Drive It or Ship It? Run the Numbers

For a CONUS move this is the real decision, and you can calculate it rather than guess.

DoD pays a Monetary Allowance in Lieu of Transportation — MALT — for driving a POV during PCS travel. As of a mid-year adjustment effective 1 July 2026, that rate is $0.235 per mile, up from $0.205 earlier in the year. It is calculated on official DoD distance tables rather than your odometer, it is non-taxable, and it is authorized for up to two vehicles. Per diem for authorized travel days is separate and paid on top.

So the comparison is not shipping cost against fuel. It is:

• What you receive if you drive: MALT at the current rate for the official distance, plus per diem for the authorized travel days.
• What driving actually costs you: fuel, any lodging above what per diem covers, meals beyond it, the mileage and wear you put on the vehicle, and the days themselves.
• What shipping costs: the transport quote, minus whatever MALT you would forgo, plus getting yourself to the new duty station.

On a short move the mileage allowance usually makes driving the better deal. On a long one — particularly with two vehicles and only one driver, or with a family flying — shipping frequently wins even before you count the wear or the days. Two vehicles and one adult driver is the case where shipping almost always makes sense, because someone has to move the second car regardless.

Check the current MALT rate before you decide. It is adjusted periodically and the figure above may have moved.

Shipping a Second Vehicle

The entitlement covers one vehicle. Households frequently have two, or three with a teenager’s car, or a car plus a motorcycle.

Everything past the first vehicle is at your expense, and that is the most common reason military families call a commercial transport company. If you are shipping one POV under your entitlement and moving a second vehicle yourself, we can handle the second one — and if both are moving commercially, two vehicles on the same route usually cost less per vehicle than two separate bookings.

Tell us at the quote stage if a second or third vehicle is involved. It changes how the load is planned and it is where most of the saving is.

How Military Car Shipping Works

1. Quote. Pickup and delivery ZIP codes, the vehicle’s year, make and model, whether it runs, and your earliest availability. Tell us the destination is a base, and which one — it affects how delivery is arranged.
2. Carrier assignment. Your vehicle is matched to a carrier running your route. Every carrier is checked for active FMCSA operating authority, current insurance and a clean recent safety record. You get the carrier name and driver contact once assigned.
3. Pickup and the Bill of Lading. The driver calls ahead. You walk the vehicle together and record its condition on the Bill of Lading — your receipt and the legal record of condition at handoff. Photograph everything in daylight before you sign.
4. In transit. You can reach the driver directly, and we can pull a status any time.
5. Delivery. The driver calls ahead to arrange the handoff point. Inspect against your pickup photos before signing.

Delivery To or Near a Military Base

This is the part that surprises people, and almost no transport website explains it.

A commercial driver generally cannot bring a car hauler onto an installation. Base access requires credentials the driver does not have, and even where a visitor pass is possible, the process is slow and a large commercial vehicle may not be permitted through regardless. Add the physical reality that an 80-foot hauler needs room to maneuver and a gate queue is not the place for it.

So the normal arrangement is a handoff just outside the gate or at a large lot nearby — a commissary parking area outside the wire, a shopping center, a wide commercial frontage road. This is completely standard, it happens on most base-bound shipments, and the only thing that makes it a problem is not knowing in advance.

What helps:

• Tell us the installation name at the quote stage, not on delivery day
• Have a meeting point in mind outside the gate — somewhere with room and, if delivery might be after dark, lighting
• If you live in on-base housing, plan to meet the driver rather than expecting delivery to your door
• If you are in a barracks or dorm, the same applies, and you may want a colleague available in case duty runs long
• Give the driver a phone number that will actually be answered — not a desk line you may not be near

If your new address is off base, this is usually a non-issue and normal door-to-door delivery applies, subject to the usual street access considerations covered on our door-to-door car transport service.

Timing Around Your Orders

Military moves have a specific timing problem: the report date is firm, the rest is not.

Book as early as you reasonably can once you have orders in hand. Two to three weeks of lead time gets you a better rate and a wider choice of carriers than a few days does, and PCS season — broadly late spring through summer — is the busiest stretch of the year on the whole network, not just for military moves.

Give a pickup window rather than a single date wherever possible. If your orders are still pending or your report date may shift, say so when you book. It is far easier to plan around a known uncertainty than to rearrange a confirmed shipment.

When you arrive before the car

This happens constantly, particularly when you fly and the vehicle drives. Think about where the car goes if it arrives while you are still in temporary lodging.

Options worth considering: delivery to a friend or colleague already at the installation who can accept on your behalf, delivery timed for after you have housing, or a short storage arrangement locally. Tell us which situation you are in and we can work the timing around it rather than delivering a car to someone who has nowhere to put it.

Deployment, TDY and Short-Notice Moves

Not every military vehicle move is a PCS.

• Deployment. Vehicles often need to go somewhere for the duration — to family, to a storage facility, or back to a home of record. The move itself is a standard shipment; what matters is planning it around a departure date you may not fully control.
• TDY and training. Longer temporary duty sometimes justifies moving a vehicle. Same service, shorter notice.
• Separation and retirement. Moving back to a home of record, often with more than one vehicle and a firm date.
• Short-notice orders. When the timeline is genuinely tight, expedited auto transport shortens the pickup window at a higher rate. Ask at the quote stage rather than after booking.

