You can book the day before, and on a busy lane a carrier may still be found. Booking earlier gives us more carriers to choose from and gives you a pickup window you can plan around.
A sensible lead time
For most lanes, book 1 to 2 weeks before the first day the car can go. That is enough time to price the move, sign the agreement, and offer the car to the carriers who run the lane while they are still planning that week's route.
Add time when the move is harder to fill. A pickup in a small town off the interstate waits for a carrier going that way, so give it 2 to 3 weeks. An enclosed trailer has fewer trucks on every lane, so the same. A car that does not run needs a carrier with a winch, and those are fewer still.
The lead time buys you choice, not a faster truck. A car booked 3 weeks out and a car booked 3 days out can both be loaded on the same Thursday. The difference is that the first one had 3 weeks of carriers to pick from, and the second had whoever was passing.
The snowbird rush
Southbound lanes to Florida fill from October through December. Demand builds in October with the first cold weeks in the Northeast and Midwest, and peaks in November and early December, when most people want to be settled before the holidays. Northbound lanes fill from March, and April and May are the peak, as winter residents head home.
The main origins are New York, New Jersey, Boston and the rest of New England, Chicago and the Great Lakes, and Michigan and Ohio. The destinations are the whole of Florida, with Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota, the Palm Beaches and the Space Coast at the top of the list, plus Arizona and the Texas Gulf Coast.
In those months the same lane has more cars than trucks, so prices rise and pickup windows stretch. Book each leg as soon as your date is firm. For the fall leg, that means before October if you can. A car leaving in mid-October usually finds more carriers and an easier price than one leaving the week before Thanksgiving. For the spring leg, book once your return date is set and do not wait for March, because the people heading home with you are booking too.
Summer moves and PCS season
Summer is when families move house and service members change station. Lanes between the big metros and the large bases are busy from late May to August, and the last and first days of each month are the busiest of all, because leases end and start then.
Book 3 to 4 weeks ahead for a summer move if your dates are fixed. If they are not, a pickup window in the middle of the month, away from the lease turnover, is easier to fill than one on the 30th or the 1st.
What the first available day means
When you book, you give the first day the car can go. The pickup window runs from that day. The carrier collects the car inside it and confirms the exact day once assigned. A wide window lets more carriers on your lane fit your car in, which tends to mean an earlier truck and a better price, especially in the busy seasons.
If your own date changes, tell us as soon as you know and we move the window with you. Two rules from the agreement apply. If the car is not ready when the carrier arrives, a $100 rescheduling fee applies. Cancelling within 7 days before or after the scheduled pickup carries a minimum fee of $200. Neither applies to a change you tell us about early.
Booking at short notice
Short notice can work, and on a busy lane it often does. Tell your coordinator the real deadline, a flight, a closing date or a report date, and we look at the options. A guaranteed pickup date fixes the day the carrier collects the car. Expedited dispatch puts the car in front of carriers first, at a higher rate.
What we cannot do is promise a delivery date. The car still covers 400 to 500 miles a day once loaded. If the deadline is tight at the delivery end, the how-long guide shows the days by distance so you can see whether it fits.
Trustline CarriersLicensed broker · MC 1661496
