The short answer
Trunk forward, over an old blanket, tied at base, middle and top with rope or ratchet straps looped around the trunk above a branch, then tugged hard before you drive. Get the farm to net or bale it first. Then go slowly and take the back roads.
AAA found that nearly one Christmas tree buyer in five has had their tree come off or out of the vehicle on the way home. The same organisation’s traffic-safety foundation puts road debris generally at around 200,000 crashes a year, some 39,000 injuries and 500 deaths. A tree on a roof is not a trivial load.
The part no motoring guide can tell you is how much the farm will already have done before you get to the car park — and on that the farms differ a great deal.
What to put in the car before you go
- Strong rope or nylon ratchet straps. Enough for three tie-downs with slack to spare.
- An old blanket or a moving blanket. It goes between the tree and the roof. Sap and bark will mark paint, and a tree that shifts an inch will scratch it.
- Gloves. Fir needles are sharper than they look and the sap does not wash off easily.
- A tape measure — of your car, not the tree. Measure the roof and the boot before you leave, and choose the tree to fit the vehicle rather than the other way round.
- Not the twine from the tree lot. AAA says to skip it. It is there to hold loose branches in, not to hold a tree on a roof at 50mph.
- Bungee cords: AAA’s own clubs disagree. Some list them as acceptable alongside rope; others leave them out of the kit entirely. Given the choice, use rope or ratchet straps, which do not stretch.
Tying it on, step by step
- Have it netted or baled at the farmNetting squeezes the tree to roughly a third of its width. That protects the branches and, just as importantly, cuts the wind resistance of the thing you are about to drive at speed. Most farms do it as a matter of course.
- Blanket on the roof firstThen the tree on top of it. Not the other way round, and not straight onto the paint.
- Trunk towards the front of the carThis is the one that matters most. Pointed forward, the airflow closes the branches against the trunk. Pointed backwards, the air gets underneath and opens the tree out, which strips needles and lifts hard against your tie-downs.
- Tie at the base, the middle and the topThree points, not one. A single strap over the middle lets both ends swing.
- Loop each strap around the trunk, above a branchAAA’s detail, and the one most people miss. Anchored above a branch, the strap cannot slide along the trunk, so the tree can move neither side to side nor fore and aft. Anchor to fixed tie-down points, not to the roof bars alone.
- Tug it from several angles before you moveFront, back and both sides. If anything gives, redo it — it will not get tighter at 50mph.
- Flag the end if it overhangsIf the tree extends past the vehicle, tie something bright to the end of it.
- Drive slowly, and take the back roadsBoth AAA clubs we read say the same thing. Speed is what turns a secure load into a loose one.
What the farm will do for you
This is the part that is actually worth knowing before you choose where to go, and it is not on any motoring site. Taken from each farm’s own listing on this site:
| Farm | What they do before you drive off |
|---|---|
| Appalachian Evergreens Choose & CutBoone, NC | Cut, baled and tied on while you have a hot drink on them |
| Greene Tree FarmBoone, NC | Cut, baled and loaded trunk drilled for a spike stand |
| Clawson’s Choose & CutBoone, NC | Baled, trunk drilled drilled for a spike stand before they load it |
| Panoramic View Christmas Tree FarmBoone, NC | Baled, trunk drilled on request |
| Circle C Tree FarmsBoone, NC | Measured, cut and netted no stands sold and no trunk drilling — and see the warning below |
| Boyd Mountain Christmas Tree FarmWaynesville, NC | Cut, baled and tied on or they lend you a saw |
| Smoky Mountain Christmas Tree FarmWaynesville, NC | Baled and tied on |
| Mistletoe MeadowsLaurel Springs, NC | Cut, baled and loaded free window wreath with every tree |
| Long’s Tree FarmWest Jefferson, NC | Cut, trimmed, baled and loaded free trunk drilling |
| Lil’ Grandfather Choose and CutLaurel Springs, NC | They give you the rope the only farm we list that does |
| Hunt’s Christmas TreesMillersville, PA | Cut for you, or cut it yourself ring ahead and they will have it cut before you arrive |
| Gehman’s Christmas Tree FarmMount Joy, PA | Saw provided, tree prepared |
Two things stand out. Several farms will tie the tree to your car themselves, which removes the whole problem — at Appalachian Evergreens they do it while you drink the free cocoa. And Lil’ Grandfather throws in the rope, which no other farm we list does.
