How to Transport a Christmas Tree

Wouldn’t it be grand if Santa Claus made an extra trip around Thanksgiving and managed to get a Douglas Fir into your living room without being seen or heard? What if you woke up on the fourth Friday of November with a tree ready for your family to decorate? It would be amazing, but the reality is that most of us who want a home filled with the smell of a pine tree will have to find a way to transport it ourselves. Santa’s just too darned busy.

That’s a simple task if you’re already driving a truck around the streets of Lee’s Summit – just drop the tailgate and throw your perfect tree in the bed. But how can those of us in sedans, coupes, SUVs, minivans, and crossovers get our trees home?

The obvious answer is to throw it on the roof, toss some twine over it, hope your knot-tying skills are up to par, and make the trip home at 10 to 15 MPH under the speed limit. But that approach is practically guaranteed to cover the roof of your car in sap and scratches.

The team at McCarthy Collision Centers will be happy to fix any of those scratches, but we have put together a few tips to make sure your tree gets home, and your vehicle goes undamaged in the process.

How to Wrap a Christmas Tree for Safe Transport

Wrap a tree? That’s going to take a lot of paper!

Don’t spend 30 minutes walking around the Christmas tree lot, pick your tree, and immediately secure it to your vehicle with limbs going everywhere. Say “Yes” when the cashier offers to have someone put a fresh cut on the trunk and wrap it up for you.

They’ll likely run your tree through a simple device that wraps it in a thin plastic or fabric net and secures the limbs for transport. (That net won’t stop needles from going everywhere though, so beware and have a vacuum ready)!

They’ll probably even carry it to your vehicle – the best Christmas tree stores around Lee’s Summit will, at least. That wrapped tree’s still a scratch threat to your clear coat though, so what can you do to protect the roof of your vehicle?

How to Haul a Christmas Tree? Put a Tarp Under It

We’re willing to bet there’s a tarp sitting unused somewhere in your house – maybe tucked away down in the basement or in the attic like Clark Griswold’s forgotten presents. If you don’t have one, we recommend picking up an inexpensive 5’x7′ to begin your collection. (Be the tarp person in your neighborhood if you dare)! Tarps are surprisingly flexible in their applications, and they work great at protecting your vehicle’s paint job from scratches while transporting a tree.

You’re going to want to tie your tarp down to the vehicle to keep it from flapping about, and that will involve more twine being threaded through the metal grommets on your tarp. If the edges of your tarp aren’t secured and flap violently enough, those metal grommets could do more damage to your roof (or sides of the car if your tarp is quite large) than even the most determined Christmas tree.

A tarp is a good solution, but is there a gentler approach we could use?

How to Bring a Christmas Tree Home? Pack a Blanket

A nice thick blanket is an upgrade from a tarp in your tree-hauling endeavor, as it would be a strange blanket indeed that had metal grommets, and we know you’ve got one or two extra lying around your house. (My household has at least 14 blankets available at any point in time).

The right blanket will keep even the pointiest limbs from getting through to your paint job – we recommend bringing a thick flannel or fleece blanket on your tree-shopping excursion.

You’ll still want to tie your blanket down to prevent it from flapping wildly, as too big a blanket could possibly obscure visibility, but a clean blanket poses no scratch threat to your vehicle’s paint.

You can always check out our blog on DIY Scratch Removers if your Christmas tree adventure mars your vehicle.

Avoid the roof entirely

Another way to eliminate the chances of scratching the roof of your car is to avoid your roof entirely. This will only apply to folks driving larger SUVs, crossovers, and vans as it requires putting your tree inside your vehicle.

Sedan drivers may, of course, shove a small tree in their trunk if they’re feeling particularly self-destructive.

If your vehicle has seats that can be folded down, folded flat, stowed away, or completely removed, you may be driving the ultimate Christmas tree-hauling machine.

You can fit a pretty sizeable tree into most of the vehicles mentioned earlier, and your storage space is even greater if you leave the hatch or tailgate open and tie it shut with more twine. (Have you bought your Christmas tree twine yet)?

It’s also arguably less awkward to get a heavy tree from inside a full-size SUV than it is to safely pull that same tree down from the roof.

We’ve covered a few great options, but what can a Christmas tree shopper near Lee’s Summit do if they don’t want to mess with putting a tree on their roof at all, or end up with pine needles all over their interior?

Looking to Add Utili-Tree? Pick Up a Utility Trailer

If you drive a sedan or pickup truck, or don’t want to find pine needles in your vehicle over the next 6 months, you might consider having a Class II trailer receiver added to your vehicle. That might seem like overkill when it comes to getting a Christmas tree home, but a utility trailer will come in useful at plenty of other times in the year.

Need some topsoil for your garden? Picking up a used table saw on Facebook marketplace? Helping your friends move across town? Even a small 4×8 utility trailer will let you do all those things, and more, even if you’re pulling it behind a 4-cylinder sedan like your friendly blog author.

Just make sure you’re not exceeding your vehicle’s payload capacity. You’re not going to haul 500 Christmas trees behind your vehicle, but one tree on a small utility trailer will be no problem.

Christmas Tree Stores and Farms Near Me

Not sure where to find your family’s ideal Christmas tree around Lee’s Summit? We’ve got a few ideas for that as well:

• Head to Pleasant Hill, MO and check out Pumpkins and Pines to select and cut down your tree
• Big Box/home improvement stores are guaranteed to have trees available
• Many churches sell Christmas trees around Lee’s Summit
• Kennedy’s Country Farm in Greenwood, MO will open tree sales the day after Thanksgiving

Christmas Tree Car Scratch Repair Around Kansas City

The team at McCarthy Collision Centers hopes this list helps you pick out and transport your family’s perfect Christmas tree without making a mess of your vehicle or causing any scratches in your paint job.

We’re here to help repair those scratches or to professionally repair any other damage your vehicle has experienced.

If you’re in an accident or need other work done, give us a call at (800) NEW-AGAIN. We look forward to working with you!

Drive safely this winter!

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