Ohio to Michigan Car Shipping Guides

Moving to Michigan

• A carrier to the Upper Peninsula is at the mercy of the wind gauge

  The Mackinac Bridge Authority lists "open trailers that are hauling anything" among its high-profile vehicles, alongside semi-trailers and enclosed haulers. At 20 to 35 mph of sustained wind those vehicles are held to 20 mph; at 35 to 50 they must wait for an escort; at 50 to 65 the bridge is closed to them while ordinary cars still cross; above 65 nothing crosses. A delivery to Marquette or Sault Ste. Marie in an autumn gale is therefore a genuine maybe, and a carrier who says so is being straight with you.

• Two peninsulas, and only one of them is easy

  Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing sit on the I-94, I-96 and I-75 corridors where carriers run constantly, and a pickup there is as straightforward as anywhere in the Midwest. The Upper Peninsula is reached by US-2 and the bridge, is sparsely populated, and has far fewer trucks passing through. Expect a longer wait for a carrier and a wider pickup window there, for the same reason a rural pickup anywhere costs more: somebody has to make the trip specially.

• The record is storms rather than snow

  NOAA counts 60 billion-dollar weather disasters in Michigan between 1980 and 2024, of which 41 were severe storms and 7 winter storms. The five years to 2024 averaged 4.4 a year against a long-run average of 1.3. Snow shapes how a Michigan winter feels, but across the record it is summer storm lines that more often cost a carrier a day.