The tall-tree problem nobody warns you about
Circle C near Boone puts it plainly: trees of 10 ft and over may not be baled, because baling can break the limbs — so bring a pickup or a trailer for a big one.
That is worth sitting with if you are shopping for height. An unbaled tree is perhaps three times the width of a baled one, with the wind resistance to match, and nothing to stop the branches flexing against the straps. The farms that grow the tallest trees are precisely the ones where this applies: Long’s goes to 16 ft and Shady Rest’s choose-and-cut trees to 20 ft. Sort the vehicle out before you choose the tree, not after.
Getting it home: questions
How do you transport a Christmas tree?
Trunk end forward, on a roof rack over an old blanket, tied at the base, middle and top with strong rope or ratchet straps, then tugged from several angles before you move. Get the farm to net or bale it first — that is what stops the branches being stripped by the wind. Then drive slowly and take the back roads if you can. AAA, whose advice that is, also found that nearly one buyer in five has had a tree come off or out of the vehicle.
Which way round does a Christmas tree go on a car?
Trunk towards the front of the car. A tree is a one-way object in wind: pointed the right way the air closes the branches against the trunk, and pointed the wrong way it gets under them and opens the tree out like an umbrella. That strips needles, snaps branches and puts a surprising amount of lift on your tie-downs at road speed.
What should I tie a Christmas tree down with?
Strong rope or nylon ratchet straps, and AAA says to skip the twine the lots hand out — it is meant for holding branches in, not holding a tree on. Loop each strap around the trunk, above a branch, and anchor it to a fixed tie-down point. That one detail is what stops the tree sliding fore and aft as well as side to side. AAA's clubs differ on bungee cords: some list them as acceptable, others leave them out entirely, so if you have the choice, use rope or straps.
Can I put a Christmas tree on a car with no roof rack?
AAA's answer is to put it inside if you have an SUV, van or minivan, and otherwise to borrow or rent something bigger. For a saloon with no rack there is no good roof method — rope run through the door frames holds the tree but also means doors you cannot open and a seal you are compressing for the whole drive. Measure your car before you choose the tree, not after.
Will the farm bale my tree?
Most will. Of the 12 farms on this site whose service we have confirmed, three cut, bale and tie the tree to your car for you — at Appalachian Evergreens Choose & Cut they do it while you drink the cocoa. But it is not universal: Circle C nets rather than bales and drills no trunks, and a tall tree may not be baled at all.
Can a 10 ft tree go on the roof?
Often not, and this is the thing that catches people out. Circle C near Boone says plainly that trees of 10 ft and over may not be baled, because baling can break the limbs — so bring a pickup or a trailer for a big one. An unbaled tree is far wider, far more wind-resistant and far harder to secure. If you are going for a tall tree, sort the vehicle out before you choose it.
Should the farm drill the trunk?
Only if you use a spike stand — the kind with a pin the trunk sits down onto, rather than the bolt-around sort. Four farms we list will drill it: Long’s does it free, Greene and Clawson’s do it as part of loading, and Panoramic View on request. Ask before they bale it, because afterwards the base is wrapped.
What do I do when I get it home?
Cut an inch off the bottom and get it into water, ideally within a couple of hours. A cut trunk seals itself with resin, and once it has, the tree stops drinking whatever you do afterwards — which is the single most common reason a tree dies early. If you are not putting it up straight away, stand it in a bucket of water somewhere cold and out of the wind. Our how long a tree lasts page covers the watering in full.
Where the facts come from
The technique and the figures are AAA’s, read across several of its regional clubs on 14 Oct 2026; the crash figures are from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Where its clubs disagree — bungee cords are the only case we found — this page says so rather than picking one. What each farm does is taken from that farm’s own listing on this site, and each listing carries the date it was checked.
Also on pickinghours
- Getting your tree homeyou are here
- Disposal and recyclingwhere to take it afterwards
- When to put it upand when to take it down
- How long a tree lastswhat to do the moment you get in
- Which tree smells bestscent, species by species
- Fraser fir vs Douglas firwhich tree to pick
- What a tree costsreal farm price lists
- North CarolinaFraser fir country
- Pennsylvanianine species to cut
- Houston, Texaspines and cypresses
- Texaspine and cypress, five metros
- New JerseyNorth, Central and South Jersey
- WashingtonSeattle to Spokane
- OregonPortland, Salem, Eugene
- MichiganGrand Rapids to Ann Arbor
- VirginiaNorthern Virginia and Richmond