Cross Country Moving Co.

[Lynn CC]

Does anyone know of a reliable company? We are moving from CA to FL
I can't wait!

 

[Jeannie]

When my daughter moved, we called a local company that we had used several times in the past, and they were able to give us a recommendation. Good luck!

 

[mnrose]

We have moved three times "cross country" (or nearly so). Each time, we've gone with a "big name" company....United Van Lines, Allied, etc. I would say that there was no appreciable difference in the service we received. You will want to check out reviews on the local affiliate which is actually doing the moving for you (these big name companies all operate as franchises), and I highly recommend that you purchase the insurance that they offer. In every move, there have been things which have broken, etc. I consider this a "normal" hazard of moving, whether I do it myself or hire someone. At least when I hire someone, I can buy the insurance they offer! LOL. Get 2-3 estimates. It WILL cost you significantly more to move in "peak" season (May-Sept), so move outside that window if you can!

The horror stories I have heard about moving are from people who went with non-brand name companies. You won't save that much that makes it worth your while to use one of these companies.

We are planning another cross country move a few years into the future, and one option we are strongly considering is using a pod option....where the pods get dropped in your driveway, you pack them, the company picks up the pods, and then drops them in the driveway of your new home. This is very appealing to me as the cost is about 1/2 what the other type of move costs, you can pack them at your leisure (instead of having everything hauled away in 1-2 days), and unpack at your leisure. And, you can make sure special items receive special care, etc.

 

[neverlandsky]

We did Uhaul. After 2 horrible experiences with United and a local company, we diy with uhaul. Way less stress too. If you're shipping cars, we do highly recommend Reindeer. Had a great experience with them.

 

[RangerPooh]

We've criss-crossed the country in 3 moves. Each move resulted in us going with Uhaul due to cost. We almost went with one big name company that had a lower price, but due to weather they canceled on us the day before our scheduled move. Another mover was considered at one point, but they wouldn't deliver to our home, but rather the nearest hub, leaving us to complete the move ourselves. Hence where Uhaul ended up coming in each time.

On our last move we put half of our belongings in Uhaul pods and sent those in advance. Due to a comedy of errors, they arrived a month after we did! My dad who drove our Uhaul out three weeks after we moved beat them! Our order was forgotten to be picked up at the local Uhaul, then the wrong order was picked up and had to return the correct the error. Each mistake added multiple days to the delivery. It was certainly interesting to not have much more than what we brought in our vehicles the first three weeks in our new home.

We've learned that it's just easier to move ourselves. Each time we purge mattresses (even if reasonably new), couches, older/cheaper book shelves, yard decor, etc. We do hire loaders from the Uhaul website and have always had good experiences with that, even with around town moves. There was one crew that we recommended to friends quite a few times.

 

[diznygirl]

Does anyone know of a reliable company? We are moving from CA to FL
I can't wait!

When we moved CA to FL we used Mayflower. Congrats and good luck!

 

[Lynn CC]

When we moved CA to FL we used Mayflower. Congrats and good luck!

Did your move go smoothly with them? If you don't mind me asking approximately how much did it cost? We have a small one bedroom condo here, about 750sq. feet. We are wondering if it would be worth moving what we have or starting over.

 

[Lynn CC]

We have moved three times "cross country" (or nearly so). Each time, we've gone with a "big name" company....United Van Lines, Allied, etc. I would say that there was no appreciable difference in the service we received. You will want to check out reviews on the local affiliate which is actually doing the moving for you (these big name companies all operate as franchises), and I highly recommend that you purchase the insurance that they offer. In every move, there have been things which have broken, etc. I consider this a "normal" hazard of moving, whether I do it myself or hire someone. At least when I hire someone, I can buy the insurance they offer! LOL. Get 2-3 estimates. It WILL cost you significantly more to move in "peak" season (May-Sept), so move outside that window if you can!

The horror stories I have heard about moving are from people who went with non-brand name companies. You won't save that much that makes it worth your while to use one of these companies.

