How much will double drive time add to my bill?
Double drive time adds the drive between pickup and drop-off once more. A 30-minute drive adds 30 minutes, $87.50 with 3 movers.
One more copy of the drive
Double drive time adds the length of your drive one more time to the billable hours. If the drive between your pickup and drop-off takes 30 minutes, your bill gets 30 extra minutes at your normal hourly rate. Nothing else is layered on top.
Extra cost at the 3-mover rate ($175/hr)
| Drive between addresses | Extra minutes billed | Extra cost |
|---|---|---|
| 15 minutes | 15 | $43.75 |
| 30 minutes | 30 | $87.50 |
| 45 minutes | 45 | $131.25 |
| 60 minutes | 60 | $175.00 |
With 2 movers the extra hour would be $145; with 4 movers, $235. Drives of 10 minutes or less add nothing.
Actual drive time is what counts
The figure on the bill uses the real time the truck spends on the road between your addresses, not a map estimate made in advance. A route that takes 25 minutes at midday can take longer in commute traffic. The doubled portion follows whatever the road time turns out to be on the day. If you are moving farther, our long-distance moving page explains when weight-based pricing takes over.
Putting it in context
On most Bay Area local moves, the doubled portion is a small slice of the total. With three movers, a 30-minute drive adds $87.50, while the 3-hour minimum alone is $525. Loading and unloading usually take far longer than the drive, so being packed and ready at the door matters more to the final bill than the doubling does.
Moves with more than one stop
- Each leg between stops is looked at on its own.
- Any leg over 10 minutes is counted twice.
- Short legs under 10 minutes are counted once as normal job time.
There is no fee for an extra stop itself, so planning the order of stops is the main way to keep doubled time down. The moving cost guide shows how this fits into a full estimate.
We also move people in Moving Cost, Long Distance, Local Moving, Ask What Is Double Drive Time, Ask Does Double Drive Time Apply If I Move Nearby and Ask Do You Charge for An Extra Stop.
Questions and answers
How do you calculate the extra charge?
Take the minutes on the road between your addresses and multiply by your hourly rate divided by 60.
Is the drive to my house included in that?
No, getting to your pickup and returning from your drop-off are not billed at all.
Can you tell me the amount before the move?
David can estimate it from the drive between your zip codes, but the final number uses the actual drive.
