2026 comparison
The Best Car Shipping
Companies of 2026.
Every list like this is written by a company that wants your booking — including this one. So instead of scoring ourselves five stars, here is how the industry actually works, what each major broker is genuinely known for, and the one factor reviews never mention.
Before you compare
Nobody on this list
owns the trucks.
Every major name in car shipping — including us — is a broker. Your vehicle is physically moved by an independent, FMCSA-licensed carrier, and every broker hires from the same national pool of roughly 30,000 of them, largely through the same load boards.
That means the real differences between companies are not the trucks. They are the price you are quoted versus the price carriers will actually accept, when your money is collected, and what happens when you — or the carrier hauling your car — need an answer from a human.
Keep that lens and the comparison below gets much simpler.
Side by side
What each company
is genuinely known for.
These are all legitimate, established brokers — we would rather you book with any of them than with a bait-and-switch operation. The differences are in how they operate.
| COMPANY | BEST FOR | SCALE | HOW YOU REACH THEM | PAYMENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caravan TransportThat's us | Talking to the actual person moving your car | Boutique dispatch desk | Direct call and text line to your dispatcher | $0 upfront — pay only after a driver is assigned |
| Montway Auto Transport | Brand recognition at national volume | One of the largest US brokers, operating since 2007 | Call center and online chat | Varies by booking |
| Sherpa Auto Transport | Published price-lock guarantee | National broker, founded 2017 | Call center | Charged when a carrier is assigned |
| SGT Auto Transport | Round-the-clock phone availability | National broker, founded 2014 | 24/7 call center | Varies by booking |
| Easy Auto Ship | Published guarantees and add-on perks | National broker, founded 2013 | Call center | Varies by booking |
| AmeriFreight | Discount programs and optional gap coverage | National broker, operating since 2004 | Call center | Varies by booking |
Company details reflect publicly available information as of 2026 and may change — verify current terms with each company. Pricing for any broker depends on route, vehicle, and season; see our cost guide with live calculator for current market rates.
What reviews miss
Your pickup date is decided by
how carriers rate your broker.
Customer reviews measure how a company treats customers. Nobody publishes how a company treats carriers — yet that is what determines whether your car gets picked up in two days or two weeks.
Carriers choose loads, not the other way around
When a broker posts your car to the national load boards, thousands of carriers see it next to thousands of other vehicles. A driver builds their route from the loads that pay fairly and come from brokers who answer questions fast. Your pickup date is decided in that moment.
Unanswered questions push your car down the list
Before accepting a load, a carrier usually needs something clarified: the exact pickup window, whether the driveway fits a 75-foot rig, who signs at delivery. If the broker takes hours to answer, the driver has already filled that slot with someone else's car.
Scale changes who carriers talk to
At call-center volume, the person posting your load, the person answering the carrier's question, and the person you talk to are usually three different people reading the same ticket. Every handoff adds hours. A small dispatch desk answers the carrier in minutes because it is one person's job from quote to delivery.
This is why we publish a direct line
Carriers text or call the same dispatcher who quoted your car, and get an answer while the truck is still nearby. That is the whole mechanism behind most of our vehicles being picked up within 24 to 48 hours — not magic, just being reachable.
Use this on all of us
Six questions to ask
any broker before booking.
Ask these on the first call — including to us. How a company answers tells you more than any review score.
- 1.Will I have one named person handling my shipment, or a ticket number and whoever picks up?
- 2.Do you charge anything before a driver is actually assigned to my car?
- 3.If the carrier market moves, does my price change — and will you tell me before dispatch?
- 4.Can the carrier reach you on a weekend if something changes at pickup?
- 5.Is your USDOT and MC number on the website, and does it match FMCSA records?
- 6.Is the insurance the carrier's cargo policy, and what does it cover?
Common questions
Choosing a company FAQ
There is no single best company for everyone. Large brokers like Montway offer national brand recognition, and Sherpa is known for its price-lock guarantee. A smaller operation like Caravan Transport is the better fit if you want a direct line to the dispatcher handling your car, no payment until a driver is assigned, and fast carrier responses. Judge any company on price honesty, reachability, and payment terms.
Bigger is not automatically better in auto transport, because brokers large and small post to the same national carrier network. Scale buys brand recognition and app polish; it does not buy trucks. What differs is communication: at call-center scale you and the carrier both go through queues, while a small dispatch desk answers both sides in minutes — which is often the difference in how fast your car gets picked up.
Almost none of the companies you find when searching are carriers — they are brokers, including every large national brand. Brokers arrange transport with independent, FMCSA-licensed carriers who own the trucks. This is why carrier relationships matter more than company size: everyone is hiring from the same pool of roughly 30,000 registered auto carriers.
Be suspicious of any quote dramatically below the others — the classic pattern is collecting a deposit on an unrealistic price, then calling days later to say the price went up because no carrier accepted it. Protect yourself by asking whether the company charges before a driver is assigned, and whether the quoted price is what carriers on that route are actually accepting. We publish live route pricing on our cost page so you can sanity-check any quote.
Booking directly with a carrier can work if you find one running your exact route with an open slot, but most carriers are small operations without customer-facing booking. A good broker earns their fee by pricing the route correctly, vetting the carrier's insurance and safety record, and being reachable when plans change. The key is choosing a broker who treats carriers well — that is who carriers work fastest for.
Put us to the test
Ask us the six questions.
Get your exact price in 30 seconds, then call or text the dispatcher who will actually handle your car. No deposit until a driver is assigned.