Golf cart, ATV and UTV transport

Neptune arranges golf cart, ATV, UTV and side by side transport in the 48 contiguous states. These are small, low and awkward to secure, which makes them easy for a carrier to handle badly and easy for a broker to price wrong. We have moved them in 19 states since October 2022. We are a broker: we arrange the move and dispatch it to a vetted carrier.

Shipping a golf cart

Golf cart shipping is the most common of the requests on this page. A golf cart is light and short, so it rarely travels alone. Most often it rides alongside cars on a standard open carrier, filling space a full-size vehicle cannot use. That is why golf cart transport can be surprisingly reasonable over a long distance and surprisingly awkward over a short one: on a long run there is almost always a truck already going your way with a gap.

What matters for a cart: whether it rolls and steers, its height with the roof and windshield on, and whether it is a standard cart or a lifted or custom build. Lifted carts with oversized tires and light bars stop fitting the gaps that make them cheap to move. Carts we have handled include Club Car, Yamaha, Tomberlin, Evolution, and one custom Hummer-bodied cart.

Batteries stay in. Lithium packs should be at a moderate state of charge rather than full, and the key should come with the cart, not stay at home.

ATV, UTV and side by side transport

These are heavier and wider than golf carts, and width is what decides how they travel. ATV shipping and UTV transport price on width far more than on weight. A single ATV is straightforward. A full-size side by side, a Polaris RZR or a Can-Am Defender, can be wide enough that it stops sharing a deck neatly with cars, which changes the carrier pool and the price.

Machines from our records include Polaris RZR and Sportsman, Can-Am Defender, Outlander and Maverick, Honda Pioneer 1000, and Yamaha Banshee. Roll cages, light bars and aftermarket bumpers all add width or height, so measure the machine as it actually sits rather than quoting the factory spec.

Drain fuel to a low level, disconnect or secure the battery if the machine will sit, fold or remove mirrors, and take off anything that unclips. Loose accessories are the usual cause of transit damage on these.

Open or enclosed?

Open transport is the default and it is what most of these moves use. The machine is exposed to weather and road grime the same way it would be on a trailer behind your own truck.

Enclosed makes sense for a high-value custom cart, a show machine, a fresh restoration, or anything with paint and vinyl you do not want sandblasted over a thousand miles. It costs more and the carrier pool is smaller. Our enclosed transport page explains the trade in full.

How much does it cost to ship a golf cart or ATV?

There is no flat rate, and we do not publish a band for these. We have moved 23 of them across four years, which tells us the corridors and not much about percentiles. We do not publish numbers we cannot stand behind.

What sets the price: distance and whether the corridor is one carriers already run, the width and height of the machine as it sits, whether it rolls and steers under its own weight, open or enclosed, how flexible your dates are, and whether a full-size truck can reach both addresses. A cart in a gated community with low branches over the entrance is a different pickup from one on an open driveway.

How long does it take?

Across these moves the median time from pickup to delivery was 2 days. Regional moves often deliver the same day or the next. The wait is usually for the right truck with the right gap, not for the driving.

Choosing "Other" on the quote form

This is the one piece of process worth knowing before you start. Our quote form lists Car, SUV, Truck, Motorcycle and Other. There is no golf cart or ATV option, so choose Other. It routes correctly to our dispatch team, and it is the same selection our own staff use internally for these.

In the notes, give us the make and model, whether it rolls and steers, and the width and height as it currently sits including any lift, light bar or roof. Those are the numbers that decide which trucks can take it.

Insurance in transit is held by the assigned carrier, not by Neptune, and we provide the certificate before pickup. See how insurance works during transport for what that covers.