Flagstaff car shipping in every season

Flagstaff sits at the junction of Interstate 40 and Interstate 17, nearly 7,000 feet up on the Colorado Plateau. Carriers reach it easily from the east and west on I-40, and from Phoenix by a 145-mile climb up I-17 that gains more than a mile in elevation. In good weather a truck leaving the Valley in the morning is here before lunch.

The city itself takes more care. Downtown streets are narrow, the BNSF main line cuts through the middle of town with frequent trains, and many neighborhoods are tucked into ponderosa forest on steep or winding roads. Our office is on North San Francisco Street, in the middle of all of it. For most pickups the driver will suggest a meeting point on a wider road, such as Milton Road, Butler Avenue or Route 66, or in a large parking lot near the interstate.

Flagstaff is one of the snowiest cities in the country, averaging around 100 inches a year. Cars ship in and out all winter, but the weather sets the pace. When a storm closes I-17 or I-40, trucks wait it out at lower elevation, and a pickup can slide by a day or two. We watch the forecast and tell you as soon as a window is at risk.

You can help by clearing the car and the ground around it. A driver can't inspect paint under a layer of snow, so brush the vehicle off completely before the truck arrives. Shovel a path the car can be driven along, and make sure it isn't frozen to the ground or plowed in. If the street hasn't been cleared, plan to meet on a main road that has.

The city spreads volcanic cinders on icy streets where other places use salt. A car that travels on an open trailer in winter may arrive with a coat of red-brown grit. It rinses off. If you would rather avoid it, or the car is one you keep spotless, enclosed transport solves the problem.

While winter visitors head for the desert, Flagstaff has the opposite season. From May to October, people from Phoenix, Tucson, Texas and Southern California move into homes in Forest Highlands, Pine Canyon, Flagstaff Ranch and Kachina Village to get out of the heat. Some drive up. Others fly and have a car sent ahead, especially when the summer home is a long way from the main one. Gated mountain communities have guard stations and narrow, wooded roads, so the truck usually stays at the entrance and the car is driven in. Carriers are busiest heading up in late May and back down in early October. Book those two trips a few weeks ahead.

NAU brings students to Flagstaff from all over Arizona and from California, Colorado and the Midwest. Parents often prefer to ship a car instead of sending a new driver up I-17 in January. Winter break is the trickiest time, since it overlaps with the first heavy storms, so allow extra days on either side. Students living in the residence halls should have their parking permit arranged before the car arrives. The handoff itself happens off campus, on Milton Road or a side street nearby.

Moves within Arizona are common here. A household leaving Phoenix for Flagstaff, or going the other way, often has one more car than it has drivers, and the trip is short enough that the car is usually delivered a day or two after loading. If you're arriving from another state at low elevation, a modern fuel-injected car adjusts to the altitude on its own. An older carbureted vehicle may idle roughly when it comes off the truck. That's the thin air, not something that happened in shipping, and it clears up once the engine is tuned for 7,000 feet.

Mountain cars carry gear, and gear changes how a vehicle ships. Roof boxes, ski and bike racks and rooftop tents add height, and a carrier needs to know the total before assigning a spot on the trailer. Empty the roof box, and remove it if you can; anything left on the roof is exposed to wind for the whole trip. Take bikes, skis and boards off the outside of the vehicle. Studded or dedicated winter tires are fine to ship on the car. A second set of wheels can sometimes go inside the vehicle, but ask us first, since extra cargo is at the carrier's discretion and isn't covered by its insurance.

From the Flagstaff office we also book shipments for Sedona, Williams, Munds Park, Parks and Bellemont. Sedona takes planning. State Route 89A through Oak Creek Canyon is restricted for long vehicles because of its switchbacks, so carriers reach Sedona from Interstate 17 by way of State Route 179 or through Cottonwood. Expect the driver to load in West Sedona or the Village of Oak Creek, away from the uptown traffic.