Licensed motor carrier. Not a broker.
There is no deposit and nothing due at booking. You pay on delivery, after you have walked around your car and signed the Bill of Lading.
Four short steps. No deposit, and nothing is due until delivery.
Our office reviews the route and comes back to you with a real price. If you would rather talk to a person right now, call us.
Call (941) 205-0012No deposit. Requesting a price costs nothing and commits you to nothing. You pay when the car is in your driveway.
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What customers say
Straight from our Google Business Profile. We do not host these reviews, we cannot edit them, and we cannot take one down. Read them, then call and ask us whatever they did not happen to cover.
Carrier, not broker
When you ask for a quote online, you are almost always talking to a broker. A broker owns no trucks and employs no drivers. They take your money, post your car on a load board, and wait for some stranger's truck to accept the price. If no driver takes it, the price gets raised, or your car sits in the driveway another week while nobody calls you back.
Lopes Express Shipping is a licensed motor carrier. The seven trucks are ours. The drivers are our employees, on our payroll, running the same road year after year. We own the trucks that run Florida to New England, and that is the whole business. One lane, both directions, all season.
That makes this a different purchase than the one you were about to make. We own the trucks that run Florida to New England, so the same company quotes the job, loads your car, straps it down, drives it, and hands you the keys. There is nobody in the middle to blame, no second price to negotiate with a driver you have never met, and one phone number that stays the same from the first call to the last.
Our equipment
Real photos of the rigs, the decks, the ramps and the straps that carry cars on this lane. A broker has nothing to show you here, because a broker owns nothing to photograph.
Every photo on this page is our own equipment on our own lane. A broker has nothing to show you here, because a broker owns nothing to photograph.
The price we give you is the price written on the Bill of Lading, and that gets signed before the car goes up the ramp. We are the ones hauling it, so there is no driver later who has to be talked into the number.
There is no deposit and nothing is due at booking, so nobody is holding your money while a load board decides whether your car is worth hauling. You pay on delivery, when your car is in front of you.
We give you a window, not a promise, and we tell you that up front because weather and traffic on I-95 do what they want. If the day moves, we call you and tell you why, instead of waiting for you to call us three times.
The phone is answered Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM ET, by the same small family office that booked the load. We speak English and Portuguese, and we own the trucks that run this lane, so we can call the driver and tell you where things stand.
The car is inspected and the Bill of Lading is signed by both parties at pickup, and inspected and signed again at delivery, so the condition is on paper at both ends with your signature on it. We are a licensed and insured motor carrier, and the claim sits with us, not with a stranger somebody hired on your behalf.
Carrier or broker
Most of the companies that come up when you search for auto transport are brokers. That is not an insult, it is a business model, and it is legal and common. But it changes who has your car, who sets your final price, and who picks up the phone in week two. Before you book with anyone, ask which one they are. Here is where we sit.
| Lopes Express | A broker | |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the truck | We do. Seven of them, and they run this lane. | A broker owns no trucks. It sells your job to whichever carrier accepts it. |
| Who is driving your car | A Lopes employee, on our payroll, hauling our load. | A driver the broker has never met, at a company you did not choose. |
| What is due upfront | Nothing. $0 deposit. You pay the driver at delivery. | A deposit is commonly charged at booking, before any truck has been assigned. |
| What happens to the price | The number we quote is the number on the Bill of Lading and the number you pay. | A low posted price can be raised later if no carrier will take the load at it. |
| How your car gets on a truck | We own the trucks that run Florida to New England, and it goes on one of them. | It is posted to a load board and waits for a stranger to accept the price. |
| Who answers after pickup | Our office, Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM ET. We can reach the driver directly, because he works for us. | A dispatcher who has to call the carrier, wait, and then call you back. |
| Where the trucks run | Florida to New England and back, on I-95. One lane, both directions. | Wherever a load board carrier can be found to drive it. |
A broker is a licensed middleman. Brokers are legal, regulated, and some of them are good at their job. The difference is who owns the truck, because that is who controls the price and the schedule.
