Price ranges for shipping a car to and from Minneapolis, MN, plus nearby terminals and common routes.
Key facts
How vehicles move
By truck; ports and islands may need a separate sea or rail service
Population
430,324
Metro
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
As of 1 July 2025. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, 1 July 2025
Local notes
A campus in this city can limit where a car-carrier truck stops. The driver often meets you off campus.
Common routes from Minneapolis. Sedan or compact car.
Route
Open transport
Enclosed transport
Phoenix, AZ
$863–$1,315
$1,295–$1,973
Los Angeles, CA
$840–$1,280
$1,260–$1,920
Riverside, CA
$829–$1,264
$1,244–$1,896
San Diego, CA
$838–$1,278
$1,258–$1,916
San Francisco, CA
$861–$1,312
$1,291–$1,967
As of 2026-11-09. RideShipper estimate, updated 2026-11-09, based on 3,588 prices that customers reported paying in MoveAdvisor reviews, adjusted for U.S. diesel at $6.13 a gallon for that week (U.S. Energy Information Administration). In testing, the typical difference between an estimate and a reported price was about 20% of the estimate. This is an estimate, not a quote: the carrier sets the price. No pickup date was supplied, so this estimate uses November 2026. Reported prices on seasonal routes to and from Florida and Arizona support different prices in each direction this month.
MnDOT's 35W@94 project rebuilt 2.5 miles of I-35W in Minneapolis between 43rd Street and I-94, including the ramp from northbound I-35W toward I-94 west and the Lowry Tunnel. The shipping plan's highest-signal Minneapolis lanes are Chicago and Seattle. Phoenix is also listed. According to Census ACS 2024 state-to-state migration in the plan, the largest flow into Minnesota starts in Wisconsin, and the largest flow out of Minnesota also ends in Wisconsin. After the car arrives, registration steps stay on the Minnesota page.
Where the truck may turn off
Minneapolis says commercial trucks should stay on marked truck routes and may leave them only to get as close as possible to the destination. Trucks are not allowed on residential streets or on roads marked "no trucks," with exceptions for a delivery or pickup, or when there is no other way to the address. The city map also shows maximum clearance heights for underpasses. If the house is off the truck map, agree on a meeting point with the driver before the truck is nearby.
Winter plowing and the campus list
MnDOT's winter report tracks snowfall near MSP Airport and scores whether plows meet bare-lane targets, which are tighter on busy highways than on light ones. A storm can hold an open carrier even when a side street looks clear. The shipping plan's college list, drawn from IPEDS DRVEF2023, records University of Minnesota-Twin Cities at 54,890 students. Of 6,740 first-time students, 1,771 lived out of state. Capella University (43,915) and Walden University (44,223) are listed in Minneapolis too, and IPEDS did not report where their first-time students lived. Those two totals are not a count of cars headed to a campus gate. Campus delivery rules are on the college shipping page.
