How the car shipping price index is built
The car shipping price index is a low-to-high range for a lane or a distance band, a vehicle class, and open or enclosed transport, with a date and a sample size when one exists. At launch the range is a model, calibrated on prices people reported in reviews, not a census of every shipment. It is not a quote and not a single national average.
Key facts
- The unit
- A range, with the model version and the date. A count of reported prices when that count exists.
- Launch inputs
- Driving distance, vehicle class, open or enclosed, running or not, month, snowbird direction, and the diesel index against a baseline
- Diesel series
- EIA weekly on-highway diesel, Monday 8 a.m. local cash price, contiguous United States, not one truck's receipt
- Source: EIA Form EIA-888 methodology
- Calibration sample
- Prices customers reported in MoveAdvisor reviews. Reviews are not all shipments.
- Left out
- Ocean legs, a non-runner priced as a runner, and any single dollar labeled an average without a count
The sources are listed on this page.
The car shipping price index is a set of ranges, not a single cost of "shipping a car." Each point is for a scope (the country, a distance band, or a route), a vehicle class, open or enclosed transport, and a month. It carries a low and a high. It carries a sample size when the point is built from reported prices. It carries the model version and the date either way. If a page gives you one dollar and none of those labels, it is not this index.
RideShipper publishes the index. World Media Group LLC operates the site. The company is not a carrier and not a broker. The index does not set what a truck will accept. Companies that receive a quote request may pay RideShipper. That payment does not change the formula.
The index is not a census of every price paid. It says which substitute a cell is using, and it changes the label when a better substitute exists for that cell.
Two stages, two labels
A model, at launch. The estimate function takes the origin, the destination, the vehicle class, open or enclosed, whether the car runs, and the date. It returns a low, a high, a typical transit span, the model version, and a sentence that says what the number is based on. The inputs are:
- Driving miles. Until measured road distances are loaded, miles are a straight-line distance times a circuity factor, a stand-in for the fact that roads are not straight. Treat that as an approximation.
- A per-mile curve that falls as distance grows. Short trips cost more per mile because loading and empty miles do not shrink with the route. The shape is explained for readers in cost by distance.
- A size-class multiplier. Sedan, SUV, pickup, van, and motorcycle are not one class.
- An enclosed multiplier. It produces a separate range. It is not a percent you should memorize. The live comparison is open versus enclosed cost.
- A surcharge when the car does not run. A runner price is not reused for a car that will not start, steer, and brake.
- A month factor.
- A direction factor on snowbird lanes, so a northbound week and a southbound week are not forced to the same number.
- The current diesel index compared with a baseline stored in that model version.
Parameters sit in a model version. They were calibrated against prices people reported paying in reviews on MoveAdvisor, a sister site also owned by World Media Group LLC. A review is a voluntary note. It is biased toward people who wrote one. It is not a random draw of bills of lading. The index should say "model" while that is what a cell is. This page will not invent a count of those reviews and call it the sample.
Reported prices, when a cell has enough of them. Quotes customers report after they ship, quotes checked in the quote tool, and prices partner companies share can replace the model for a route and a vehicle class once there are enough observations. The label then becomes a count and a span of months, not a model version alone. "Enough" is a threshold the published cell has to show by printing the count. This page does not state a magic count in prose and then hide it. If you cannot see the count, the cell is still a model. How to read a count is what sample size means.
A middle value may be stored so a series can be charted. The planning number remains the range. Do not cite the middle as "the price."
The diesel series, specified
The fuel input is the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly on-highway diesel price, $6.127 per gallon, week of . Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration weekly diesel U.S., release 2026-11-10.. It is a Monday retail sample for the contiguous United States, not one truck's receipt. EIA says estimates from the June 13, 2022 sample are not directly comparable with the June 6, 2022 release. What the series measures, and what a fuel surcharge is, is in diesel prices and rates.
What a distance band is
The national table groups trips by length so a short haul is not averaged with a cross-country haul. The per-mile result is higher on the short end. That is the curve, not a separate penalty invented for the article. The table you can read, with its date, is:
| Approximate distance | Open transport | Enclosed transport | Estimated open cost per mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 250 miles | $376–$573 | $564–$859 | $3.11 |
| 250–499 miles | $404–$616 | $606–$924 | $1.34 |
| 500–999 miles | $556–$848 | $834–$1,271 | $0.92 |
| 1,000–1,499 miles | $704–$1,072 | $1,056–$1,609 | $0.70 |
| 1,500–1,999 miles | $822–$1,252 | $1,233–$1,878 | $0.58 |
| 2,000–2,499 miles | $923–$1,406 | $1,384–$2,109 | $0.51 |
| 2,500 miles and over | $1,053–$1,605 | $1,580–$2,408 | $0.44 |
RideShipper estimate v1 for a running Sedan or compact car. Each row uses an example distance within that group. The per-mile figure uses the estimated midpoint. Distances are approximate. Based on prices reported in MoveAdvisor reviews. This is not a quote. As of 2026-11-09
A route cell, when it exists, beats the band for that pair of cities, because direction and the actual road matter. A band is what you use when the route cell is still a model with a thin story. Do not average the band's low and high and call the result the index.
What is excluded on purpose
The road function returns "by quote only" for Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico until an ocean method exists. It also refuses to price a car that does not run as a car that does. Storage, a gate fee, and a public-liability filing are not lines in the band. The refusal list, with the reasons, is what we will not put in a price. Fee names to ask a company about are in fees added to a quote.
How a cell should be cited
A usable citation has all of these:
| Piece | Example of what to write | What is not enough |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | National band, or the city pair | "Shipping costs" |
| Vehicle and trailer | Running sedan, open | "A car" |
| The range | Low and high | The low end alone |
| Sample | Model version, or "n" and the months | A blank |
| Date | The date on the cell | "Recently" |
The same range should appear on the calculator, the route page, and the index. If two of those disagree, the dates or the inputs differ, or there is a bug. The method page for the product is how price estimates are made. The calculator instructions are how to use the cost calculator.
Transit days that ride along with an estimate are a planning span from distance and driver-hour limits. They are not a guaranteed delivery, and they are not part of the price.
What this index will not be used to say
It will not support "the average cost is" one dollar. It will not support a percent saved against a competitor's number. It will not support a claim that the low end is available this week on your street. It will not be back-solved into a per-mile rate for a short trip and then sold as a quote. Those uses throw away the labels that make the figure true.
The public explorer, when you want to filter it, is the price index. Read the date before you copy a cell into anything else.
Questions
Why not publish one average cost to ship a car?
An average without the lane, the vehicle, the date, and the count mixes different jobs and hides how many shipments sit behind it. The index keeps a range. A middle value may exist in the data for the series. The number a reader should plan with is the range, next to the count.
Are the review prices a random sample?
No. They are prices people wrote down when they reviewed a move on MoveAdvisor, a sister site. People who review are not every customer. The model is adjusted to those reports and labeled as a model. When a band later rests on enough reported prices, the label should say how many and over which months.
Does the index update when diesel updates?
The diesel series is weekly. A range that uses the current index should carry the date of that input. A screenshot without a date is not the index.
Can I cite a cell from the index?
Yes, if you cite the range, the scope, the vehicle class, the transport type, the sample size, the model version, and the date. Citing only the low end, or only a national sentence, misuses it.
Who maintains the formula?
RideShipper. Parameters live with a model version. This page describes that version in words. It does not publish a coefficient you should copy into a spreadsheet and treat as permanent.