Car Shipping from Honolulu, HI to Tampa, FL

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

Distance
5,716 mi
Transit Time
7-10 days
Estimated Cost
$3050–$3350
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 Tampa, FL

Tampa is one of the best positioned markets in Florida for auto transport and that is saying something because Florida as a whole is extremely active. Manheim Tampa is on South 50th Street in the city. ADESA Tampa is right nearby on North 50th Street. Copart Tampa South is also in the market. That kind of auction density inside the city limits means carriers have real business reasons to be here. I-75 is the main north-south corridor, connecting Tampa straight to Atlanta and up to Detroit. I-4 runs east across the state to Orlando and Daytona Beach. The two highways meet near downtown Tampa and that convergence is what makes this market tick. Carriers running the Florida snowbird circuit treat Tampa as a reliable staging point.

Tampa receives cars well. Carriers on I-75 from Atlanta and further north are making this run constantly during the fall and winter months. The flip side is that in late spring and summer when snowbirds head back north, there can be a short window where northbound loads are so abundant that carriers snap them up fast, making deliveries from out of state slightly quicker to coordinate. Summer is slower overall for in-state Florida demand, but the interstate corridors stay active. One thing to know is that Tampa Bay traffic on I-4 and I-275 can affect carrier timing during rush hours. Drivers account for this and it is not a major issue.

Pricing on This Route

Shipping a standard sedan from Honolulu to Tampa on open carrier currently estimates between $3050 and $3350. That is based on the 5,716-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.

Tampa runs at or slightly below the national average depending on your route and the time of year. During peak snowbird season from November through February, southbound pricing into Tampa is competitive because carriers are actively filling loads heading to Florida. In May and June when snowbirds reverse course, northbound pricing from Tampa can actually be favorable for the same reason. Summer months are slower and carriers need a little more incentive to come down. Routes to Atlanta on I-75 and to Orlando on I-4 are consistently efficient. Routes to Texas are active. Long haul to the Northeast or West Coast will cost more. Get a quote to see your exact price.

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