How it works
From the first call to the keys back in your hand.
You call or text and tell us where the car is, where it is going, the year, make, and model, and roughly when you want it moved. We price it off the miles. The published rate on this lane is $1.10 a mile for a standard car, and pickups and large SUVs cost more. The sample runs shown on this site are examples, not quotes. Your number comes from us, out loud, before you commit to anything.
Nothing is due to book. No deposit, no card on file, no money upfront of any kind. We put you on a truck and give you a pickup window, because weather and traffic on I-95 do not take orders and no honest carrier guarantees a date. We give you a window, not a promise. If that window moves, we call you. You should not have to chase us for it.
The driver meets you at the car and the two of you walk around it together. Every scratch, chip, dent, and curbed wheel that is already there goes onto the Bill of Lading, and you both sign it before anything moves. You keep your copy. Then the car goes up the ramp, gets strapped and ratcheted down at the wheels, and the truck heads north or south.
The driver calls you ahead of the drop so you are standing there when the car comes off the deck. You walk it again, against the same Bill of Lading you signed at pickup, and both of you sign it a second time. That signed pair of inspections is your record, and it is why we do it in front of you instead of behind you. Payment is due then, at delivery, and not one minute before.
What we haul
Everything below runs on our own equipment between Florida and New England.
This is the standard product and the one most cars ride on. Your car rides on an open, multi car hauler, the same kind of truck that delivers new cars to dealerships. It goes up the ramp under its own power, gets strapped and ratcheted down at the wheels, and travels alongside other cars headed the same direction. Sharing the deck is what keeps the price where it is, and open transport means weather and road dust are part of the deal. Everything else is our job.
Every fall the cars go south and every spring they come back north, and we run both directions the whole season. That matters, because we are not out looking for someone else's truck that happens to be pointed your way. If you already know your return dates, book both legs at once and we will plan the second one around them. Weather and traffic move schedules, so we give you a window, not a promise, and if that window moves we are the ones who call you.
The truck comes to where the car is sitting, your driveway, your building, your condo lot, and it goes to the address you give us on the other end. A loaded car hauler is long, tall, and heavy, and some streets simply cannot take one. If the road is too narrow, the turn is too tight, or there are low branches or a low wire, the driver calls you and the two of you agree on a wide, safe spot nearby, usually a shopping center lot a few minutes away. You are not left to sort that out by yourself on pickup morning.
Top load means your car rides on the upper deck, with nothing parked above it. People ask for it on low cars, on fresh paint, and on cars they are careful with. It is an optional add on and it costs extra, because there are only so many upper deck spots on a truck. Ask when you call and we will tell you straight whether we have one on your load or not.
We move dealer inventory, auction buys, and trade ins on the same Florida to New England lane, on the same trucks and with the same drivers. Pickup at the auction gate or the dealer lot, delivery to your receiving lot. The Bill of Lading is inspected and signed at both ends, exactly the way it is for a retail customer. You work the terms out directly with Marcus, on the same lane our own trucks already run.
Fleets get out of balance on this lane every year. Units pile up in Florida in the spring and in New England in the fall, and somebody has to move them back. We move fleet units on the same lane and the same trucks, on timing you and Marcus talk through in advance. Tell us the count, the two ends, and your timing, and we will tell you what fits on a truck and what it costs.
By the numbers
These are our operating numbers, taken from our own records and our own digital inspection platform. Nothing here is an industry average or an estimate.
What our digital inspection platform has logged since we went paperless. It moves because the trucks do.
Marcus Lopes started hauling cars in January of that year.
Not a network. Not a load board. Seven trucks and our own drivers.
Florida and New England. We do not run anywhere else, on purpose.
The vehicle count moves on its own because the trucks do. It is fed by our digital inspection platform, not by a marketing estimate.
