdensburg–Prescott International Bridge, about an hour from the city.
• The Thousand Islands Bridge. The Lansdowne–Alexandria Bay crossing drops traffic straight onto I-81. It suits trucks that also pick up in Kingston or Brockville.

I-81 runs past Watertown and Syracuse, through Binghamton and Scranton, and down the Shenandoah Valley. The stretch between Watertown and Syracuse sits in the Lake Ontario snow belt, where lake-effect squalls can bury a narrow band of highway with little warning. It's this lane's most likely winter delay.

Below Virginia, the route splits by coast. Gulf Coast cars for Tampa, Sarasota and Naples continue toward Knoxville and take I-75 south through Atlanta. Atlantic-coast cars cut across to I-95 and enter Florida at Jacksonville.

Snow can arrive in Ottawa by mid-November, and many snowbirds try to leave before it. Southbound demand runs from late October to mid-December, and northbound from mid-March to late April. Many Ontario snowbirds set their return date by OHIP's limit on time away: 212 days in any 12-month period when this was written. Confirm the current figure before you book.

Get in touch in September for a November pickup, and give us a flexible window. Your car may share a truck with pickups in Kingston, Cornwall or Montreal.

A daily driver belongs on an open carrier here. The catch is salt: a late-autumn departure runs the 416 and I-81 through upstate New York while the plows are out, so plan on a wash when the car arrives. When the car is a collector piece, freshly repainted, or a convertible that only sees summer, ask about enclosed. Few enclosed carriers start in eastern Ontario, so ask early.

What a pickup looks like around the capital:

• Centretown, the Glebe, Westboro and New Edinburgh have narrow, tree-lined streets. Plan the handoff on Bank Street, Richmond Road or Sussex Drive, where a carrier can pull over.
• Barrhaven, Riverside South and Manotick are close to Highway 416, the easiest starting points on the lane.
• Kanata, Stittsville, Orléans and Nepean are easy: the truck can usually stop on your own street or in the closest plaza.
• Gatineau and Aylmer work too. A Quebec-registered car needs its SAAQ registration certificate instead of an Ontario permit.
• The Ottawa Valley (Carp, Almonte, Perth, Kemptville) often has long laneways. See door-to-door car shipping for how drivers handle them.

During snowfalls the City of Ottawa declares overnight winter weather parking bans. If pickup is the morning after a storm, keep the car in a driveway and tell the driver.

Gulf Coast deliveries ride I-75 almost to the door. Tampa Bay, Sarasota, Venice and Naples are a short hop off the interstate, though an island address may mean meeting the driver on the mainland. See our Tampa, Sarasota and Naples pages. Atlantic-side cars, from Vero Beach to Palm Beach, come down I-95. Florida retirement communities often have gatehouses and truck rules, so check with yours before the car leaves Ottawa.

Whichever bridge the carrier uses, US Customs treats your car the same way: as a nonresident's personal vehicle under HTSUS 9804.00.35. No duty is owed, but the car has to come back north within twelve months, and it can't change hands while it's south of the border. Because it's crossing without you, the file the carrier hands over holds CBP Form 3299, the HS-7 and EPA 3520-1 declarations, and your signed authorization letter.

• Your Ontario vehicle permit (or SAAQ certificate for a Gatineau car) and a passport copy.
• Your lender's written OK (or the leasing company's) if you still owe money on the car. Ask early; banks are slow about it.
• Nothing packed inside. The spare, jack and factory kit can stay; everything else comes out before the driver arrives.