Moving a car and a household together
Moving a car and a household together means two companies, two windows, and one calendar. The household mover packs the house. A car carrier hauls the vehicle. One does not do the other's job unless its contract says so in plain words. The detail that fails is an empty house with no one left to meet the car driver. The ranges below are car estimates only.
Key facts
- Two contracts
- Ask the household mover if it hauls cars. Ask the car carrier if it hauls furniture. Expect two no answers unless the paper says yes.
- The trunk is not a second moving truck
- Cargo coverage is about the vehicle. Ask what may stay in the cabin. Documents should travel with you.
- Name a key holder
- If you fly out with the furniture schedule, someone still meets the car carrier.
- Military households are different
- A PCS entitlement is a transportation-office question. Do not substitute a commercial quote for that conversation.
- Source: militaryonesource.mil
The sources are listed on this page.
Moving a car and a household together is two schedules forced onto one week. The furniture company and the car company answer different phones. The fact that leaves people stranded is the last set of keys. You cannot be at the origin for the car and at the destination for the sofa unless someone else is holding one of those appointments. Name that person before you book the flight.
Do not assume the household estimate includes the car. Ask. The usual answer is no.
What the car costs, separate from the house
These are open car estimates only. A sedan from New York to Atlanta is $604–$920 as of , model v1 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. There is no seasonal direction adjustment for this route and month.. A sedan from Chicago to Phoenix is $915–$1,395 as of , model v1 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.. An SUV from Seattle to Denver is $739–$1,126 as of , model v1 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. There is no seasonal direction adjustment for this route and month..
The household price is a different quote from a different kind of company. RideShipper does not produce it. The relocation page is the car-side calendar. What goes in the car versus the moving truck is the packing split. Personal items are not the cargo is why a trunk full of boxes is a bad plan. If orders are military, stop and use the military page. OneSource says stateside POV transport is largely your responsibility, with exceptions the transportation office must confirm. The household shipment is not that answer.
How to run both without dropping the keys
- Put both windows on one calendar. Mark who is physically present each day.
- Ask the household mover, in writing, whether vehicles are on the estimate. Ask the car carrier whether it will move furniture. Keep the two yes-or-no answers.
- If you will be gone, name a car person at the old house. Pickup from an empty house is the failure mode.
- Carry documents yourself: titles, passports, the lease, insurance cards, and medication.
- Check the car company on SAFER. A busy move is when a low text quote gets paid without a lookup. The Better Business Bureau's 21 July 2023 alert is that pattern.
- Photograph the car. The household inventory does not list the bumper.
Have the car empty of the house, fueled as the carrier asked, and out of the way of the moving truck if both might appear the same morning. Two large vehicles and a driveway is a geometry problem. Agree which day is which.
What to ask, and the mistakes
Ask each company what it will not carry. Paint, fuel, and a full trunk are the usual refusals. Ask what storage costs if the new place is not ready. Ask who signs if the windows land on the same afternoon in different cities.
The mistake is one "full service" phone call that never books the car. Another is packing the car to save weight on the household shipment, then having the carrier refuse it or exclude the contents. Another is flying out the night before both windows, with the keys in your pocket. A fourth, for a military family, is hiring a commercial carrier before asking the transportation office whether this order is an exception. This page will not state a dollar entitlement.
Limits
Neither company, by default, does the other's work, registers the car, or forwards your mail. Storage is extra on whichever contract offers it. RideShipper does not book household movers, pack boxes, dispatch car carriers, set prices, take deposits, or insure either load. World Media Group LLC operates the car-quote service. Companies that receive a car-shipping request may pay RideShipper.
Storage is the piece families forget until one shipment arrives early. If the apartment will not take the car, ask a storage company for a price and a gate that a driver can use. If the furniture will sit, ask the household mover what storage-in-transit costs and who is responsible while it sits. Neither answer is inside the car estimate. Write the storage address only after that company has agreed to receive a vehicle or a load. A friend who said "park it in my driveway" is not storage unless they will be there to sign.
Write the two company names on the calendar before you pay either deposit. If one of the names is still blank the week you leave, that is the shipment that will go wrong.
Questions
Can one company move both?
Only if that company's contract lists both the household goods and the vehicle, with prices and liability for each. Most moves are two hires. Get the denial or the yes in writing before you leave.
What may I leave in the car?
What the car carrier allows, which is often very little. The guide on the car versus the moving truck is the split. Do not store the title, the lease, or medication in either truck as the only copy.
Which shipment should arrive first?
Whichever one you can receive. A car at an apartment you cannot enter, and furniture at a house you have left, are both stuck shipments. Build the calendar backward from who is standing where.
We are a military family. Does this page replace the transportation office?
No. Military OneSource says a stateside POV move is largely your responsibility, with exceptions you must ask the office about. Household goods are a different shipment. Use the military page and the office.
Does RideShipper book the moving truck?
No. RideShipper requests car-shipping quotes only. It does not pack houses, choose a household mover, set either price, take a deposit, or insure either load.