In the car shipping industry, as far as the carriers are concerned, it does not matter to them when an order is booked. In other words, it is not first come … first served. So nobody has reserved a spot, a space, on a transport trailer simply by booking their order weeks or even months in advance. 

What matters to auto transport carriers are their profits. To that end, they choose orders, which they call loads, that are the highest paying, or logistically make the most sense with an eye always on the bottom line. The carriers seek to maximize their profit, like everybody else.

Do not book a car shipment to San Francisco too early. You might be priced too low, in which case, your vehicle will likely be rejected by the carriers and won’t ship. Or if it does ship, it will be the last to do so, and probably far later than you had hoped. 

Conversely, booking too early might also mean you unwittingly committed to a higher-than-necessary price to ship your car in a timely fashion. The high price might have been the market rate at the time of booking, but in the interim, car shipping rates may have come down and you won’t enjoy the savings. 

It is always best to have the current market pricing, which guards against both too low and too high a transport price. 

Direct Express Auto Transport has been in the car shipping business for a long time. Over twenty years. We say a good rule of thumb is to book your vehicle shipment to San Francisco about 7 days before availability. 

Most car transport carriers will not commit to a vehicle shipment more than three days in advance of availability. What has anyone gained, therefore, from booking weeks in advance? The answer is nothing, of course. 

So why book much earlier than one week before availability?

Almost year round more vehicles are being shipped from San Francisco than to it. Rarely is it the opposite. That reverses, however, in the Autumn Season when there are significantly more cars being shipped to San Francisco, which drives up the car shipping rates to San Francisco. 

It would be a good idea to steer clear of shipping a car to San Francisco in the months of October and November if your goal is to save money. 

Toward the end of November comes Thanksgiving. Many vehicle transport drivers manipulate their route schedules to make it home for Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving falls every year on the fourth Thursday in November, and drivers are usually home by Tuesday or Wednesday before. They don’t get back on the road until usually the Monday after Thanksgiving. That provides a five-day break.

Other than the New Year’s holiday, the most prolonged and toughest time of year for vehicle transport pricing to San Francisco, California occurs in the Autumn Season. 

In Autumn, more vehicles are shipping to San Francisco, and fewer leaving. October and November are the only two months in the year when it is harder and more expensive to ship a car to San Francisco.

One of the hardest things to do is ship a car to San Francisco in the winter season. Especially during the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays. 

When we talk about the effect of seasonality on the auto transport industry, it is late December and early January that we most allude. It is chaotic, costly, and stressful during the holidays to ship a car to San Francisco. 

Once Christmas arrives, the vehicle shipping cost rises incrementally almost daily for four weeks. If a customer booked too early, he will likely have too low a price when the time comes to ship his car. He will have to wait. Or add money to rectify the dilemma. 

Here is what typically happens to the sheer number of vehicles shipping to California on any given day in the Winter Season from December through February.

If at all possible, you should avoid the last two weeks of December and the first three weeks of January. It is chaotic for brokers, carriers, and customers alike.

The early Spring months in March are very manageable for car shipping to or from San Francisco. But starting in late April, and throughout all of May, significantly more vehicles are shipping from San Francisco than to it. That serves to drive down the auto transport cost to San Francisco in the Spring Season. It is a great time to ship a car to San Francisco.

Auto transport to San Francisco in the Summer Season is far busier than in the Spring Season. The ratios can be deceiving relative to the volume of activity. The reason there appear to be fewer cars on any given day being shipped to San Francisco in the Summer is only because what becomes available doesn’t stay on the load board very long. 

Because there are often two or three times more cars shipping from San Francisco in the Summer, it creates a high demand for vehicles shipping there. Rest assured that there are still plenty of orders being placed every day in the Summer to San Francisco and gobbled up quickly. 

Auto transport costs to San Francisco in the Summer Season are less than from San Francisco. It occasionally costs about 20-30% more to ship from San Francisco in the Summer Season than it does going there.

Car transport carrier drivers enjoy being home as much as you do for the 4th of July festivities. The hometown parade. The barbecue with family and friends. A mid-summer rest with the people you love. 

The 4th of July holiday creates a backlog of car shipping orders. It gets worse if the 4th falls on a Wednesday, as drivers are divided on whether to enjoy a five-day holiday before or after the 4th of July. Ugh. 

If the 4th of July falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, the mini-vacation weekend becomes more clear. But the holiday is slightly prolonged and orders are still backed up in the freight system. 

When the carriers get back to work in early July, the highest-paying vehicle shipping orders get assigned first. For about two weeks thereafter, many customers find it both more expensive and frustrating.

The thing to do, and here is your tip, is to avoid vehicle shipping to San Francisco the last week of June and the first week of July.

There is a very discernible car shipping spike every year in the late Summer Season shipping from California. While California has many popular universities and colleges that attract students from all over America, still there are far more California college students leaving the state for universities out-of-state.

That helps make car shipping to California in late August both cheaper and faster. 

When is the best time to ship a car to San Francisco? Probably the Spring and Summer seasons. Car shipping quotes tend to be lower and service faster. The Autumn and Winter Seasons are more costly. 

As far as car shipping to San Francisco goes, some seasons are much easier than others. 

The Autumn Season is steady for car shipping to San Francisco at the beginning (in September) and at the end (November), but is more expensive in October and most of November (until Thanksgiving).

The Winter season is the hardest and most expensive around the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays. 

The Spring Season is a good time for vehicle shipping to San Francisco. 

The Summer Season is a difficult time shipping from San Francisco, but that makes it ideal for transport to San Francisco. 

Direct Express Auto Transport originated the instant car shipping quote calculator in 2004. It is still the best, most sophisticated, reliable tool available online. We offer three options that we call tiers of car shipping quote estimates to San Francisco, CA.

The Standard rate is the cheapest car shipping quote. Use the Standard rate if you can be patient. 

The Expedited rate, or tier as we call them, is the most recommended and best auto transport quote. We have countless satisfied Expedited rate customers because the vehicle shipping process tends to go quicker. 

The Rush rate is our highest level of car transport quotes and service, and many customers are glad they went with that method too. If in a hurry, go Rush rate. 

Direct Express Auto Transport uniquely has three levels of service on every route, including shipping a car to San Francisco. The customers who choose the highest Rush rate are typically happiest with the service. 

The customers who choose the Expedited rate are often satisfied with the results. 

Those who book the Standard rate to San Francisco during the busy season are sometimes frustrated waiting their turn. 

Regardless of the season, the smartest thing to do if you are in a hurry is to ship your car with the higher Rush or Expedited rates.