We are planning another cross country move a few years into the future, and one option we are strongly considering is using a pod option....where the pods get dropped in your driveway, you pack them, the company picks up the pods, and then drops them in the driveway of your new home. This is very appealing to me as the cost is about 1/2 what the other type of move costs, you can pack them at your leisure (instead of having everything hauled away in 1-2 days), and unpack at your leisure. And, you can make sure special items receive special care, etc.

We live in a condo, so I'm not sure we can have a pod dropped off here, would be a great option. I'll check it out thank you.

 

[diznygirl]

Did your move go smoothly with them? If you don't mind me asking approximately how much did it cost? We have a small one bedroom condo here, about 750sq. feet. We are wondering if it would be worth moving what we have or starting over.

I don’t remember - it was 16 years ago. Yes, everything was great. We moved a house full of stuff. Approx 1400 sq feet - two couches, several dressers/beds etc.

It’s easier than ever with Facebook for sale pages to get cheap basic furniture if you want to just sell stuff and start over.

 

[Lynn CC]

When we moved CA to FL we used Mayflower. Congrats and good luck!

Thank You

 

[Micca]

We've done cross country moves about 9 times since the 70s, we've always used one of the big name movers and have never had any major problems. I think it's kind of like flying the major airlines, the experience only varies due to the individuals who are involved in moving you. We always bought insurance, and we were super cool with the packers and movers--bought them lunch, tipped them, etc. Did it make any difference? I don't know, but in all of those moves we had only minor issues with a few items. It's very expensive, but what are you gonna do? Moving sucks no matter what, best of luck to you.

 

[wgeo]

We've done 3 cc moves. First time we did it ourselves, rented from Penske found that to be easier logistics wise because we were always in charge of our own stuff, of course it was much harder labor wise but we were moving an apartment at that point. Next time we moved out of a house and went with Allied, much easier labor wise even though we packed our own boxes. I want to say around $5000? The total was based on weight and distance and iirc most of the major sites have estimators on their sites so you can get an idea. Our driver was great, but he ended up showing up a day earliler then we had planned, which sounds good but really messed us up as we needed sitters to watch our babies while the movers brought stuff in, so logistically slightly harder.

Third move we again used a major company, I believe it was United -got an incredible driver, like him right away. We had access to his GPS and could track our stuff as it moved across the country. He showed up exactly on time, the problem is that they hire local guys to help with the load/unload and the local guys on the unload end never showed. So the driver unloaded our entire house himself, except the piano which he couldn't do. So he came back the next morning with some guys and did that - he knew we were in a rental and moving to our permanent house in a few months, so he left the piano "saran wrapped" which included his moving blankets to make it easier for us to move it again. Super nice guy.

Local I would do it myself, but cc I will always use a mover at this point.

 

[lorijohnhill]

I am moving from CA to PA in a few weeks. Yikes! Lol. I looked into both pods and moving companies. The pods were not much less (or may even have cost more) because I need to hire loaders and unloaders.

I ended up going with BLVD Movers. My move is costing $6000 (approx) for a 1526 sq ft 3 bedroom house.

I got the most comfortable “feeling” when talking with the rep. I talked to many companies, and a lot were very pushy.

One thing I would avoid is a broker. A question to be sure to ask when you call a company. Many don’t tell you they are brokers (which means they book you on the cheapest truck they can find and you have no opportunity to check reviews because they don’t tell you upfront who will be moving you. )

Best of luck with your move!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We moved from NW Louisiana to SW Florida last year. I interviewed multiple moving companies and wound up going with a smaller company. Larger name companies wanted approx. $25,000 to move us. We had about 1700 pounds (old house was 2800 sq ft, new house is 1850 sq ft). Estimates I got for the load was much less than what we ultimately paid which was about $17,000 for the move. I had packing included on the LA end. We unpacked everything in boxes at our end. It took the movers (team of four) two days to pack and load. It took about eight hours to unpack the truck at the new house. With the PP getting an estimate of $6000, I'd plan on paying a lot more when the stuff arrived. They should tell you when they leave what the ultimate cost will be. My original estimate was about $14,000. I had other estimates of less than $10,000.

