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Detroit is a unique market in auto transport. It is not as simple as just being a high volume hub, and here is why. The Motor City has enormous carrier activity because of the auto industry itself. Manheim Detroit is in Carleton, south of the city. Manheim Flint is up in Mt. Morris. IAA Detroit handles salvage volume for the metro. I-75 is the spine of the market, running north to Flint and south all the way to Miami. I-94 runs east to Chicago and west toward Port Huron and Canada. I-96 connects Detroit to Grand Rapids. The challenge is timing. When Ford, GM, or Stellantis ship new model year inventory out of Michigan in late summer and early fall, carriers are stacked with OEM loads. Single vehicle transport competes with factory production runs and sometimes loses.
Pickups in Detroit average 2 to 4 days outside of new model year season. In late August and September when the manufacturers are pushing new inventory to dealerships across the country, carriers fill up fast and individual shippers can see that stretch to 5 to 7 days. If you are shipping during that window, book with extra lead time. The rest of the year Detroit is a solid market. I-75 is one of the most traveled carrier routes in the Midwest and carriers moving between Florida and the Great Lakes pass through this metro constantly. The suburbs, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Warren, and Royal Oak, are all easy access for carriers.
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.
Shipping a standard sedan from Detroit to San Diego on open carrier currently estimates between $1200 and $1500. That is based on the 2,402-mile distance and current market conditions.
Detroit runs close to the national average, maybe slightly above on some lanes. Routes south to Florida on I-75 are extremely active and competitively priced because that is a natural back-and-forth carrier loop. Routes west to Chicago are solid. Where pricing goes up is on the cross-country runs to the West Coast or Southwest because those carriers have to come all the way out to Michigan to start their load. The new model year window in late summer is also a time when carrier capacity tightens and prices creep up. 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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