OT: Moving? Is it really this expensive?

[Maureenmouse]

We're relocating , . It's about 135 miles from our current home. I'm packing everything myself,and the quote was nealry $4000!! I couldn't believe it. Is this how it is everywhere to move or did I get a high estimate? We can't move ourselves as we don't have any family or friends in the area to help with unloading and we do have a lot of heavy furniture.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I paid $3000 to move 20 miles and I packed myself. They broke things. I wouldn't use movers again I'd use pods.

 

[WDWorBUST]

If you are active in church maybe you could offer the youth group the opportunity to do it as a fundraiser. It isn't that far for a carload of teenage boys to drive. Or maybe locate a church in the area and see if there is any interest.

To answer your original question though - I have NO idea how much it should cost.

 

[campingcorgi]

Check out Emove.com. We have used them several times and have always been satisfied. It is basically people in the area who have listed through emove to help load/unload, or pack or whatever. For a couple of hundred bucks on each end you can save a lot with movers. And you are in charge of your stuff at all times. We used emove and Pods when we moved from Tennessee to Florida and with 3 pods we had not a thing broken!

(smilie picked by the kid because moving makes her tired!)

 

[StephMK]

We used a mover that we loved & they were $5400 for 1000 miles. They were great & very careful. I looked at movingscam.com. They have reviews of movers by state and which ones to beware. I used a recommended mover from the site & a neighbor & it worked out great. Good luck, we moved in Dec & it'll be a long time before I want to see another moving box!

 

[sorul82?]

We're relocating , . It's about 135 miles from our current home. I'm packing everything myself,and the quote was nealry $4000!! I couldn't believe it. Is this how it is everywhere to move or did I get a high estimate? We can't move ourselves as we don't have any family or friends in the area to help with unloading and we do have a lot of heavy furniture.

Holy Moly! That sounds like a lot of $$ for 135 miles. Where in NC are you?

 

[Maureenmouse]

Thannks. I'm going to check out the web sites. As far as church, we have only a few teenagers in our parish and they are almost all girls. ( They were great babysitters, but I can't see them moving us.)
The second movers came and will give us an estimate on Monday. They said to move our own fragile items. We will know more then. I guess moving really does cost a lot, but hopefully, we will be happy in our new jobs.

 

[vegasnative]

We used ABF. They dropped the trailer at our house, we packed it up and then they picked it up and transported it about 1100 miles to our new place and that cost us about $2700, that was total (taxes, any fees, everything).

 

[Maureenmouse]

Holy Moly! That sounds like a lot of $$ for 135 miles. Where in NC are you?

We're in Laurinburg, moving to Statesville.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Yep, its expensive. I know this isn't an option for you but thats why DH recruited some friends and we did it ourselves.

DH said I'll strap that furniture on my back before I pay that much money . And I guess basically he almost did.

Our things are in storage now and our new house will be complete in about a month so we'll be moving our things from the storage compartment to the new house, and yep, DH and friends will do it again.

 

[Maureenmouse]

Well, the news isn't getting any better. ABF won't be able to help us as they only do moves of at least 350 miles. I'll let you all know about the other estimate on Monday. It seems that the first moving company is going by weight and the second may be by insurance? I'm only guessing on this because he said for us to move all the lamps, pictures, dishes, collectibles etc. ourselves.

 

[bumbershoot]

I paid $3000 to move 20 miles and I packed myself. They broke things. I wouldn't use movers again I'd use pods.

And we thought $400-$500 plus the UHaul (twice!) was too much!


We used emove.com, and they hooked us up with a good little company with almost perfect ratings. They had links to movers, packers, even cleaning services...it was super-easy. We rented and drove the truck. Ours was a short move so they just followed us.

But if I were doing something like your move, I might hire movers to get the stuff from the house into the truck, then have ONE driver for the truck, or just drive it myself (unless of course it's a truck that's too big to drive without a special license and training), then hire other movers to unpack. Or at least I'd look into the cost of that...


The move before, we used Starving Students, and they were about the same amount except they had their truck and drove it themselves. In retrospect, I would prefer to use Starving Students again rather than just hiring movers and driving a truck...but I'm not sure I could pay even over 1K, unless I were moving VERY far away...

 

[vegasnative]

Do you have "Starving Students" Movers in your area? We used them with an intown move one time and they were great/cheap. Some of those movers, like a Dad & Sons would probably do a 125 mile move. You just pack it all up and break down the beds and they load the truck and unload it all for you.

 

[rkandmjsmommy]

EMOVE. COM all the way, they were great!!!

 

[barkley]

are they packing or wrapping anything for you? that can make a huge difference. the price of cardboard has gone up allot and moving companies charge allot for boxes (the art boxes were the killers for us-you can't buy them at most moving supply stores and they are expensive).

we used allied moving and storage to move us from northern california to the spokane area (around 800 miles) and we paid around $7000, but we had ALLOT of stuff. if you are opting for insurance it can increase the cost a whole lot too (we went with insurance but did a $1000.00 deductable).

we moved in march and i know in talking to the moving company rep. if we had'nt already booked and locked in the estimated rate our move would have been much higher-when gas prices hiked up moving companies jacked their rates accordingly.

you might check with moving companies to see if they offer any discounts for an affiliation you have-i know allied offered the same rate they contracted with the military at to retired and former military as well as current and retired government workers (even if the move was not related to either).

 

[CEDmom]

Wow, we moved 35 miles last summer and it cost us just under $1000 - the estimate was $1400. We moved from a 3 bedroom 2 story house to another 3 bedroom 2 story house. We used a local company that was highly recommended by several people. The national/long distance carriers quoted 3x that price.

 

[Melrosgirl]

Just moved 3 miles away and packed everything myself. We had 20,000 lbs. of stuff they estimated. Cost us $1700 plus $200 in tips (4 guys @ $50 tips). Was a ten hour day. We have a lot of heavy furniture!

I once moved across country with a much smaller house full of stuff and it was $3500.

 

[Maureenmouse]

No starving Students in NC. Oh well. I'm still looking...
We are packing most everything. I'll let everybody know the estimate of the second company tomorrow when he calls.
I also didn't realize how expensive bubble wrap is. It's cheaper at Sams, but we won't be going there for another week. ( the closest one is about an hour away.0
Thanksa for all the suggestions. We'll keep looking and keep you posted.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Don't forget to check if you are eligible for moving expense deduction on your taxes. If you qualify, you can take the deduction even if you do not itemize your other deductions. This is a big savings a lot of people miss.

 

[Southern4sure]

We're relocating , . It's about 135 miles from our current home. I'm packing everything myself,and the quote was nealry $4000!! I couldn't believe it. Is this how it is everywhere to move or did I get a high estimate? We can't move ourselves as we don't have any family or friends in the area to help with unloading and we do have a lot of heavy furniture.

Look at emove.com. We packed ourselves and used a U-haul truck. But with emove you can pay to have guys come to your house now to load and guys from the area your moving to unload. You pay by the hour and it took less then 3 hours each.