What it costs
Five real routes off our own rate sheet, so you can see the shape of the number before you call.
| Pickup | Delivery | Miles | Example total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pompano Beach, FL 33060 | Boston, MA 02108 | 1,458 | $1,603 |
| Naples, FL 34101 | Manchester, NH 03101 | 1,529 | $1,681 |
| Orlando, FL 32801 | Woburn, MA 01801 | 1,298 | $1,427 |
| Jacksonville, FL 32202 | Danbury, CT 06810 | 996 | $1,095 |
| Palm Beach, FL 33407 | Hyannis, MA 02601 | 1,471 | $1,618 |
These are examples for a standard sedan on an open carrier, not quotes. Pickups, large SUVs and anything oversized cost more. Your price depends on the two doors, the vehicle and the season, and we confirm it before anything is scheduled.
A broker's first number is a sales number. It has to be low enough to win you, and it is not the number that gets a truck to your driveway. If no driver takes the load at that price, the price goes up, and by then they have your deposit.
We own the truck, so our number is the cost of the trip plus what it takes to keep the truck running. There is nobody to renegotiate with later, because there is nobody else in the deal.
If a quote you got is far below everything else on the market, that is the one worth asking hard questions about. Ask who owns the truck, and ask what happens if no driver accepts the load.
Discounts
Three straightforward discounts. One code, no fine print maze, and we tell you the discounted total before you commit to anything.
Who it is for. Active duty, veterans, and immediate family.
What we need. Military ID, a DD-214, or PCS orders. Show it to the driver or email it to the office.
Who it is for. Anyone who has shipped with us before, including every snowbird round trip.
What we need. Nothing to send. We look up your last Bill of Lading.
Who it is for. College students shipping a car to or from school.
What we need. A current student ID or a class schedule with your name on it.
Straight answers
More of them on the questions page.
We are a licensed and insured motor carrier, USDOT 3013626, MC-30467. We own the trucks that run Florida to New England, seven of them, and the drivers are Lopes employees. A broker does not own the truck. A broker takes your money, posts your car on a load board, and waits for a stranger's truck to accept the price.
No. The number we agree on before pickup is the number written on the Bill of Lading, and it is the number you pay at delivery. There is no fuel surcharge, no seasonal adjustment and no dispatch fee added after the fact. The only thing that changes a price is you changing the job, for example a different vehicle than the one we quoted, or a delivery address in a different city.
No. There is $0 upfront and no deposit to hold a spot on the truck. You pay when your car is off the deck, standing in front of you, and the Bill of Lading is signed at delivery. If we do not move your car, we have not taken a dollar of your money.
Payment is due on delivery, after the car comes off the deck and you have walked around it. We will tell you on the call exactly what we take, and it will be in writing and agreed before your car is picked up, so there is nothing left to settle in the driveway. Nobody is going to surprise you with a payment method in your driveway that you never agreed to.
Once your car is loaded, Florida to New England is typically a matter of days on the road. The truck is carrying other vehicles, and the order of the stops decides which day yours comes off. We give you a window, not a promise, and the driver calls ahead before he is at your door. Anyone selling you a guaranteed delivery date on this lane is selling you something he does not control.
Somebody has to be, at both ends. The Bill of Lading has to be walked and signed by a person at pickup and again at delivery, and that person is your protection. It does not have to be you. A spouse, an adult child, a neighbor or a building manager can stand in, as long as you give us their name and number ahead of time.
Yes. It has to start, steer, brake and drive on and off the ramp under its own power. Every vehicle we carry drives onto the deck on its own wheels, so a car that will not run cannot ride. If your car will not start reliably, get it running before pickup day, because we cannot load it.
Yes. Call or text (941) 205-0012, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM Eastern, or email info@lopesexpressshipping.com. You get somebody who works here and can pull up your run, not a call center reading from a script. Our staff speak English and Portuguese.
Tell us the two addresses, the year and model, and roughly when you want to travel. You get a price and a window, not a promise on a date.
No deposit. Nothing is due until your car is delivered and the Bill of Lading is signed.
