Car Shipping from Honolulu, HI to San Diego, CA

Fully insured, door-to-door auto transport. No deposit until your carrier is confirmed. 5-star rated.

Distance
3,182 mi
Transit Time
7-10 days
Estimated Cost
$1625–$1925
Difficult Market

Shipping from Honolulu, HI

Let me be completely straight with you about Honolulu. Shipping a car to or from Hawaii is a fundamentally different process from mainland auto transport. There are no roads connecting Hawaii to the mainland. Your car has to go on a ship. This is called Roll-on Roll-off shipping, or RoRo for short, and it is how vehicles get moved across the ocean. The two primary carriers for this are Matson Navigation and Pasha Hawaii. Matson ships from Oakland, Los Angeles, and Tacoma. Pasha ships from Los Angeles, San Diego, and Oakland. There is no Manheim, no ADESA, no carrier on a multi-car hauler. It is ocean freight, and the pricing, timeline, and process are entirely different from what most people expect when they search for auto transport.

Here is how the process actually works. First, your car gets transported to the departure port on the mainland via a standard auto transport carrier. That part of the process takes 1 to 4 days depending on how far you are from Oakland, Los Angeles, or San Diego. Then your vehicle is checked in, prepared for ocean shipping, and loaded onto the next available vessel. Ocean transit from the West Coast to Honolulu is typically 7 to 14 days once the ship departs. Total door-to-port timing, including port processing on both ends, generally runs 2 to 4 weeks from the day you drop your car off. Book at least 3 weeks ahead to hit a specific target date. Get a quote to see what your specific route looks like.

High Volume

Arriving in San Diego, CA

San Diego is a strong and active auto transport market with some unique advantages. I-5 runs straight through the city connecting it to Los Angeles 120 miles north and to the Mexican border at San Ysidro. I-15 heads inland and north toward Riverside and Las Vegas. Carriers running the LA to San Diego corridor are constant because there is always demand in both directions. Auction activity is real here. Manheim San Diego operates out of Oceanside at the north end of the county. ADESA San Diego is located near the border in Otay Ranch. Copart and IAA both have San Diego locations as well. Add in the military presence from Camp Pendleton, MCAS Miramar, and NAS Coronado and you have a steady drumbeat of military relocation shipments year round. This is a solid, dependable market.

Deliveries to San Diego are generally smooth. Carriers on I-5 from the north have a natural endpoint here, and many load up in LA to fill the last slots with San Diego cars. Neighborhoods with wide streets and good access are easiest. If you are in downtown or near the Gaslamp Quarter, carriers may ask to deliver nearby rather than navigate the parking situation. Hillcrest and North Park are manageable. The North County cities like Escondido, Vista, and Oceanside are easy delivers and often match up with carrier routes heading back north.

Pricing on This Route

Shipping a standard sedan from Honolulu to San Diego on open carrier currently estimates between $1625 and $1925. That is based on the 3,182-mile distance and current market conditions.

Hawaii car shipping costs significantly more than any mainland route of comparable distance. You are paying for mainland transport to the departure port, ocean freight, port fees on both ends, and any delivery on the Hawaii side. Total costs for a standard sedan from the continental US to Honolulu typically range from $1,500 to $2,500 depending on your mainland origin, the carrier you choose, and whether you want door-to-door service or port-to-port. Matson and Pasha are generally competitive with each other on ocean freight. The mainland portion of the route is priced like standard auto transport. Get a quote to see your exact price.

San Diego runs close to the national average on most routes. The LA to San Diego lane is one of the most competitive short hauls in the country because carriers are constantly running it. Longer routes like San Diego to Phoenix, Las Vegas, or the Pacific Northwest are very active and priced well. Routes to the Midwest or East Coast price similarly to LA because carriers use I-5 or I-40 to get there and San Diego is a natural first or last stop. Military PCS season in the spring and summer can push prices up slightly as demand spikes. Get a quote to see your exact price.

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