Need Advice Re: Moving Companies

[sandy6879]

We sold our house (yay!) but are trying to figure out what to do about moving. We're going from CT to AZ so UHaul is probably not the best option. Anyone have experience with moving companies - good and bad? We are also looking into the UPack service with ABF - any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance, we've never done a cross country move and I don't really know where to start.

 

[jndb93]

We moved from Alabama to Ohio last month. After pricing the various options, we used ABF and would recommend them to anyone. However, we did not load the truck ourselves. We paid movers in Alabama to load the truck ($400.00) and movers in Ohio to unload the truck ($210.00). There are no hidden fees with ABF. If you choose to hire people to help you load or unload make sure you ask about fees for travel time to and from your house. Some will charge you for this.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I just used ABF about a month ago from NYC to New Orleans. No way was I going to drive a truck through NYC and then 1400 miles across the country right before the 4th of July. (Plus paying for gas, hotels, insurance on the truck - the gas and insurance are included in ABF's price....it's cheaper than Uhaul, Penske, or Budget AND you don't have to drive!)

The only issue I had with them was that unless you pay for a guaranteed delivery date, they cannot confirm the date of delivery ahead of time. We loaded the truck on Monday, June 29th and had an estimated travel time of 3 days (so we would have had the stuff on Thursday or Friday by that estimate). The truck was in Atlanta over the holiday (July 4th), and they didn't get it loaded and out of there (supposedly due to the holiday) and we did not actually get our truck until the following Wednesday. I'm a teacher and on summer break so this was not a big issue, but it was irritating and inconvenient.

That said, I would recommend them and would use them again. However, if I needed the truck on a certain date I would pay the extra for the confirmed date. Also, we did do the door to door one instead of to the terminals - we would have needed to rent a local truck and load and unload twice - that was worth the $400 extra to me!

We loaded the truck ourselves. On the NYC end, there was a hand truck to use available; there was not in New Orleans. They do not provide that on a regular basis so you will need to either rent one or buy one.

 

[jndb93]

We also used the door to door service. While we did not have any problems with the delivery dates (the truck arrived on the expected date), I agree with the previous poster, if this is important to you, you may want to pay for a guaranteed delivery date.

We considered loading the truck ourselves. However, my husband moved two months ahead of us. We stayed in Alabama until school ended. There was no way I could load the truck by myself and by the time we factored in airfare and lost work time, it made more sense for us to pay someone to do it for us.

 

[golfgal]

One thing to keep in mind is while most moving companies are national chains, each local office can differ DRAMATICALLY. Get local references, people that have used the particular office that you will use. We have had a wonderful experience with United, then our next move was HORRIBLE with the same company but different franchise office.

 

[DisnyMama]

I'm a single mom with one DS who was not around during the first move from CA to TX a few years ago (little league game) and TX back to CA this last Aug. (he was on vacation with friends)-anyway I had no choice but to hire a moving company to load their truck and drive it halfway across country. I packed everything and was ready for them when they arrived for loading which took about 4-5 hours because they had to dissasemble and wrap furniture. The first move from CA to TX was just under $5,000 and the 2nd from TX to CA was around $6,000.

I got four estimates each time which all came in at different rates. You have to be very, very careful with these companies because they will give you a rate in writing and written in big red letters that states guaranteed "NOT TO GO OVER $$$$" but when they p/u your stuff the mover tells you that it's going to be another $1500 because the weight is going to exceed.....!!!!What? Then you read your paperwork and it says that it is not an invoice but just an estimate-DUH! I was so focussed on the big red letters that said guaranteed "Not TO GO Over $$$$" but it was not a guarantee at all, just a ploy to get me to sign. Well, I argued and faught with them for over an hour and got them down to $500.00 but they've really got you over a barrel because they now have your stuff.

Bottom line whether you move yourself, pack yourself and have it container shipped or use a moving company-get rid of as much as possible before you move. It is more cost effective to re-buy in a lot of cases when you get there than pay to have it moved.

Good luck and best wishes on your up-coming move!

 

[phorsenuf]

I'm going to be doing a move from NH to FL. I got quote from PODS that was very reasonable. I liked the fact that they drop off the unit (up to a month in advance) and you can load it at your leisure. Then they'll pick it up and haul it to your new place. Seems very easy.

I looked into ABF and if it's what I'm thinking, where it's similar to PODS and they drop off container, I would have had to get 2 containers from them to equal the one POD and it was more expensive.

PODS has a website where you can do an online quote. I ended up calling though because I had a lot of questions. They were very helpful.

Good luck. Moving is a pain in the patootie!

 

[manning]

Some think that when a truck shows up that it is exclusively for them when in fact there are several move on it. Also while your move is in transit that truck could be making other pickups and deliveries. Small moves are the hardest. Often they are brought back to the warehouse and held for a truck that is going in the direction of your move.

The most important thing is to have a complete and accurate inventory. Be sure your items are accurately described on the inventory both before loading and unloading. If you have items that do not have any damage make sure they are listed as such. If you see new damage upon delivery NOTE IT ON THE INVENTORY!!! Make sure everything has been picked up. Do a walk thru with the driver. Note if any damage was done to the house at both locations.

Be sure you are there when your move is picked up and delivered and check everything off on the inventory that is loaded and unloaded. That inventory is key if there is any claim.

For the carrier to be responsible for claims they have to pack it. Don't be surprised if they repack anything you have packed.

You are charged for packing material, packing and unpacking. Make sure they are using new containers, you are paying for them. Old ones are supposed to be thrown away. Make sure mirrors are packed in special mirror containers.

If you have to file claim for an item that cannot be repaired the carrier will pay on depreciated replacement value (just like a car) and has the right to keep it. They are buying the item from you. You can buy additional insurance,

 

[barkley]

just some suggestions that worked for us moving from one state to another-

pack anything you will immediatly need and take it with you (we did all our meds, some toiletries, clothes for a few days-and since i had room i put all my photo albums and some other sentimental items i would have been devistated to lose). we also packed the smallest t.v. we owned-that way we could schedual direct tv to come out and install (they moved t.v. from room to room to check installation) so when furniture arrived and we moved in it was already set up.

check with your homeowner's insurance to determine what kind of coverage they provide when using a moving line-and that way you can determine if you need to purchase anything from the moving company.

we had a range of dates for delivery and of all the major hotel/motel chains we checked with, holiday inn express was the BEST for movers. they would make a ressie for the max number of days we knew we could be waiting but then would allow us to cancel remaining days as late as 12 noon on any given day if we got the word the van was coming (we got a call the nite before but if they had called the next morning to tell us it would arrive that day we could have cancelled and not paid for lodging that day as well as the remaining).

we used united van lines and they were great. ask them what discount programs they offer-you might be surprised that you have eligibility (i'm retired from government but i was eligible for that program, they had a military rate that was great and eligibility was for active, former and dependants). i liked that they guaranteed in writing their rate, and unlike some of the other companies we looked at there was a written guarantee that if something occured to increase their costs of transport our rate was already locked and could not be increased (with some there's wording about prevailing fuel costs as a factor that can change a price-ours was locked in so when fuel costs skyrocketed right before our move we did'nt get hit with a massive increase).

keep your own invantory "just in case"-years ago i saw a moving van that had been involved in a major accident that sheared open the back-the contents were strewn over a mountainside-there was no way it could have been recovered (that's what convinced me to take my photo albumbs-i remember sitting in the bumper to bumper traffic watching photos and album pages drifting away, getting driven over, soaked in fuel and water