The closing on our new house was delayed a few days and I was able to get the moving company to delay delivery until we actually closed with no extra cost. We arrived on Sunday, planning to close on Monday. We closed on Thursday and the movers delivered on Sunday. On Monday, we had a tropical storm that would have soaked everything if it hadn't been delivered the day before. We filled the garage with everything we weren't sure where we were going to put it and the car sat out for about a week. And Hurricane Irma hit six weeks later.

Advice is to get rid of as much as you can prior to your move. Donate, throw away, leave behind. I am a pack rat and had tons of stuff that I donated or threw away or sold. But I still had too much and could have sold or dumped much more.

 

[wgeo]

We moved from NW Louisiana to SW Florida last year. I interviewed multiple moving companies and wound up going with a smaller company. Larger name companies wanted approx. $25,000 to move us. We had about 1700 pounds (old house was 2800 sq ft, new house is 1850 sq ft). Estimates I got for the load was much less than what we ultimately paid which was about $17,000 for the move. I had packing included on the LA end. We unpacked everything in boxes at our end. It took the movers (team of four) two days to pack and load. It took about eight hours to unpack the truck at the new house. With the PP getting an estimate of $6000, I'd plan on paying a lot more when the stuff arrived. They should tell you when they leave what the ultimate cost will be. My original estimate was about $14,000. I had other estimates of less than $10,000.

The closing on our new house was delayed a few days and I was able to get the moving company to delay delivery until we actually closed with no extra cost. We arrived on Sunday, planning to close on Monday. We closed on Thursday and the movers delivered on Sunday. On Monday, we had a tropical storm that would have soaked everything if it hadn't been delivered the day before. We filled the garage with everything we weren't sure where we were going to put it and the car sat out for about a week. And Hurricane Irma hit six weeks later.

Advice is to get rid of as much as you can prior to your move. Donate, throw away, leave behind. I am a pack rat and had tons of stuff that I donated or threw away or sold. But I still had too much and could have sold or dumped much more.

Interesting how much more it costs when you have them do the packing. I never got estimates for that. Both of our moves were around 5000 and neither time did they ask me to pay more when they unloaded. I've never heard of reputable companies making you pay more on delivery.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Interesting how much more it costs when you have them do the packing. I never got estimates for that. Both of our moves were around 5000 and neither time did they ask me to pay more when they unloaded. I've never heard of reputable companies making you pay more on delivery.

We didn't pay more on delivery. But the estimate was way off and we got the final tally before we left the old house.

 

[wgeo]

We didn't pay more on delivery. But the estimate was way off and we got the final tally before we left the old house.

Oh I was referring to your sentence about the person who got a 6000 quote that they should expect to pay more on delivery and I was saying that my experiences didn't match with that. I've done 3 bids each time we moved, and only one company was pretty far off, the other ones all seemed to match each other pretty closely in terms of estimated weights. This is what they do for a living - they should be able to come through your house and estimate the weight of things pretty accurately these days.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Oh I was referring to your sentence about the person who got a 6000 quote that they should expect to pay more on delivery and I was saying that my experiences didn't match with that. I've done 3 bids each time we moved, and only one company was pretty far off, the other ones all seemed to match each other pretty closely in terms of estimated weights. This is what they do for a living - they should be able to come through your house and estimate the weight of things pretty accurately these days.

Not all my companies that I interviewed actually came into the house. In most cases, I gave them an estimate of what I had based on their list of items. So I knew it would be more than they estimated. I thought the OP should be aware of that, too.

 

[lorijohnhill]

I am the pp with the $6000 quote. I was concerned about getting hit with an increase upon delivery based on a previous experience. When I moved from CT to CA, the company charged by weight, and used a fake weigh bill to try to get more money upon delivery. We made them drive straight to the local weigh scales when they arrived and then re-weigh when the truck was empty to prove it. I did not pay any extra.

This company goes by space, and since I know the measurements of the furniture I am taking (I draw up floor plans for moves so that furniture only gets placed once), the quote should be pretty accurate (fingers crossed!). I am saving quite a bit by not taking my washer, dryer, refrigerator, table and chairs, king size bed, and am purging as much as possible while packing.

I am praying all goes well. I will update when I know more.

 

[SarahWeasley]

For any mover you're considering for a state-to-state move, check https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/hhg/search.asp first to see if there are recorded complaints.