An hour from one of the country’s biggest freight hubs
Jonesboro is the largest city in Northeast Arkansas, and its link to the national highway network is I-555, which runs about 45 miles southeast to I-55 at Turrell. From there Memphis is a short drive, and Memphis is where I-40 and I-55 cross, one of the busiest trucking junctions in the United States.
That matters when you ship a car. Carriers heading east, north toward St. Louis and Chicago, or south toward the Gulf are constantly passing through Memphis, and Jonesboro is an easy side trip for them. Westbound trucks usually arrive the other way, up I-57 from Little Rock and across on Highway 226.
The trade-off is that Jonesboro is not directly on a cross-country interstate. Expect pickup to take a day or two longer to set up than it would in Memphis itself, and less time than in the small towns farther along Crowley’s Ridge.
Shipping a car to or from Arkansas State University
A-State brings thousands of students to Jonesboro, including many from other states and a sizable international community. We hear from out-of-state students who want a car on campus after their first semester, graduates leaving for a job, and visiting scholars who bought a car here and sold it to someone in another city before flying home.
- Meeting the truck. Carriers do not drive onto campus or into residence hall lots. Students usually meet the driver at a large parking lot along Red Wolf Boulevard or Johnson Avenue.
- Game days. Avoid football Saturdays at Centennial Bank Stadium, when traffic around campus is at its worst.
- Busy weeks. Mid-August and early May fill up first. Reserve a spot two weeks or more in advance.
- Paperwork. Carriers do not normally ask to see the title. The person handing over the car needs the keys and the owner’s permission.
Pickups, duallys, and farm country
Craighead County is rice, soybean, and cotton country, and many of the vehicles we are asked about here are trucks: three-quarter-ton and one-ton pickups, duallys, flatbeds, and trucks with service bodies. They ship without trouble, with a few differences from a family sedan.
- Size and weight. A heavy-duty truck takes up more of the trailer and more of its weight limit, so it costs more to ship. Give us the exact model, cab, bed length, and whether it has dual rear wheels.
- Height. Light bars, headache racks, and tall antennas can push a truck past what an upper deck allows. Mention anything that sticks up.
- Farm addresses. Gravel roads, field turnrows, and weight-limited bridges are no place for a loaded car hauler. The driver will meet you at the highway or at the nearest paved lot in town.
- Equipment. Tractors, sprayers, and implements are a different kind of shipment. Call the office instead of using the online form.
Medical and professional relocations
Jonesboro is the medical center for a wide stretch of Arkansas and southeast Missouri, anchored by St. Bernards and NEA Baptist, and the osteopathic medical school on the A-State campus adds a new class of students each year. Physicians, residents, and travel nurses arrive on contracts that can be as short as thirteen weeks.
For a short assignment, shipping the car one way and flying is common. Have it delivered the day after you arrive, so you are not coordinating a truck from the airport. Hospital parking decks cannot take a carrier, so plan on a surface lot or your apartment complex’s entrance for the handoff.
Around town and across the region
Inside Jonesboro, the wide commercial roads are the easy places to load: Red Wolf Boulevard, Caraway Road, Southwest Drive, and Highland Drive. Downtown Main Street and the older neighborhoods beside it are tighter and tree-lined. Newer subdivisions in Valley View and Sage Meadows have broad streets but plenty of cul-de-sacs, so the truck may stop at the entrance.
We also serve Paragould, Brookland, Bono, Trumann, Lake City, Walnut Ridge, and Pocahontas.
Car shipping routes from Jonesboro
Distances and typical transit times, starting with the short run to Memphis.
| Destination | Distance | Typical time on the truck |
|---|---|---|
| Memphis, TN | About 70 miles | 1 to 2 days |
| Little Rock, AR | About 130 miles | 1 to 2 days |
| St. Louis, MO | About 250 miles | 1 to 2 days |
| Nashville, TN | About 280 miles | 2 to 4 days |
| Atlanta, GA | About 450 miles | 2 to 4 days |
| Dallas, TX | About 450 miles | 2 to 4 days |
| Chicago, IL | About 540 miles | 2 to 4 days |
| Houston, TX | About 570 miles | 2 to 4 days |
| Orlando, FL | About 900 miles | 3 to 5 days |
| Los Angeles, CA | About 1,810 miles | 5 to 8 days |
Mileage is approximate. Transit times are typical ranges once the vehicle is loaded, not guarantees. Weather, traffic, and other stops on the truck can shift them.
Jonesboro car shipping questions
Would it be cheaper to meet a carrier in Memphis?
Sometimes a little, and it can shorten the wait. It also costs you a 70-mile drive and a ride home. Run both ZIP codes through the quote form to compare. For most people, door-to-door service from Jonesboro is the better deal once their own time is counted.
Can you pick up at a farm on a gravel road?
We can pick up from the farm’s nearest paved access. A loaded car hauler is too long and heavy for most gravel roads and small bridges, so the driver will agree on a spot at the highway or in town.
Do you ship trucks with flatbeds or hay spikes?
Yes. Describe the bed and anything mounted on it when you ask for a quote. Remove hay spikes and loose attachments if you can, and tell us the overall length if the bed extends past stock.
I am a travel nurse. Should I book the return trip now?
Wait until your end date is firm. Contracts get extended more often than they get cut short, and a couple of weeks of notice is enough to arrange the trip home.
How long does it take to ship a car from Jonesboro to Texas or Florida?
Once the vehicle is loaded, Dallas is typically two to four days and Orlando three to five. Add the time it takes for a carrier to reach Jonesboro for pickup, which is usually a few days.