Can I Put Stuff in My Car When Shipping It? Rules and Limits

The short answer

You can put some things in the car. Most carriers accept roughly 100 pounds of personal items packed in the trunk or below the window line, and they carry those items at your risk with no insurance. Anything hazardous is off limits, and anything heavy or visible can be refused at pickup or charged extra.

Those rules are not arbitrary. They come from four practical limits on a car hauler.

Why carriers limit personal items

Weight. A loaded car hauler runs close to the legal weight limits for a commercial truck. Every extra pound in your car is a pound the driver has to answer for at a weigh station, and an overweight truck means fines and a forced unload.

Insurance. A damage claim for the vehicle goes to the carrier’s cargo policy, within its limits and exclusions. That policy does not extend to what is inside. If a bag goes missing or a box breaks, there is no claim to file.

Theft. Open trailers sit at truck stops overnight. Items visible through the windows invite break-ins, which damage the car and lose the items.

Hazardous materials. Federal hazmat rules apply to a commercial truck regardless of whose fuel can or propane tank is inside the cargo. A driver who unknowingly carries hazmat can be cited, so drivers refuse anything that looks like it.

What is allowed, limited and banned

The 100 pound rule

The 100 pound figure is a convention, not a regulation, and carriers apply it differently. Some ignore a couple of duffel bags entirely. Others size up the load with a glance and quote a surcharge for anything beyond a light trunk. Ask your broker what the assigned carrier’s policy is before pickup so there are no surprises on the curb.

Placement matters as much as weight. Items below the window line keep the car looking empty, shield them from sun, and keep the driver’s sight lines clear when moving the car on and off the trailer. Anything piled on the seats is likely to be refused.

What happens if you overpack

1. The driver assesses the load at pickup.
2. A moderate overage usually triggers an extra charge, paid before loading.
3. A heavy overage, or items on the seats, often means the driver asks you to remove them or declines the pickup.
4. A declined pickup can cost a dry-run fee and pushes your car back into the dispatch queue.
5. At weigh stations en route, an overweight truck can be held until the excess is removed, which delays every car on it.

Are items ever insured?

Not by the carrier. Cargo insurance responds to damage to the vehicle caused by the carrier, and belongings inside are excluded on virtually every policy in this industry. Your homeowners or renters policy might cover property away from home, but that depends on your specific coverage, so ask your insurer rather than assuming.

The broker’s $75,000 surety bond or trust fund does not apply either. It exists to guarantee the broker’s financial obligations to carriers and customers, not to replace lost luggage.

How to pack the car if you are going to

1. Choose soft items only: clothes, linens, shoes. They do not rattle, break or scratch the interior.
2. Use duffel bags or soft-sided luggage rather than rigid boxes.
3. Pack the trunk first, then the rear footwells.
4. Keep everything below the window line and off the seats.
5. Weigh the bags on a bathroom scale and stay around 100 pounds total.
6. Photograph the packed interior alongside your exterior photos.
7. List the contents in an email to your broker so there is a record.

Special situations

Moving cross-country. Ship boxes separately by parcel or freight. It is cheaper than a carrier overweight fee and the boxes are trackable and insurable.

Child seats. A seat bolted or latched in place is treated as part of the car. A loose one is a personal item.

Roof boxes and racks. Remove them. They change the vehicle height and are frequently excluded from cargo coverage.

Aftermarket audio or accessories. These stay in the car but are not treated as personal items and may not be covered as part of the vehicle either. Photograph them at pickup.

Dealer and auction vehicles. Usually shipped empty. Check with the receiving party before adding anything.

Enclosed transport. The same weight logic applies, but theft risk is lower because the car is out of sight. Carriers running enclosed trailers still exclude contents from coverage.

Bottom line

Pack light, pack soft, keep it low, and expect no coverage on it. The car shipping checklist has a printable version of the rules above, and the open transport page explains how a trailer is loaded, which makes the window line rule easier to picture. When you are ready, request a quote through our quote form. HaulFare refers that request to one licensed auto transport broker, so tell the broker which bags you plan to leave in the trunk before a carrier is assigned.

HaulFare is a price guide and referral service, not a broker or motor carrier. Quote requests go to our licensed transport partner, an FMCSA-licensed auto transport broker, who arranges transport with FMCSA-registered carriers. HaulFare receives a referral fee from our licensed transport partner; you pay HaulFare nothing.