Cheapest option for moving my car to a diff. State...

You could drive it.

Use a transport from the middle of the US like Missouri and your costs will likely be half.
I used to work with some at dealerships and they were much cheaper than companies on the coasts.

You could pay someone to drive it across for you. My son did that for someone once.

Yeah, some college students or equivalent non-wealthy-but-trustable-and-responsible-ish types might be happy to have a car to drive across the country. They might even pay you. After all, rental car companies charge for that all the time.

I made that very move. Drive it. It would be a shame not to enjoy a cross country trip. I’ve driven coast to coast a few times and loved the experiences.

A friend of mine was hired to drive a car from San Francisco to New York. It was quite the adventure for him. Of course with today’s gas prices, it will still be expensive.

I’d hire a carrier. (Truck/trailer.) Drivers are insured and there would be less chance of vehicle damage.

Driving it sounds fun, if you can take the time off work or other commitments. You have to figure the drive time plus the gas plus hotels and meals. Maybe it is cheaper to spend the thousand on the car carrier. You have to calculate and compare.

Don’t forget the Rocky Mountains. They’re big.

And rocky, too, I assume?

Other mountain ranges have unique names, like “the Alps”, “the Himalayas”, “Ural”, “Andes”, “Caucasus”, “Altai”, “Hindukush”.
What do colonials call their mountain range? “Rocky Mountains”.
How creative.
It is a miracle their main desert is not called “Sandy Desert”.

@ragingloli Hey, we are creative. We also have the Green Mountains in Vermont and the White Mountains in New Hampshire! :-)

Seattle to Miami is over 3500 miles; if the Forte gets 35 MPG, that is 100 gallons of gas at $3 to $4 so $300 to $400 for gas plus tolls (maybe a hundred). It is 48 hours road time so 6 to 8 night in motels. Shipping would be cheaper but the view and memories (like the ad says) PRICELESS !

@Tropical_Willie: Don’t forget meals. Even if the hotels have free breakfast, there’s lunch and dinner. At a ten dollar per meal minimum, that’s 20 per day so at least 100 there.

@ragingloli, and Rocky Mountains isn’t unique? How many other Rocky Mountainses do you know of?

And how many romantic, exotic names like Himalayas and Caucasus actually mean “rocky mountains” or something equally pedestrian in their language of origin?

Besides, we also have the Appalachians, the Grand Tetons, the Sierra Nevada, and more.

But the main point here is that unless you make a huge long detour to the south, you have to cross the Rockies to get across the country. And that, my dears, is an obstacle, if you’re a sea-level gal like me. I have in fact done it by car (thankfully, I was not behind the wheel). I sincerely do not want to do it again.

Anyway, yes, they are rocky, but the main thing for trip planning is that they’re big.

@Jeruba: When I think about large mountain ranges like the Rockies, I have the ultimate respect for the pioneers who crossed them with covered wagons.

@jca2, I thought about that while traversing paved, well-traveled mountain roads with known destinations and plenty of amenities along the way. The high elevations, the steep grades, the vertical drops, the flimsy-looking rails—I shudder to remember them. It’s hard to even imagine what made somebody, so many somebodies, say “This looks like a good idea”—or even “I thought this looked like a good idea, but here we are, so let’s do it anyway.” My sense of adventure was sorely affected by acrophobia and terror, traveling with two dauntless young men who had no sense of mortality.

So, go for it, @troyaguilar123, if you’re adventuresome and immortal. Lots of people do. If you’re more like me, send the car and take a plane. Or, if you’re relocating and not just visiting, sell the car and buy another when you get there.

Realize too, that if you drive the car across the country, you’re putting wear and tear on the car – the tires, the oil, etc. If you ship the car, there’s no wear and tear.

From Seattle, there are ways of getting past the Rocky Mountains without going over big mountains. Take Interstate 80 or 90. If you really want to see the Rockies, take Interstate 70.

Another, really cheap or possibly profitable, but time-and-energy-consuming, thing to do, would be to sell the car on Craigslist in Seattle (where there are quite a few wealthy people) and then buy a car someplace in or close to Florida, on Craigslist, where there might be cheaper cars.

Of course, Craigslist tends to involve lots of wasted time, dealing with falke-tastic people, and cars people want to get rid of because they have major problems…

But the OP asked for cheap…

^^ And the OP hasn’t returned so we don’t know if they are still following this.

It likely would be more expensive to drive than ship it.
Your choices involve cost and time spent so far.
Here’s more to consider.

Some vehicles can serve well for years, but suddenly, they hit a new altitude. I too have traveled coast to coast. I have lived in various altitudes. Altitude changes can affect vehicles, women’s cycle, food, and I have had shampoo explode in my luggage. Making the drive could be gorgeous, or could leave you stranded.

So far, you have two options. One other is sell, and buy a new car in Florida.

If you choose to drive, give yourself plenty of time. Plan thoroughly, include time to see unexpected things along the way, allow an additional two days minimum for unexpected issues, such as weather. I once got stuck in a sandstorm so bad, travel was restricted for hours. I had to hunker down at a gas station for over six hours. Fortunately, they had a nice little deli.
Also, a trip that long can begin exhilarating, but after a while can become a tiresome chore. It is advisable to allow time to explore sights which may be not expected.

My mom drove cross-country when I was about 9, in the mid 1970’s. We lived in the SF Bay area and were moving back to where we came from, NYS. We had a Volkswagen Beetle and my grandfather (my mom’s father) flew to California to take the drive with her. It was expected to take about five days, but the car broke down somewhere in the midwest, Ohio or Indiana, I don’t remember which. She had to get the tow truck and the tow truck guy was also the Mayor or something like that, and he was at a wedding. Small town stuff! Then the part took like two or three days to come, so they were stuck hanging out in this town. I also remember they stopped at a ghost town in somewhere in the middle of the country. In those days, it wasn’t a tourist trap ghost town, it was a real ghost town where nothing was going on, and they took some photos. It really seemed like a once in a lifetime fun experience.