Why shipping a car from San Francisco takes local know-how
A standard car carrier is a tractor pulling a two-level trailer, about 80 feet end to end and nearly 14 feet tall when loaded. It cannot climb Filbert Street, cannot turn at the top of Lombard, and will not fit under the Muni wires on some of the routes a sedan takes without thinking. Most San Francisco pickups therefore happen at a meeting point rather than at the curb outside your flat. Where that point is, and how the driver gets there, is the part Big Bear's San Francisco desk is built to handle.
Get an instant price with the quote tool above, then call (415) 873-9897 if you want to talk through the pickup plan for your block before you book.
How pickups work inside the city
The driver and your coordinator agree on a meeting point before the truck is dispatched. In practice the good spots are flat, wide and legal to stop in for twenty minutes: the Marina Green side of Marina Boulevard, the wide stretches of Sunset Boulevard, parts of Great Highway, the big lots around Stonestown and Mission Bay, and industrial blocks in Bayview and Dogpatch. The driver cannot double-park on Divisadero or block a Muni lane, and a tow in San Francisco is expensive for everyone, so your coordinator will not agree to a spot that doesn't work.
Three local rules to plan around:
- Street cleaning and permit zones. Make sure the car isn't parked somewhere it will be ticketed or towed if the pickup shifts a day. Carriers run on windows, not appointments.
- Hills. If your car lives on a block with a grade over about 15 percent, tell us. The driver needs the car on flat ground to load it, and some low cars can't make it onto the ramp from a slope.
- Garages. Residential garages in SF are often tight and sloped. Have the car out on the street or at the meeting point before the truck arrives rather than asking the driver to extract it.
Where we serve around the Bay
The San Francisco desk covers the city, the Peninsula down through San Mateo County, Marin across the Golden Gate, and the inner East Bay. East Bay and Peninsula pickups are usually simpler and sometimes cheaper, because the streets are wider and carriers already stage along the 880 corridor in Oakland and San Leandro. If you have a choice of where to hand over the car, say at a relative's house in Alameda or at a friend's place in Daly City, mention it when you quote.
Routes and timing from San Francisco
Eastbound trucks cross the Bay Bridge and climb the Altamont to Interstate 5 and then Interstate 80 over Donner Pass, or take the 5 south and the 10 or 40 east. Donner closes for chains or snow several times each winter; your coordinator watches the forecast and may route a December shipment south to avoid it, which adds a day. Typical lanes:
| Route | Distance | Transit | Open carrier est.* |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco → Los Angeles, CA | 380 mi | 1–2 days | $450–$700 |
| San Francisco → Las Vegas, NV | 570 mi | 2 days | $550–$800 |
| San Francisco → Portland, OR | 635 mi | 2 days | $600–$850 |
| San Francisco → Phoenix, AZ | 750 mi | 2–3 days | $650–$900 |
| San Francisco → Seattle, WA | 810 mi | 2–3 days | $700–$950 |
| San Francisco → Denver, CO | 1,250 mi | 3–5 days | $900–$1,150 |
| San Francisco → Austin, TX | 1,760 mi | 4–6 days | $1,000–$1,350 |
| San Francisco → Chicago, IL | 2,130 mi | 5–7 days | $1,150–$1,500 |
| San Francisco → New York, NY | 2,900 mi | 7–10 days | $1,400–$1,800 |
| San Francisco → Miami, FL | 3,050 mi | 8–10 days | $1,450–$1,850 |
*Estimates for a standard running sedan on an open carrier with a flexible pickup window. Enclosed, oversized, inoperable and expedited shipments price differently. Your instant quote reflects live rates for your exact ZIPs.
What influences the price in San Francisco
The city's quirks show up in pricing in two small ways. Drivers budget extra time for a San Francisco pickup, and fewer carriers originate in the city than in the East Bay or Los Angeles. Both nudge rates a little higher than a comparable pickup in Oakland. The larger factors are the ones that apply everywhere: the size and weight of the vehicle, open versus enclosed, whether it runs, how firm your dates are and the season. Summer and late August, when the universities fill up and tech relocations peak, are the busiest months. Give the carrier a flexible window and the rate drops.
Quotes from Big Bear are all-in. There is no fuel surcharge later, no fee for meeting you at a cross street, and no charge for door-to-door where the door is reachable.
Enclosed transport and the salt-air question
San Francisco produces a lot of enclosed shipments relative to its size. Part of that is value: Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights garages hold a lot of cars that belong under a roof during a cross-country trip. Part of it is the climate. Owners of classics and collector cars kept near the ocean often ship enclosed simply to avoid adding road grime and salt spray on top of what the fog has already done. If your car is low, rare, freshly painted or simply something you would be upset to see with a rock chip, enclosed is worth the premium of roughly 40 to 60 percent. Everything else rides open, the same way new cars arrive at dealerships on Van Ness.
Who ships from the city
Relocations lead, in both directions: people leaving for Austin, Denver, New York and Seattle, and people arriving for jobs who want a car waiting for them. Many San Francisco residents live without a car and inherit or buy one elsewhere; we deliver into the city as readily as we ship out. Students at UCSF, USF and San Francisco State ship in August and out in May. Collectors ship to and from auctions and concours events. And every spring, a steady stream of snowbird cars comes back up from Palm Springs and Scottsdale.
Preparing the car
Wash it for an accurate inspection, keep fuel at a quarter tank, remove the FasTrak tag, parking placards and anything loose, and photograph all sides. Make sure the battery is healthy; a car that has sat on a hill in the Outer Richmond for three months may not start on pickup day, and a non-running car needs a different truck. Have a key ready, get the car to the meeting point a few minutes early, and your coordinator takes it from there with updates at every stage.