Costs and Military Discounts

Military car shipping is priced the same way as any other vehicle shipment: distance, vehicle size, whether it runs, route popularity, season and lead time. There is no separate military rate structure — what varies is whether a discount applies on top.

What genuinely affects your cost:

• PCS season. Late spring through summer is the busiest period on the network. Booking three or four weeks ahead in June is worth more than any discount.
• Shipping two vehicles together. Usually cheaper per vehicle than two separate bookings on the same route.
• Flexibility on the pickup window. The single most effective lever on any shipment.
• Meeting the driver at an accessible point. Standard for base deliveries anyway, and it can keep an access surcharge off the quote.
• Open rather than enclosed. For a standard daily driver, open transport is the sensible choice.

Open or Enclosed for a PCS Move?

Open transport is right for almost every PCS shipment. Daily drivers, family vehicles, commuter cars — open is what nine out of ten vehicles ship on nationally and it is the sensible economic choice when you are already absorbing the cost of a move.

Enclosed is worth considering in the usual narrow cases: a classic or restored vehicle, custom paint, a genuinely high-value car, or a winter route across salted mountain passes. Our enclosed auto transport service covers the trade-off in detail.

One PCS-specific consideration: if your route crosses a northern corridor in deep winter — an assignment change to or from Alaska-adjacent postings, or a move over I-90 or I-80 in January — road salt reaches the underside of a vehicle on an open deck. For most cars that is a wash and a rinse. For an older or valued vehicle it may justify the difference.

How to Prepare Your Vehicle

• Wash it. Existing chips and scratches need to be visible at inspection — this protects you.
• Photograph everything in daylight: all panels, both bumpers, roof, wheels, windshield, interior and the odometer.
• Leave about a quarter tank of fuel.
• Remove toll transponders and base decals or passes you do not want traveling with the car.
• Keep personal items to the 100 lb allowance, in the trunk, and understand that none of it is insured.
• Remove or secure loose exterior accessories — bike racks, cargo boxes, antennas.
• Disable the alarm or explain how to.
• Check tire pressure and battery charge. The vehicle needs to move under its own power unless booked as inoperable.
• Fix active leaks.
• Make sure your registration and insurance are current — you will need them at the other end, and a lapsed registration is a bad thing to discover after a move.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the government is paying for a CONUS move
• Booking before checking with the transportation office what your orders actually authorize
• Not telling us the destination is a base until delivery day
• Expecting delivery to on-base housing
• Waiting until PCS season is underway to book
• Giving a single fixed pickup date when the report date might move
• Leaving valuables or documents in the car — nothing inside is insured
• Signing the Bill of Lading before walking the vehicle, at either end

If You Can’t Be There for Pickup or Delivery

Duty does not always accommodate a delivery window, and this is one of the most common situations in military shipping.

Any adult over 18 can act on your behalf at either end — a spouse, a parent, a colleague, a neighbor. Give us their name and number in advance so the driver is not calling an unknown number.

Brief them properly, because this is more than handing over keys. Your representative completes the condition inspection and signs the Bill of Lading, which means they are accepting the vehicle’s condition for you. Send them your pickup photos so they have something to compare against, and tell them to note anything that does not match before signing rather than after.

If a spouse is handling the move while you are already at the new station or deployed, tell us that at booking. It changes nothing operationally but it means we contact the right person from the start.

Questions to Ask Before You Book

• Have I confirmed with my transportation office what my orders actually authorize?
• Can you deliver to or near [installation name], and where would the handoff happen?
• Is the quoted price what I pay at delivery, or an estimate that can change?
• Do you offer a military discount, what is it, and what proof do you need?
• Are you a licensed motor carrier, a broker, or both — and what are your MC and DOT numbers?
• What insurance applies, is it primary or contingent, and can I see the certificate?
• What happens if my report date changes after I book?

Can my spouse or a colleague release and receive the vehicle?

Why Military Families Ship With Prime Auto Movers LLC

Prime Auto Movers LLC is an FMCSA-authorized motor carrier (MC# 1743601, DOT# 4431271), fully compliant with U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) regulations. We provide nationwide car shipping and auto transport services, including door-to-door delivery for cars, motorcycles, boats, and heavy equipment. Every vehicle is handled by qualified, insured carriers and delivered safely and on time. Whether you’re shipping across town or across the country, our nationwide network covers major routes coast to coast — including Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, and New York, along with cities throughout Washington, California, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and beyond. With transparent pricing and clear communication at every step, we make interstate and cross-country car shipping simple and stress-free.

On a military booking specifically: we ask which installation you are going to at the quote stage and plan the handoff around it, we work with shifting report dates rather than treating a booking as fixed, your vehicle travels under the assigned carrier’s cargo insurance backed by our contingent coverage, and we will tell you honestly when driving under your mileage allowance would serve you better than shipping.