Military PCS car shipping

Most stateside PCS moves involve driving at least one car to the new duty station. Shipping makes sense when driving doesn't work. The member is flying straight to a school or a course en route. A family has two cars and only one available driver. The spouse is staying behind to finish a school year. Or the trip is two thousand miles with small kids and a report date that won't move.

We arrange door-to-door transport between installations and communities anywhere in the contiguous US, for example from Davis-Monthan in Tucson to MacDill in Tampa, or from the San Diego bases to Fort Bliss. Moves overseas or to Alaska and Hawaii go through the government's own POV shipping program, not through us.

1. 1

   Get in touch as soon as you have orders

   Even tentative orders help. Give us the losing and gaining locations, your report-no-later-than date and the first day the car can be picked up. We can firm up dates as your plans settle.

2. 2

   Pick pickup and delivery points that work with base access

   Car carrier drivers usually don't hold DoD credentials, and many installations put commercial vehicles through visitor control or a separate inspection gate. The simplest plan is often a pickup or delivery just outside the gate, at a nearby lot.

3. 3

   Hand over the car

   You, your spouse or another adult you trust meets the driver, walks around the car, and signs the condition report with the driver. If the member has already left, that's normal and works fine.

4. 4

   Receive it at the new station

   At delivery, compare the car's condition with what the driver recorded at the origin, write down anything that differs, then sign. Keep the bill of lading and your receipt with your move paperwork.

PCS season runs hardest in summer, when many families move between school years, and that's also peak season for car carriers on most lanes. Distance, vehicle size, open or enclosed, and how flexible your pickup window is all affect the price, the same way they do for any shipment.

Plan backward from the date you need the car at the new station. Build in the pickup range (typically two to four days from your first available date), then transit; a coast-to-coast run normally takes seven to ten days of driving. If you're driving one car and shipping another, many families ship the second car a few days before they leave so it arrives about when they do.

If your orders change, tell us as soon as you know. The change and cancellation terms are in your booking confirmation. It's much easier to move a pickup date while we're still scheduling than after a driver is on the way. For day ranges by distance, see our guide to how long car shipping takes.

• A copy of your orders for your own records, plus the bill of lading and receipt afterward if you'll ask about reimbursement.
• A confirmed pickup point. If it's on base, check visitor and commercial vehicle rules with the installation first.
• An empty car. Household goods belong in your government HHG shipment. Anything left inside the car travels uninsured, since the carrier's coverage is for the car itself, not what's in it.
• Remove base decals or passes if your installation requires it when you clear, and take toll transponders out.
• About a quarter tank of fuel, a single key or fob to leave with the driver, and a car that starts, steers and brakes. If it doesn't, tell us.
• Update your insurance and registration plans for the new state. Many states have special rules for service members, so check with your insurer and the gaining state's motor vehicle office.
• Date-stamped pictures of each side, the roof and the mileage, taken right before the driver arrives.

Everything else, from toll tags to alarms, is in our car prep checklist.

• Texas to Florida along I-10: Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Bliss and the Houston area to NAS Pensacola, Eglin, Tyndall, NAS Jacksonville and Mayport. See Texas to Florida car shipping.
• California to Texas: Camp Pendleton, the San Diego bases and Edwards to Texas installations, and back the other way. See California to Texas and Texas to California car shipping.
• Northeast to Florida: Fort Drum and the New York and New Jersey installations to Florida bases. See New York to Florida car shipping.
• Into the Southwest: Luke AFB near Phoenix and Davis-Monthan in Tucson see steady arrivals from bases across the country.