The full guide
A guide to shipping your car for a PCS move
A permanent change of station comes with a report date that does not move. This guide covers planning the car around your orders, delivery near a base, handing over while you are away, and the season.
Planning around your orders
Start with two dates, the first day the car can leave and the day you report. Everything else is planned between them.
On most lanes a carrier is assigned within 1 to 5 days, and the truck covers about 400 to 500 miles a day. Coast to coast, that is usually 6 to 9 days on the truck. Add the two and you know how early the car has to leave to arrive before you need it.
Leave a margin. Weather and traffic move dates, so plan for the car to arrive a few days before the day you cannot miss. If the pickup day itself cannot move, add the guaranteed pickup date when you book.
Ask your installation's transportation office what your orders cover for a privately owned vehicle before you book, and keep their answer with your move paperwork.
Service members, veterans and military spouses get $100 off. Choose the military discount when you get your price, and your coordinator checks your military ID, DD-214 or orders before dispatch.
Delivery near a base
Most installations do not let a car carrier through the gate. The truck is long and heavy, and the driver usually has no base access.
So the driver meets you near the gate, at a large parking lot where the truck can stop safely, or at your off-post address. Your coordinator agrees the spot with you before delivery day, and the driver calls ahead.
If you are in temporary lodging, give that address and a phone number you will have with you. The driver needs room to park the truck and lower the ramp.
At the meeting point, walk around the car with the driver and compare it with the pickup photos on your order page. Write anything new on the bill of lading before you sign and before the driver leaves.
When you are not there
Deployments, schools and early report dates do not wait for a car carrier. Someone you name can hand over the car at pickup or receive it at delivery, such as your spouse, a family member, a friend or someone from your unit.
Give us their name and phone number when you book. They walk around the car with the driver, sign the bill of lading and keep a copy.
You follow the move from wherever you are. The status emails come to you, and your order page shows the carrier, the driver, the photos and the paperwork.
Leave them the keys, the order number and any gate or building codes the driver will need.
PCS season
Most PCS moves happen in the summer, between school years. The lanes between large installations fill up, and so do the carriers that run them.
On a busy lane, finding a carrier with space can take longer, and prices on that lane can rise. Your price screen shows the pickup window for the dates you choose.
Book as soon as you have your orders, even if the car leaves weeks later. The order reaches carriers on your lane early, and you see the pickup window before you commit.
A flexible first pickup day helps as well. A car that can leave any day in a week fits more carriers' schedules than a car that has to leave on one day.