Moving to Mile 0? Start with the road.
Everything you own arrives down a single two-lane highway across 42 bridges. Here is what that actually means for your vehicle, your timing, and the day the truck turns up.
One road in. No alternate.
Key West is 160 miles past Miami, and every one of those last 113 miles is the Overseas Highway — two lanes for most of its length, 42 bridges, and no way around a backup once you are past Key Largo. If a truck misses a turn it does not reroute. It drives to the next bridge and comes back.
This is why so many national carriers quote the route and then stop at Homestead. It is not usually malice. A long rig genuinely struggles past a certain point, and the driver has no turnaround options and no local knowledge to fall back on.
Plan around the road and the move is straightforward. Ignore it and you end up driving to the mainland to collect your own car during the week you least have time for it.
Addresses down here are given by mile marker, counting down from Key Largo at MM 106 to Mile Marker 0 in Key West. You will start using them within a fortnight of arriving.
Before you book anything.
Four things worth settling early. They shape the whole move.
Not all Key West addresses behave the same.
The difference between a door delivery and a handover a few streets away comes down to which part of the island you are moving to.
Old Town
The historic district, and the trickiest for delivery. Narrow lanes, tight corners, low tree canopy, and streets laid out long before anything resembling a car transporter existed.
- Some blocks cannot take a full-size truck
- Access checked before dispatch, not on the day
- Nearby handover arranged where needed
- Parking is the other thing to think about
New Town & Stock Island
Wider roads, newer layout, and generally straightforward for a transporter. Most deliveries here go to the door with nothing special required.
- Door delivery in almost all cases
- Easier for multi-vehicle drops
- Marina and liveaboard addresses handled
- Room for a truck to turn around
When to move, and when not to.
The Keys run on a calendar most people moving here have never had to think about.
December – April
Season. Demand peaks in both directions and US-1 slows badly at weekends. Perfectly workable, but book further ahead and favour midweek if you have the choice.
June – November
Hurricane season. Storm watches can close bridges and halt transport with very little notice. We reschedule rather than run a load into a closure — worth building slack into your dates.
Late July
Lobster mini-season. Two days that fill every road, hotel and boat ramp in the chain. If your dates are flexible at all, move them.
The fast end is real, though.
None of this means you need weeks of notice. Getting a vehicle onto a truck usually takes a day or two, and sometimes far less — if one is already routed your way we can go from first call to delivered inside a day. That is a carrier thing. A broker has to go and find someone to haul it first, and that search is the wait. Ask what the week looks like and we will tell you straight.
Do you actually need the car?
We ship vehicles for a living, so take this for what it is worth: plenty of Key West residents do not own one. The island is about four miles by one. Old Town is walkable end to end, bicycles are genuinely the default, and golf carts are real transport here rather than a novelty.
If you are living in Old Town and working nearby, a car can be more parking problem than convenience. Residential parking is limited and the rules are worth reading before you commit — check with the City of Key West, since they change.
If you are further out, on Stock Island, or commuting up the Keys, you will want it. Same if you have children, a boat to tow, or a job that moves around the chain.
Worth deciding before you pay to move a vehicle you may end up selling. And if the answer turns out to be a golf cart instead — we ship those too, and they are a steady part of what we move.
Moving with orders?
If this is a PCS to Naval Air Station Key West, the process is a little different — delivery depends on which installation you are posted to, and we schedule around your report date rather than a delivery window.
Military PCS — NAS Key West →Shipping from a specific mainland city? Our sister site covers the origin-side detail on the main Florida routes.
Florida route guides →Moving to Key West, answered.
Should I ship my car or drive it down?
Will a transport truck reach my new address?
When is the worst time to move to Key West?
Do I even need a car in Key West?
How far ahead should I book?
Can you ship a golf cart down with the car?
Ready to get the car down here?
Tell us the address and roughly when. Free quote, usually back within the hour.
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