This question comes up on nearly every first call, and it usually gets answered badly — either “open is fine, don’t worry about it” or a hard push toward enclosed because it books at a higher rate.

The real answer depends on what you’re moving and what a problem would actually cost you. Here’s how to think about it.

Open transport: the industry default

Open transport uses the multi-level car haulers you see everywhere on the interstate, typically carrying seven to ten vehicles at a time. The vehicles are exposed to weather and road conditions during transit.

That exposure sounds worse than it is. This is how nearly every new vehicle in the country reaches its dealership. Manufacturers move millions of units this way annually because it works.

What open gives you:

• The lowest cost per vehicle, by a wide margin
• The largest carrier pool — which means faster pickup and better availability
• Efficient multi-vehicle moves along a single lane
• Better options when your timeline is tight, simply because more trucks are running

What you accept: road grime, weather, and a small but nonzero risk of chips or debris damage. For a fleet van, a rental unit, or a used vehicle heading to auction, that’s a rounding error.

Enclosed transport: protection you pay for

Enclosed transport moves vehicles inside a covered trailer, usually two to six units per load, often with soft-tie securement and hydraulic lift gates for low-clearance vehicles.

What enclosed gives you:

• Complete protection from weather and road debris
• Lower-profile handling for vehicles that can’t clear standard ramps
• Fewer vehicles per load, meaning less handling per unit
• Vehicles arrive clean and presentation-ready

What you accept: a materially higher rate — generally 40–60% above open, sometimes more on thin lanes — plus a smaller carrier pool, which can mean longer waits for pickup.

When enclosed genuinely earns its cost

Enclosed is the right call in a handful of specific situations:

• High-value vehicles. Exotics, collectibles, and anything where a paint repair is a five-figure conversation.
• Low-clearance units. Vehicles that physically can’t load on standard open equipment.
• Pre-delivery to a customer. When the vehicle needs to arrive looking exactly as it left, and the customer is standing there when it does.
• Show, press, and demo units. Vehicles whose entire purpose is to be seen.
• Long winter routes through severe weather. Salt exposure across 1,500 northern miles is a real consideration.
• Desert and high-wind routes. Sand and grit at highway speed will sandblast paint and pit glass. Southwestern lanes are a legitimate enclosed candidate for the same reason northern winter lanes are.

When open is clearly the right answer

• Standard fleet vehicles — vans, pickups, sedans in working service
• Rental fleet repositioning between locations
• Vehicles moving to or from auction
• Dealer trades and inventory transfers
• Any move where cost per unit matters more than cosmetic condition on arrival
• Larger batches where enclosed capacity would slow the whole move down

A useful test: if a rock chip on this vehicle would cost you more than the enclosed premium, go enclosed. If not, open is the disciplined choice.

The mixed approach most fleets should be using

The best answer for a lot of operations isn’t one or the other — it’s sorting by unit.

A dealership group moving twenty vehicles might send eighteen open and two enclosed for the high-line units. A rental operation repositioning a hundred cars runs everything open. An OEM moving press vehicles to a launch event runs those enclosed and the support fleet open.

This only works if your logistics partner will actually have the conversation with you rather than defaulting to whatever’s easiest to dispatch.

Questions worth asking before you book

• What’s the actual cost difference on this specific lane, not in general?
• How does the pickup timeline change between the two?
• What’s the insurance coverage on each, and what’s the deductible?
• For enclosed — is this soft-tie securement, and is a lift gate available?
• If I mix open and enclosed across this batch, does it still coordinate as one move?

Fox Fleet Logistics coordinates both open and enclosed transport nationwide, and we’ll tell you when enclosed isn’t worth it. Give us the details of what you’re moving and we’ll give you a straight recommendation.