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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.
Seattle is a solid auto transport market with a geographic reality that matters. It is in the top left corner of the continental US. That means carriers heading here are usually at the end of a run and need to turn around and head back south or east. The Port of Seattle handles vehicle imports and Manheim has a location in the area. The dealer market across Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, and the surrounding suburbs is healthy. I-5 is the main artery connecting Seattle to Portland and LA to the south, and I-90 is the primary eastern route heading toward Spokane and eventually the Midwest. It is an active market, just not quite the crossroads that cities further south and east enjoy.
Delivering to Seattle is active on the I-5 southbound to northbound return runs. Carriers who just dropped cars in Portland often pick up in Seattle before heading south again. Delivery from California is frequent and well serviced. Coming in from the east on I-90 takes a bit more coordination but it gets done regularly. Plan for 3 to 5 days on most routes.
Shipping a standard sedan from Detroit to Seattle on open carrier currently estimates between $1175 and $1475. That is based on the 2,359-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.
Seattle runs slightly above the national average. The corner positioning means carriers are not passing through on their way somewhere else, they are specifically routing to or from the Pacific Northwest. That adds a small premium versus interior cities. The I-5 corridor to and from California is the most competitive lane. Routes to the Midwest run longer and slightly higher in cost because of the distance and mountain crossings. Get a quote for your specific route.
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