Reviewed by Pat Dodson, Executive Vice President
Pat has 17 years in moving and storage and serves as an engineer with the Fort Worth Fire Department. A U.S. Navy veteran, he oversees long-distance operations across all four Texas locations. Last reviewed 2026.
Dallas to Los Angeles is about 1,435 miles — I-20 west onto I-10, through West Texas, southern New Mexico and Arizona, into the LA basin. Around 21 hours behind the wheel, which federal driving rules turn into a 3 to 5 day transit.
BBB Accredited Business A+ Rating | Fully Licensed & Insured · 4.8 / 5 from 589 Google reviews · US DOT 2783472 · MC #1016781 · TX DMV 006924557C
Why 21 hours of driving takes three to five days
Federal hours-of-service rules cap a commercial driver at 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour on-duty window, followed by 10 consecutive hours off duty. That is two full driving days at minimum, before you add the load day in Dallas and the delivery day in Los Angeles. Any company promising a two-day door-to-door on this lane is either planning to break those rules or planning to hand your shipment to someone else.
We are a carrier, not a broker — check it in a minute
Long-distance moving has more brokers than any other corner of this trade. A broker takes your deposit, sells your job to whichever carrier bids lowest, and disappears the moment something goes wrong. You booked one company and a different truck shows up.
We hold our own operating authority. The crew that loads your Dallas home is our crew, the truck is our truck, and the driver who pulls into Los Angeles works for us. Put US DOT 2783472 into the FMCSA’s SAFER lookup and you can see our authority, our insurance and our safety record. Do it for us, and do it for whoever else is quoting you — it is the most useful minute you will spend on this move.
Firefighter-founded in 2001, four Texas locations since, with the Dallas operation at 4924 Woodall St. Every mover is background-checked and drug-screened, and you get a written estimate — binding or non-binding, your choice — before anyone touches a box.
Size-up
What a Dallas to Los Angeles move has to plan around
Interstate moves rarely go wrong on the highway. They go wrong on the delivery end — on where a 26-foot trailer is legally allowed to stand in Los Angeles, and on a delivery window nobody explained before the paperwork was signed.
On a local move you get a date. On an interstate move you get a delivery spread — a range of days inside which your shipment arrives. It is on your paperwork, it is normal, and it is not evasion. On this lane ours is typically [[SPREAD]].
So do not book a same-day flight expecting to meet the truck. And if your LA lease or closing slips, tell us early — storage in transit arranged in advance costs far less than improvised while a loaded trailer waits on keys.
Los Angeles issues temporary no-parking permits through LADOT so a truck can reserve kerb space. Apply 10 to 14 business days ahead, signs go up 72 hours before the window or the permit loses its teeth, and fees run roughly $30 to $75. Peak season and month-end need the longer lead time.
Not every street qualifies — arterials, bus lanes and peak-hour stretches of Wilshire and Olympic generally cannot be reserved at all. Give us the address at the survey and we will tell you what your street needs and who files it.
Our trucks are 26 to 28 feet and need 13 feet of overhead clearance and a surface rated for 26,000 pounds — which rules out many subterranean garages under LA apartment buildings.
Laurel Canyon, Mount Washington, Silver Lake and the older hillside grid were laid out long before anyone drove a box truck up them. Sometimes the trailer parks at the bottom and the load transfers to a smaller shuttle for the last stretch. That is a real cost line and the most common surprise on LA deliveries — we would rather quote it than discover it at your kerb.
Downtown, Koreatown, Century City and most newer Westside buildings want a certificate of insurance naming specific entities, a freight elevator reserved to a fixed window, and an assigned dock.
Call management the week you book and confirm three things: whether a COI is required, exactly which companies must be named, and how long the elevator window is. A certificate naming the wrong entity is as useless as none, and that window sets the crew size we send.
From Pecos to Palm Springs the trailer spends two days in desert heat, and a sealed box runs hotter than the air outside it. Candles, cosmetics, vinyl, framed photographs and most electronics travel better in your own vehicle. Hazardous goods cannot ride at all — aerosols, propane, paint, pool chemicals, fertilizer, ammunition. Federal rule, not house policy.
Our crews also cannot disconnect or reconnect water or gas lines, change a dryer cord, or assemble cribs — and cannot pack on load day. Packing is booked ahead as its own service.
One company from your Dallas driveway to your Los Angeles door
Packing, loading, the full 1,435 miles, storage if your date slips, and placement at the other end — all on one bill of lading, all answerable to the same company.
Services
What we handle on a Dallas to Los Angeles move
Packing, loading, the line haul, storage and delivery under one roof and on one bill of lading — no transfer to a third-party carrier along the way.
Professional packing
Packing for 1,435 miles is not packing for across town. Cartons have to survive four days of road vibration and desert heat cycling — the right box for the weight, real dish packs, no half-filled cartons.
Loading & unloading
Pad-wrapping, stretch film, dollies and floor protection at both ends, with a signed inventory before the doors close in Dallas and checked off with you at the door in Los Angeles.
Storage in transit
Climate-controlled storage in our own Dallas facility for the LA closing that slips or the lease that starts three weeks late. One company handles the load, the storage and the delivery rather than three.
Commercial & corporate
Office and employee relocations from DFW to Southern California, sequenced around your downtime, with consistent documentation for a relocation program.
