Shipping a car from Hawaii to California: we handle every island and every leg

How much it costs to ship a car from Hawaii to California

The island your car leaves from sets most of the price. Oahu is the cheapest origin because Honolulu has weekly sailings straight to California. Every other island adds a connection, and that connection is where the extra cost comes from.

ship a car from Hawaii to California pricing matrix

Sedans, SUVs and small pickups pay the same rate as long as they fit within 21 ft 8 in long, 8 ft wide and 7 ft high.
Maui and the Big Island have the widest range because we have two ways to get a car off those islands. A direct sailing calls every two weeks and keeps the price close to the Oahu rate. The other option runs through Honolulu on a monthly barge connection and costs nearly double. When the direct sailing has room on your dates, we book it. When it doesn’t, we price the Honolulu route and show you the extra time and cost before you commit.

We route Kauai cars through the Honolulu connection, which is why Kauai sits at the top of the table. Kona has no vehicle terminal, so we truck the car to Hilo first and quote that leg once we have your pickup address.

Our port to port quote covers booking the ocean space, terminal handling in Hawaii, the island connection if your route needs one, the crossing, and release at the California port. A few things are priced separately:

If your date can’t move, we offer a guaranteed-voyage sailing to San Diego from $3,800. Your car stays on the voyage you booked, and if it gets bumped, 75 percent of the ocean fee comes back to you.

Coverage is the cost most people miss. Ocean carrier liability on this route is not full-value insurance. For an average car it tops out between $3,000 and $8,000, depending on the sailing. If your car is worth more than that, tell us when you request a quote. We’ll add declared-value coverage to the booking or help you confirm your own auto policy covers ocean transit before the car leaves Hawaii.

For an exact number on your car and dates, start with a Hawaii car shipping quote.

How long does it take to ship a car from Hawaii to California

From Oahu, plan on two to four weeks between drop-off and the day your car is ready in California. From Maui or the Big Island, three to six weeks. From Kauai, five to seven. The ocean crossing is only five to eight days of any of those timelines. The rest is terminal time and, for the neighbor islands, the wait for the connection.

Every booking with us comes with two dates: when your car is scheduled to sail, and when it will be available in California. Those dates can sit several days apart even when the ship runs on time. Unloading takes one to two days after the vessel docks, and then the car still has to move to the pickup lot and clear release. We schedule your California pickup or delivery truck against the release, not the ship’s arrival, so nobody drives to a port lot for a car that’s still on the dock.

The delay that hurts most is a missed neighbor-island connection. The barge linking Honolulu with Kahului, Hilo and Nawiliwili runs once a month, so a car that misses its cutoff by a day can wait weeks for the next one. Arriving too early causes its own problem: a car dropped off more than seven days before its sailing can be turned away or start collecting storage. We set your pickup date by working backward from the cutoff, so the car reaches the terminal inside that window.

Paperwork holds and failed agricultural inspections cause most other delays, and the requirements checklist further down this page prevents both. For timelines on every Hawaii route, including shipments headed to the islands, see our Hawaii car shipping transit times.

Shipping from Oahu vs the neighbor islands

The island your car starts on changes both the route and the schedule of shipping a car from Hawaii to California. Oahu has the most sailings. The neighbor islands depend on a connection, and that connection sets your timeline.

Oahu (Honolulu)

To ship a car from Honolulu to California, we book a direct sailing to the West Coast. Sailings leave every week, so a car that misses one goes on the next one seven days later. That frequency is the main reason Oahu is the fastest and cheapest origin. Honolulu shipments arrive at Long Beach, Oakland or San Diego depending on the sailing, and we choose the one that lands closest to where you’re going in California.

Maui (Kahului) and the Big Island (Hilo)

Kahului and Hilo have two routing options. A direct sailing calls both ports every two weeks and reaches California about seven days after it leaves. The alternative is the barge to Honolulu, which runs monthly and then connects with a mainland sailing. The direct option is faster and cheaper, so we book it whenever it has space on your dates. Timing matters more here than on Oahu: miss a direct call and you wait two weeks, but miss the barge and you wait a month.

Kauai (Nawiliwili)

We route Kauai cars from Nawiliwili to Honolulu by barge, then onto a mainland sailing. That monthly barge is why Kauai shipments take five to seven weeks. If you’re leaving Kauai on a fixed date, book early. We have to fit the car onto the right barge, not just the right ship.

