Long Island Auto Transport & Car Shipping

Neptune Auto Transport ships vehicles across the whole of Long Island, both Nassau and Suffolk counties, from the Queens line out to Montauk Point. We arrange carrier insured, door-to-door Long Island auto transport on open and enclosed carriers, connecting the Island with all 48 contiguous states, at one transparent all-inclusive price with a specialist managing the move end to end.

Auto transport on Long Island: what to expect

Long Island stretches roughly 120 miles east from the New York City line, which makes it two very different shipping markets wearing one name. Western Nassau is effectively part of the metro area, dense, close to the bridges, quick to serve. The East End is rural and seasonal, and a pickup in Montauk or Southampton is a different proposition from one in Mineola. We quote and schedule accordingly rather than pretending the Island is one place.

The single most important local fact for anyone shipping a car here is that Long Island's parkways are closed to commercial vehicles. The Northern State, Southern State, Meadowbrook, Wantagh and Ocean parkways were built with low stone-arch overpasses and posted commercial bans, so an auto carrier cannot use them at all. Every truck moves on the Long Island Expressway (I-495), Sunrise Highway (Route 27), Jericho Turnpike (Route 25) or the local roads that connect them. That constraint shapes routing, timing and which meeting points actually work, and it is the thing out-of-area brokers most often get wrong.

Communities we serve across Nassau and Suffolk

We pick up and deliver across both counties, including:

• Western Nassau: Great Neck, Manhasset, Port Washington, Mineola, Garden City, New Hyde Park, Valley Stream and Hempstead.
• Central Nassau: Levittown, Hicksville, Westbury, Syosset, Plainview, Bethpage and Farmingdale.
• South Shore: Massapequa, Freeport, Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Babylon, Bay Shore and Patchogue.
• North Shore & central Suffolk: Huntington, Commack, Smithtown, Stony Brook, Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma and Islip.
• East End: Riverhead, Westhampton, Southampton, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Greenport and Montauk.

Most suburban addresses on the Island allow a straight curbside pickup, driveways are wide, streets are open, and access is genuinely easy compared with the boroughs.

Long Island pickup & delivery considerations

Because carriers are restricted to the LIE, Sunrise Highway and Route 25, pickup times track those corridors. Addresses within a few miles of an LIE exit are the simplest to schedule; the farther south or east you are from one, the more the driver has to plan around. In practice, most Nassau and western Suffolk pickups happen at the door.

Two situations call for a meeting point. In the older village centers, parts of Huntington, Port Jefferson, Sag Harbor, the streets are narrow and a full-size carrier can't turn comfortably, so the driver suggests a nearby lot or a wide stretch of main road. And on the East End, distance is the factor: Montauk is about 120 miles from the city line down a two-lane road, so pickup windows out there run a little longer, particularly in summer when Route 27 traffic is heavy. Booking a few extra days ahead solves it.

Popular Long Island car shipping routes

The Island's lanes are dominated by seasonal and relocation traffic:

• Long Island → Florida, the busiest lane by a wide margin, peaking each fall as seasonal residents head south and reversing in spring. See New York to Florida and Florida to New York.
• Long Island → the Carolinas, steady relocation traffic toward Charlotte and Raleigh; see New York to North Carolina.
• Long Island → Arizona, the second winter lane, toward Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tucson; see New York to Arizona.
• Long Island → California, cross-country moves and collector-car deliveries; see New York to California and the return leg, California to New York.
• Long Island → Texas and Illinois, corporate relocations; see New York to Texas and New York to Illinois.

Short metro hops are common as well, into Brooklyn, New York City and across to New Jersey. For everything we run statewide, see our New York auto transport page.

Vehicles & transport options for Long Island

Sedans, SUVs, pickups, vans, motorcycles and high-value collector cars all move to and from the Island regularly. The two core choices:

• Open transport, the affordable, high-availability standard for everyday vehicles, and what most Nassau and Suffolk moves use.
• Enclosed transport, fully covered protection from weather, salt air and road debris. Demand for it is unusually strong on the East End, where luxury and exotic vehicles and classic and collector cars move seasonally between summer and winter homes.

All moves are door-to-door, expedited service is available when a date is fixed, and motorcycle shipping uses specialized soft-strapping.

How much does it cost to ship a car to or from Long Island?

Long Island pricing is driven by the same factors as anywhere else, plus one local wrinkle:

• Distance and lane demand, Long Island–Florida is a high-volume corridor and prices accordingly.
• Where on the Island you are, a Nassau address near an LIE exit is cheaper to serve than an East End address 90 minutes farther out.
• Vehicle size, weight and condition, larger and non-running vehicles cost more.
• Open vs. enclosed, enclosed adds a significant premium.
• Season, the fall southbound and spring northbound snowbird peaks are the tightest windows of the year here; booking two to three weeks ahead genuinely helps.

We don't post made-up averages. You get one all-inclusive price for your exact vehicle and route. For the underlying mechanics, see our guide on car shipping cost.

How long does it take to ship a car to or from Long Island?

Standard pickup is usually assigned within 2–5 business days, add a day or two for East End addresses in peak summer. Once loaded, transit to Florida generally runs 3–5 days, the Carolinas 2–3, Chicago 2–4, Texas 5–7, and California or the Pacific Northwest about 7–10. We give you a realistic window rather than a promise, and your specialist flags any change as soon as the carrier reports it.

Common reasons customers ship cars on Long Island

The pattern here is distinctive: seasonal residents moving vehicles between Long Island and Florida or Arizona twice a year; East End summer households shipping a second or collector car out each fall; relocations in and out of the metro area; students at Stony Brook, Hofstra, Adelphi and Farmingdale State moving a car for the academic year; military PCS moves; and vehicle purchases from out-of-state dealers and auctions. Whatever the reason, the process is the same and the price is quoted up front.