Best Options for Moving Your Stuff Across The Country

[carebee21]

Next summer we're moving about 2500 miles away from where we are now.

We're trying to figure out the best/inexpensive way to get our household stuff across country without having to haul it ourselves (we are going to sell most of our furniture but there's a couple of pieces I want to keep and then the majority of our household goods, like dishes, pots and pans, clothes, photos, etc will be coming with us). I'm not sure about the moving pods, using a freight moving company or hiring a moving company to move it for us. I've tried getting some online quotes just so I have some idea as to the cost and which may be the best option when the time comes, but most don't do online quotes or they're asking what the estimated weight of the items will be, which I have no idea.

So, what have other people used when moving across country? Is there a reason you selected the option you did over the other options? And can anyone tell me about what you paid? I know our price will be different, but I'm just trying to get the roughest of ideas as to what I'm looking at with each type of company.

Thanks!

 

[racingwench]

I am in the process of moving right now. We have sold our house here in Upstate NY and will be moving to Lexington SC which is about 900 miles away. What we are doing is using PODS for part of the move and a Penske truck for the balance.
I have a 16ft POD and the price that I got was $2425. That includes the delivery of the POD to us here in NY, transportation of the POD to SC and 1 month of storage. If we need the POD for over 30 days we will be charged $216 for rent per month. I am doing what you plan on. We will be bringing some furniture from here but most of our stuff we will be leaving behind. I have filled 1/3 of the POD already and I think we are going to be in good shape. The thing with PODS is that I was told they will need 6 business days to move the POD from NY to SC which isn't a problem but you need to plan accordingly. Also if you want PODS will provide packers for you (for a fee of course) what that fee is I don't know as we weren't getting them.

We will also be renting a Penske truck. I have a 16 ft truck plus a car carrier for DS car. It is a 14 hours drive and he doesn't have enough driving time on the highway to make it I think so we are not taking any chances. This will be for a car carrier (all 4 wheels are off the road) not the type that drags the back end. The quote we were given for that was $1245. That was for a total of 5 days. No per mile with them either.

If you have any other questions please let me know and I will see if I can help you. Good Luck
Hope this helps
Cathy

 

[hopemax]

http://www.upack.com

They charge by space on the truck, not weight. You load and unload it. They drive. My parents used 3 trucks to move from WA to FL. DH and I used a partial truck to move from AZ to CO (we had 16' and it was about $1600 in March 2008), and to move things from FL to CO (I think we had 7' and it was about the same price $1600 but longer distance and higher fuel costs, in Oct 2010). For us it ended up being not much more than DIY (including gas, hotel, food) and significantly cheaper than professional movers. They also have pod type containers.

 

[adisneymama]

http://www.upack.com

They charge by space on the truck, not weight. You load and unload it. They drive. My parents used 3 trucks to move from WA to FL. DH and I used a partial truck to move from AZ to CO (we had 16' and it was about $1600 in March 2008), and to move things from FL to CO (I think we had 7' and it was about the same price $1600 but longer distance and higher fuel costs, in Oct 2010). For us it ended up being not much more than DIY (including gas, hotel, food) and significantly cheaper than professional movers. They also have pod type containers.

We just used them in Dec to make a move from TX to TN. Could not have been more pleased. We were already in TN so paid for laborers thru the Upack website to load the truck in TX but we did the unloading ourselves. We could have also paid laborers to unlaod for us but didn't feel the need. They were much cheaper than PODS in our situation. Would definitly use them again.

 

[jmb912]

Next summer we're moving about 2500 miles away from where we are now.

We're trying to figure out the best/inexpensive way to get our household stuff across country without having to haul it ourselves

We just moved from Mississippi to PA in December (about 1000 miles). We moved over 13,000 pounds of household goods, and had the movers load and unload everything. I did pack ALL of it myself though!! I made quite a few trips to Lowes for boxes, LOL!! Saved a few thousand dollars by doing it myself! We used Budget Van lines and it cost a little over $5,000. That also included storing are stuff for 30 days. I booked the whole thing on-line. I had no idea how many pounds or weight I had either because we hadn't moved in 5 years and had acquired alot. The website had a really great tool that helped with estimating though and I came almost spot-on with the weights. They weigh it when they take it and double-check the costs. All in all we were very happy with the entire process and would use them again.