Kona and West Hawaii

There’s no vehicle terminal on the Kona side of the Big Island. We truck the car about 75 miles to Hilo and ship it from there, timed to the Hilo sailing so it doesn’t sit at the terminal. We quote the ground leg once we know your pickup address.

If you need to move a car between islands before leaving Hawaii, see our inter-island car shipping service.

California arrival and requirements

Where your car arrives in California

Car shipping from Hawaii to California lands at three ports: Long Beach, Oakland and San Diego. Depending on the sailing, your car is released either at the port or at an off-dock lot in the Los Angeles area or the Bay Area. Before you head out, we send you the exact address, the lot’s hours and the date your car will be released.

Each lot gives you a short window of free storage once the car is released, between four and seven days depending on the facility. After that, charges run $15 to $25 a day. Some lots count only business days and others count every calendar day. We book your California pickup or delivery before the ship arrives, so the car leaves the lot inside that window.

If you’re collecting the car yourself, bring photo ID and your shipping receipt. Some lots also ask for the title, so we confirm the list for your facility before release. If someone else is picking it up, they need a signed authorization from the registered owner along with their own photo ID. Walk around the car before you drive off. Any new damage has to be written on the release paperwork before you sign.

For door delivery, a mainland auto hauler takes the car from the lot to your address anywhere in California, usually within one to four days of release. The driver calls ahead with a delivery window, and an adult 18 or older needs to be there to inspect the car and sign.

Headed somewhere other than California? We also handle shipping a car from Hawaii to the mainland for other states.

Registering your car in California

Once you’re a California resident, you have 20 days to register the car. The DMV needs an in-person VIN verification, and most vehicles also need a California smog certificate. A smog test from Hawaii or any other state doesn’t count. If the car has fewer than 7,500 miles on it, check the emissions label under the hood before you book. A car built only to federal emissions standards may not qualify for California registration, and it’s better to find that out before the car crosses the Pacific.

Electric, non-running and oversized vehicles

Most vehicle shipping from Hawaii to California is a standard car on a standard sailing. The cases below need more planning, so tell us about them when you request a quote, not at the terminal.

Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have the tightest rules on this route. Only some sailings accept them, the battery has to be between 20 and 50 percent charged at drop-off, and there’s a $275 surcharge. If the battery falls below 20 percent while the car is in the terminal’s custody, a further $250 charge can apply each time it has to be recharged. Turn off remote app check-ins before you hand over the keys, because they drain the battery while the car waits. We confirm your EV is eligible for a specific sailing before we book anything.

A car that won’t start, or can’t brake or steer safely, counts as non-running. Non-running vehicles cost $500 extra to cover winch or forklift loading, and some go by container instead of RORO.
Anything over 21 ft 8 in long, 8 ft wide or 7 ft high is priced individually, and some California lots take smaller vehicles than others. We match lifted trucks, wide vans and modified cars to a sailing and arrival port that can handle them. Corvettes and Camaros are excluded from some eastbound sailings, so give us the exact make and model when you ask for a price.

What goes wrong on this route, and how we handle it

Delays and disputes when shipping a car from Hawaii to California come from the handoffs, not the ocean. When something slips, we first establish which milestone the car has reached: received, loaded, sailed, unloaded or released. That tells us, and you, what happens next.

Missed sailings

If a car misses its cutoff, we rebook the next confirmed sailing the same day and send you a new availability date, not just a new ship date. From Oahu, a missed sailing usually costs a week. From the neighbor islands, it can cost two weeks or a month, which is why we schedule pickups backward from the cutoff.

Terminal rejections

Paperwork and cleanliness problems are cheaper to fix in your driveway than at the gate, so we review your documents and send the prep checklist before pickup. If a car is turned away anyway, we fix the issue and get it onto the next available sailing.

Damage claims

Inspect the car before you leave the lot or sign for delivery, and write any new damage on the paperwork with photos. Damage you couldn’t see at pickup has to be reported within three days. Repairs estimated over $500 need a second estimate, and decisions usually take three to four weeks once the paperwork is in. When you ship your car from Hawaii to California through us, we file the claim with the ocean line and handle the follow-up. The dated photos you took before drop-off and the vehicle condition report from the Hawaii terminal are what support the claim.

Price changes

Our quote lists the ocean leg, Hawaii pickup, California delivery, storage rules and exclusions in writing before you pay. The price you approve is the price you pay, unless the vehicle turns out to be different from what was booked, such as an undisclosed lift kit or a car that doesn’t run.