Tennessee to Texas Car Shipping

Tennessee to Texas car shipping costs depend on which end of Tennessee you start from. In recent months Memphis to Dallas or Houston ran about $600 to $850, while Knoxville to Houston cars ran about $950 to $1,200. In Neptune Auto Transport’s records, a third of pickups were in the Memphis area and more than a third in East Tennessee, almost half the cars went to Dallas-Fort Worth, and a quarter of the vehicles were pickup trucks, more than on any other route we run with 20 or more orders. The median trip took 1 day. Moving from Tennessee to Texas? Here are the costs, the timing and the Texas paperwork.

Why Memphis to Dallas costs less than Knoxville to Houston

Memphis sits on the Arkansas line, about 452 miles from Dallas by Google’s estimate. Knoxville is about 922 miles from Houston, and the Rio Grande Valley is farther still. Carriers price mostly by the length of the run, so the starting city moves the price more than anything else on this route. The rows below come from recent comparable shipments dispatched from November 2025 to October 2026, for an operable vehicle on an open carrier, door to door, each row based on at least three separate shipments.

Most Knoxville to Houston cars went for about $1,000 to $1,100, and across every route most SUVs went for $700 to $900, with SUVs spanning $600 to $1,000. Asking how much it costs to ship a car about 1,000 miles? On this route that is roughly Knoxville to Houston, which ran well above the Memphis to Dallas price for a car. If you are comparing TN to TX quotes, check the row that matches your starting region.

These are recent rates, not a fixed price, and they change through the year. Your quote depends on both addresses, the vehicle, your dates and which carriers are heading west. Vans are quoted one at a time. Every quote is free and all-inclusive.

One vehicle in four was a pickup truck

Six of our 24 Tennessee to Texas shipments were pickup trucks, 25%. Across all our interstate routes pickups are about 8% of vehicles, and no other route we run with 20 or more orders has a higher share. The trucks were a 2005 Dodge Ram, a 2012 Nissan Frontier, a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, a 2021 Toyota Tacoma and two Ford F-150s, leaving from Knoxville, Bristol, Greeneville, Cookeville, Cottontown and Memphis. Two vans, a Mercedes Sprinter and a minivan, made up the rest of that row.

Pickups took 2 days at the median, a day longer than cars. Before a truck ships, tell us about a lift kit, oversized tires, a topper or a long bed, because height and length decide which spot it can take on the trailer, and empty the bed unless the carrier agrees otherwise. Recent Memphis to Dallas pickups ran about $650 to $850; from East Tennessee, about $1,000 to $1,300. The other quarter of the vehicles were SUVs, from a Hyundai Kona to a Hummer H3, and one KTM motorcycle, which our motorcycle shipping service covers.

Memphis, East Tennessee and Middle Tennessee: where the cars started

The Memphis area supplied a third of pickups: Memphis six times, plus Cordova and Dyersburg. East Tennessee supplied 38%: Knoxville three times, Bristol and Greeneville in the northeast, and Chattanooga, Cleveland, Madisonville and Tellico Plains in the southeast. Middle Tennessee supplied the other 29%: Nashville twice, Clarksville, Franklin, Mount Juliet, Cottontown and Cookeville.

Where the car starts matters for the budget, since Memphis pickups priced lowest in the table above. Our Tennessee auto transport page covers pickups anywhere else in the state.

Almost half to Dallas-Fort Worth, then Houston and Austin

Dallas-Fort Worth took 46% of the cars: Dallas and Arlington twice each, plus Frisco, Wylie, Denton, Crowley, Grand Prairie, Joshua and Mesquite. Greater Houston took 29%, five of them to Houston itself and the others to Magnolia and Pearland. The rest went to Austin twice and Round Rock, to Raymondville and San Juan in the Rio Grande Valley, and to Lumberton near Beaumont.

One day from Memphis or Nashville, about two from East Tennessee

From loading to delivery the median trip took 1 day. Fourteen of 24 cars arrived the day after pickup and 22 within 2 days. Cars from the Memphis area and from the Nashville area took 1 day at the median, and every Memphis-area car bound for Dallas-Fort Worth arrived the next day. East Tennessee pickups took about 2 days, which fits the extra 400 or so miles.

Google puts Nashville to Dallas at about 664 miles, close to 10 hours on I-40 and I-30, and Memphis to Houston at about 568 miles. The pickup date is set separately: it depends on where the car is, which carriers are heading toward Texas and how flexible your dates are. For a date that cannot move, ask about expedited auto transport. The median describes finished trips, not a promised date.

Registering a Tennessee car in Texas after the 2025 inspection change

Texas gives new residents 30 days to title and register a car, and the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles asks you to do the steps in order. First, buy Texas liability insurance. Second, get an emissions test if your new county requires one. Third, take the Tennessee title, proof of insurance, ID and the completed Form 130-U to your county tax office.

The rule that changed: since January 1, 2025, Texas no longer requires a safety inspection for most passenger cars and pickups. Emissions testing still applies in 17 counties, among them Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Harris, Fort Bend, Travis and Williamson, so most of the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin addresses on this route still need one. Older guides that call for a safety inspection before registration predate the change.

Coming back east? Texas to Tennessee took a day at the median

For the trip east, our Texas to Tennessee car shipping guide shows half the cars going to the Nashville area and a third to Memphis, mostly from Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, with 15 of 27 delivered the next day. Heading west instead? Our Tennessee to California guide covers that run, and our Texas auto transport page covers every part of Texas.

How we measured it

The shares, medians and vehicle mix come from Neptune Auto Transport’s own Tennessee to Texas shipments picked up from July 2022 to March 2026, with voided orders left out. Areas are built from the first three digits of each ZIP code, transit runs from loading to delivery, and comparisons are against our other routes out of Tennessee and all our interstate routes. Percentages are rounded so each table adds to 100. The price table is separate: it reflects recent comparable shipments dispatched from November 2025 to October 2026, not our order records, and it is not a quote. No customer or address is named, and nothing here promises a price or a date.