Priced by weight, not by the hour
Under federal rules an interstate move is priced on the weight of your shipment and the distance it travels, plus the services you add. That is why a Dallas-to-LA quote and a Dallas-to-Plano quote are not comparable numbers.
The 110% rule
On a non-binding estimate, an interstate carrier cannot require more than 110% of the written estimate at delivery. Anything above that is billed afterwards, not demanded on your doorstep. Ask every mover quoting this lane to confirm it in writing.
Your right to the scale
Because the price is built on weight, you are entitled to know that weight. You may observe the weighings and request a reweigh before unloading. We hand the tickets over without being asked — a number you cannot check is not a price, it is a claim.
Specialty items
Gun safes, pianos, fine art, china and antiques move with specialized dollies and technique rather than improvised muscle, and are flagged on the estimate before the date rather than on it. An additional charge applies.
Coverage on a long haul
Released value protection at $0.60 per pound per item is included by federal minimum. Full Value Protection carries a substantially higher level of liability — worth comparing against your homeowner’s or renter’s policy before you decide.
Other Texas origins
We run the same lane out of our Fort Worth, Houston and Austin locations. See our Dallas long-distance movers for how interstate moves are handled generally.
Destination
Delivering across the Los Angeles basin
From a crew's point of view greater Los Angeles breaks into about four different delivery jobs, and which one you are moving into matters more to your day than the mileage does. We ask which one at the survey.
Constraint: paperwork
Downtown, Koreatown and the high-rise core
Dock, freight elevator and COI jobs, the same discipline as Uptown Dallas with different forms. Paperwork decides the schedule, not stairs. Get the certificate issued and the elevator reserved the week you book and the delivery is straightforward; leave it to the week of and the date moves.
Constraint: permits
The Westside and the coast
Santa Monica, Venice, Brentwood, Marina del Rey and Culver City. Permit territory, narrow streets, resident-only parking and buildings with strict move-in windows. This is where the LADOT lead time matters most, and where several of the cities write their own rules rather than the city of LA's.
Constraint: access
The hillsides
Laurel Canyon, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Mount Washington and the Hollywood Hills. Access decides everything — switchbacks, no turnaround, overhanging canopy and kerbs a 26-foot trailer cannot physically reach. Shuttles are most common here, and we would rather quote one than discover it.
Constraint: distance
The Valley and the east
Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Long Beach and the South Bay. Generally the most straightforward deliveries in the basin — driveways, real kerb space and room to work. The variable here is the extra run time across the metro after a five-day haul.
One thing worth knowing. A Los Angeles address is not always the City of Los Angeles. The county holds 88 separate incorporated cities, and Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Pasadena and Long Beach each write their own parking and permit rules. That decides whose permit we file and how far ahead, which is why we ask for the exact delivery address rather than the neighborhood name.
Frequently asked questions about moving from Dallas to Los Angeles
How long does a move from Dallas to Los Angeles take?
Three to five days in transit for most shipments, sometimes longer for a large home. The drive is about 1,435 miles and roughly 21 hours, but federal hours-of-service rules cap a driver at 11 driving hours inside a 14-hour window followed by 10 hours off — so it is a minimum of two days on the road plus your load day and your delivery day. You will be given a delivery spread rather than a single date.
Do I need a permit for a moving truck in Los Angeles?
Often, yes. LADOT issues temporary no-parking permits so a truck can reserve kerb space. Apply roughly 10 to 14 business days ahead, expect signs posted about 72 hours before the window, and budget in the region of $30 to $75. Arterials, bus lanes and peak-hour restricted streets usually cannot be reserved at all. Give us the delivery address at your survey and we will tell you what your street needs and who is filing for it.
Are you a broker or an actual moving company?
A carrier. We hold our own federal operating authority under US DOT 2783472 and MC #1016781, and we run our own trucks and crews on this lane with no transfer to a third-party carrier en route. You can verify that in the FMCSA SAFER system in about a minute — and you should do the same for every other company quoting you.
What happens if my Los Angeles place is not ready when the truck arrives?
Tell us as early as you can and we arrange storage in transit at our own climate-controlled Dallas facility, then deliver when your date firms up. Arranged in advance it is a planned line on your estimate. Improvised while a loaded trailer waits in Southern California, it is considerably more expensive.
What cannot travel on the truck to California?
Hazardous goods are prohibited by federal rule — aerosols, propane and other compressed gases, paint and solvents, pool chemicals, fertilizer and ammunition. Beyond that, the desert stretch means candles, cosmetics, vinyl records, framed photographs and most electronics travel better with you than in a hot trailer.
How far ahead should I book a Dallas to Los Angeles move?
Earlier than a local move, and earlier still if your date is in summer or at the end of a month. Long-haul routes commit further out than local crews because a truck and driver are dedicated to your lane for the better part of a week. If your date is flexible, midweek and mid-month is easier to book and gives you a tighter delivery spread.
Tell us the inventory, the access and the date
Whether you are landing in a Santa Monica apartment, a Pasadena family home, a Silver Lake hillside or a Downtown tower, we will put a written estimate in front of you — binding or non-binding, your choice, both in writing — with the Los Angeles access questions asked before the date rather than on it.
