Shipping a car sounds simple until you start calling around. Quotes can vary by hundreds of dollars. and the cheapest number on day you look for quotes has a way of climbing by pickup day. Also, some companies want a deposit before they have even confirmed a carrier. The company you pick matters as much as the price it quotes.
We looked at five national car shipping companies, digging into the things that actually affect your shipment: whether they ask for money upfront, how deep their carrier network runs, whether they handle open and enclosed, and how smoothly things go once you have booked.
Here is how they stack up:
1. RoadRunner Auto Transport
RoadRunner Auto Transport is the strongest all-around option on this list, and it earns the top spot on experience alone. The company has been moving vehicles for 30 years, which shows in how smoothly a standard shipment runs and how well it handles all sorts of special cases, like exotic cars, trucks, vehicles that are not operable, and more. And with over 20,000 5-star ratings on Google RoadRunner is a trustworthy company.
RoadRunner Auto Transport requires no deposit. You only pay when your car is assigned to a carrier and scheduled for pickup, not the moment you fill out a form, so you are never committing money on a shipment that has not been confirmed. Quotes are all-inclusive, which means the number you are given is the number you pay; no fuel surcharge or residential-access fee bolted on later.
RoadRunner runs both open and enclosed transport through a large, vetted carrier network that reaches all 50 states, plus Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Door-to-door service is standard, and you can pull a real price in a couple of minutes through the RoadRunner quote calculator before you commit to anything.
For most people shipping a car, this is the one to beat.
2. Montway Auto Transport
Montway is one of the largest brokers in the country, and the size cuts both ways. The volume means availability on common routes, but it also means your car is one of thousands moving through an automated system on any given day. Fine when everything is standard; less reassuring when your shipment needs someone to actually pick up the phone.
3. AmeriFreight
AmeriFreight leans hard on marketing, with layered discount programs and tiered insurance options that look good in the headline quote. The number you start with and the number you finish with are often not the same once the add-ons are in. Read what is actually included before you measure it against anyone else.
4. SGT Auto Transport
SGT runs a large driver network and can move a car on most routes. The recurring knock is consistency: quotes that shift after the first conversation, and communication that thins out once the booking is in. It can work if you stay on top of it, though that is more babysitting than most people want to do with a car in transit.
5. Sherpa Auto Transport
Sherpa is a smaller, premium-priced broker with a tidy reputation on standard cars. The polish is real, but so is the price, and the network is thinner than the bigger names once you get off the main corridors. Reasonable if you are paying for a clean experience on a common route; less so if you want the widest reach for the money.
How They Compare
| $0 Deposit | Years in Business | Open + Enclosed | AK / HI / PR | Network | |
| RoadRunner | Yes | 30 | Yes | Yes | Deep, national |
| Montway | Varies | 20+ | Yes | Varies | Large |
| AmeriFreight | Varies | 20+ | Yes | Varies | Large |
| SGT | Varies | 10+ | Yes | Varies | Large |
| Sherpa | Varies | 5+ | Yes | Varies | Mid-size |
The Bottom Line
For most people shipping a car, RoadRunner is the pick: 30 years in business, no deposit, all-inclusive quotes, and a network that reaches every state plus Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Get a quote, compare it against the others, and it is easy to see why RoadRunner Auto Transport lands at the top.