 

[Swimalie]

We've done 2 cross-country moves. In both cases, we packed our items and paid someone to load them, haul them and unload. The first move was from a small, 3-bedroom house. Basically 2 bedrooms of furniture, living room and kitchen items. That move was $3000 including insurance. The 2nd move included 3 full bedrooms, living room, more outdoor things, etc. It was $5000. We used United for both moves. They weren't the cheapest but they had the best policy. I had a friend who used another moving company and once they got to their location, 10 days late, they held the items for more money. Their price went way up. We had "not to exceed" written on our estimate to make sure that didn't happen.

 

[Magical Mama]

Three years ago we moved from Ohio to FL. DH found a moving company based from NJ I think who had the best quote. Huge mistake! They went by number of items not weight. They came and loaded the truck up for us and have us an invoice that was 3 times more than the initial quote! A laundry basket counted the same as a huge filled box! We were not happy and told them to unload the truck. Apparently in the quote it stated something but bottom line was with the penalty, fees for them driving to Ohio and back and the loading and unloading the cost was more than having them move our belongings. So we were stuck paying three times what we budgeted for. Worst part was our truck broke down and it took them over a week past the delivery date to get us our belongings. Only when we mentioned getting a lawyer did the moving truck show up the next day. Boxes were damaged, things were missing and we recieved boxes that weren't ours. Was a terrible experience, DH said later that he never read reviews on the company and only went by lowest price. Definitely a learning experience for us!!!

 

[DawnM]

We used this service to move from Los Angeles to NC.

Just be sure you have room on the street or wherever to park it for a couple of days while you pack it and while you unload it.

We paid to have it unloaded on this end and I wish we hadn't. We could have unpacked it ourselves.

Dawn

http://www.upack.com

They charge by space on the truck, not weight. You load and unload it. They drive. My parents used 3 trucks to move from WA to FL. DH and I used a partial truck to move from AZ to CO (we had 16' and it was about $1600 in March 2008), and to move things from FL to CO (I think we had 7' and it was about the same price $1600 but longer distance and higher fuel costs, in Oct 2010). For us it ended up being not much more than DIY (including gas, hotel, food) and significantly cheaper than professional movers. They also have pod type containers.

 

[bdcp]

Most long distance movers will have leftover space in their trucks and will add other individual's items to fill them. If you are moving from one large metro area to another, there will almost always be trucks that have space available. If I were you, I would call around and explain you dont' have a lot to move and see if they will add your household goods to another move. Sounds like you will only have a few thousand pounds at most to move.

 

[carebee21]

Thank you everyone for sharing. Those horror stories are what I'm afraid of! We will be doing a lot of research before going selecting a company. And thanks to all who recommended u-pack. I've never heard of them, so I will have to look into them!

 

[jenifer123]

I think, U pack is the best international moving company to move your stuff, because all its services are excellent and price is also affordable

 

[bgirldeb]

Upack is definitely the cheapest moving option we found, and they have pod-type container cubes that are much cheaper than PODS.

 

[DisneyDizzy]

We moved from Utah to Indiana with ABF. I think it is the same as UPACK. They were pretty easy to work with. We had some stuff get damaged but we also had stuff get damaged through United when we had a full professional move as well. I wouldn't say I was THRILLED but it was easy and inexpensive! I'd use them again.

 

[DisneyDizzy]

Forgot to add that we hired people to load our Upack truck and that is the reason we had the damage. If we had loaded it ourselves we would have packed a little more carefully but we were pressed for time and didn't have any friends and family in Utah. Plus had a new baby! We did the unloading ourselves with friends and family and it went much smoother!