Carrier pay per mile rose 22.8% in the first half of 2026 while the prices consumers paid rose 14.6%, according to 30 months of shipment data
BOHEMIA, N.Y., Sept. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SGT Auto Transport has published The State of Auto Transport 2026, a first-party data report on the U.S. car shipping market finding that carrier pay per mile rose 22.8% year over year in the first half of 2026 after two years of almost no movement and that the increase began in March, the month the Strait of Hormuz closed to shipping.
The prices consumers paid rose 14.6% over the same period, roughly two-thirds as fast. That gap is the report's central finding, and it points to brokers absorbing part of the increase rather than passing it through in full.
The report draws on 30 months of shipment records from January 2024 through June 2026, spanning all 49 U.S. states as both origin and destination and 1,581 distinct state-to-state lanes in the most recent 12 months. Rate figures are mix-adjusted to a fixed distance profile so that changes in haul length cannot distort them.
"A broker sits between the customer and the truck, so we see both sides of every price," said Jack Savov, CEO of SGT Auto Transport. "That is what makes this different from load board reporting we can show what carriers were actually paid and what consumers were actually charged, on the same shipments, over the same months. In the first half of 2026 those two numbers stopped moving together, and that gap is the story of the year in car shipping."
Key findings from The State of Auto Transport 2026 include:
- Carrier pay for car shipping rose faster every month from March 2026. It ran 9.2% above the prior year in January and 11.7% in February, then 14.9% in March, 32.8% in May and 34.7% in June.
- Fuel was the trigger for the 2026 cost jump, but not the whole cause. Retail diesel rose from $3.72 a gallon in February to $4.92 in March and peaked at $5.60 in May, the same month carrier pay peaked. Diesel in January and February had been flat to slightly below the prior year, which rules fuel out as the cause of the earlier increases.
- The carrier pay increase was broad, not concentrated in one segment. Every distance band above 500 miles rose between 21% and 24%, pointing to an input cost affecting the whole carrier base at once.
- Repricing and cancellations rose together. The share of completed shipments finishing above their booked price rose 46%, while cancellations rose 24.8%. Orders cancelled because the booked rate was too low to attract a carrier rose from 1.45% of all bookings to 4.64%.
- Short moves cost nearly four times more per mile. Consumer prices averaged $2.04 per mile on hauls under 500 miles against $0.55 per mile above 2,500 miles a 3.7x spread, even though the total price rises only about 2.5 times.
The report also finds that SUVs reached 43.9% of vehicles shipped while sedans fell to 27.9%, that electric vehicles reached 5.5%, and that pickups run at roughly half the share reported from dealer-focused load board data. Among shipments with a recorded origin type, 76.9% were picked up at a residential address, a mix SGT Auto Transport presents as evidence that the dataset reflects consumer vehicle shipping rather than the dealer and auction traffic that fills much industry reporting.
Also covered: enclosed transport premiums by haul length, booking urgency, state-by-state inbound and outbound flows, and Florida's seasonal reversal, which swings from 2.25 inbound-to-outbound in October to 0.44 in April.
Read The State of Auto Transport 2026 for the full month-by-month rate progression, consumer pricing across seven distance bands, supporting charts and the complete methodology.
Methodology: The report covers 30 months of vehicle shipments processed through SGT Auto Transport, January 2024 through June 2026. Rate figures use completed, delivered single-vehicle open transport shipments, and both rate indices are mix-adjusted to a fixed distance profile. Only organically acquired shipments are included; paid search and affiliate channels are excluded because their volumes follow marketing spend rather than market conditions. Half-year figures pool every shipment in the period rather than averaging monthly percentage changes. SGT Auto Transport does not publish order volumes, revenue or market share.
About SGT Auto Transport
SGT Auto Transport arranges door-to-door open and enclosed car shipping across all 49 U.S. states for consumers, online car buyers, relocating households and military families. The company is based in Bohemia, New York and operates under FMCSA MC-873392 and USDOT 2521690. Learn more at sgtautotransport.com.
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SOURCE SGT Auto Transport
