The standard, most economical way to ship a car — the same double-deck carriers that deliver new vehicles to dealerships every day.
Fast, secure pricing in 30 seconds.
Open transport means your vehicle rides on an open-air trailer, usually a two-level carrier that holds eight to ten cars. It's how roughly nine out of ten vehicles in the United States are shipped, and it's how every new car gets from the factory or the port to a dealership. The vehicle is secured with wheel straps or soft tie-downs, inspected at pickup and again at delivery, and covered by the carrier's cargo insurance for the whole trip.
Because open carriers are far more common than enclosed ones, they're also the fastest to schedule. On the busy lanes out of Southern California — Phoenix, Las Vegas, the Bay Area, Texas — there are open trucks leaving every day.
Daily drivers, family SUVs, pickups, lease returns, dealer inventory, cars going to students, vehicles headed to relatives — anything where you want the car to arrive safely at the lowest reasonable price. Your vehicle is exposed to weather and road dust in transit, the same way it is on any highway drive, and arrives needing a wash. For most vehicles that's a fair trade for the savings.
If the vehicle is a classic, an exotic, freshly painted or simply something you'd be upset to see with a rock chip, look at enclosed transport instead. The instant quote on this page prices both so you can compare.
Every open-transport quote from Golden State is all-in: door-to-door pickup and delivery (or a nearby meeting point where a full-size carrier can't reach your street), the carrier's cargo insurance, fuel, and a coordinator who tracks the shipment from pickup to delivery. There are no fuel surcharges or delivery fees added later.
Most open-transport pickups in the Los Angeles area happen within one to three days of your first available date. Regional lanes — Arizona, Nevada, Northern California — deliver in one to two days once loaded; Texas and the Mountain West in three to five; the Midwest in five to seven; the East Coast in seven to ten. A pickup window of three to five days almost always gets a better price than a single fixed day, because it lets a carrier already passing through add your car.
Get a free, no-obligation quote in about 30 seconds — or call and talk to a real coordinator.
