Best way to move a long distance?

[simka2]

When it comes time to move our stuff...should we rent a large van, pods, or movers?

 

Best bang for our buck? ;) Things to avoid?

[Mejane]

We used a pod, and - honestly? - it was a nightmare to pack. If it had just been boxes it wouldn't have been bad, but trying to fit in furniture, etc., was like trying to put together a very large, very heavy puzzle.

 

We might consider using one for boxes next time, but we'll definitely pay a professional to move our furniture.

Edited October 30, 2010 by Mejane

[jenL]

I can only share our experience, but we've only done a long distance move once. I know there are others on this board much more adept at this than I.

 

To save costs, we chose to go with ABF Freight (www.upack.com). They bring the truck to you and you have 2 days to load it. They do not help you at all with the actual moving. They just transport your things. You pay for the amount of space you consume in their trailer; compared to other companies, they were far more affordable. We did not have to worry about gas, tolls, breakdowns, etc. if we were to drive a U-Haul which was our original choice. They were more affordable than PODS, although that was going to be our 2nd choice. Upon arriving at our new home 1000 miles away, they contacted us once the truck arrived at their terminal to set up a delivery time. They drove the truck to our house, left in in the driveway for 2 days, and then came back to retrieve it. Our items arrived in great shape (of course they shifted a bit during the drive, but that happens no matter who you use), and we found the company to be professional, courteous, and very helpful. Other members of my family who have since moved to where we are have also used them with great success.

 

Hth! :)

[RoughCollie]

We used ABF U-Pack.

 

http://www.upack.com/lp/moving-containers.asp?r=r01100&refnum=googlepd&c=G%2FTM%2FUS&g=B%2Fpods+moving&m=broad&k=pods+moving&ad=6589827676&gclid=CNXq4tLz-qQCFctL5QodKD6ugg

 

We ordered one trailer, and when we needed another one, they delivered it promptly. We also ordered 4 trailers to move our business, and that went well too.

 

They had excellent customer service. We moved the office to location #1, had to cancel that lease and move everything to another location, and ABF was very helpful and did not charge us extra money even though we kept the 4 trailers for much longer than our contract allowed us to.

 

We did not buy boxes from them. We used U-Line for some, bought others at U-Haul (out of desperation), and purchased some from a guy who advertised on Craigslist. We rented moving pads (blankets to protect furniture) from U-Haul.

 

http://www.uline.com/Grp_141/Moving-Boxes?pricode=we461&gclid=CIO_wID0-qQCFQl_5Qod2kbWiA

 

The only problem we had with our stuff was not ABF's fault. The vibration from traveling made the Ikea Billy bookcases' backing come off and we had to nail it on again. Also, the pegs that held together our futon frame sheared off.

 

Make very sure that your appliances are completely dry inside before they are loaded onto the truck, or they will have mold in them when they arrive at your destination. This means they will have to be emptied, cleaned and defrosted a few days ahead of time.

 

We hired workers locally to load and unload the trucks. If we had not needed to save money, we would have hired a traditional moving company and had them do this, simply because they would have had more knowledge and experience of the best way to load the trailers. ABF does give instructions on how to do this, but I would have had more peace of mind about if I hadn't had to use local workers.

Edited October 30, 2010 by RoughCollie

[athena1277]

I really like movers. It saves a lot of time and you don't have to beg your friends and relatives to help you load/unload. If you get packers, you don't have to spend weeks packing stuff into boxes. We had some problems with our movers the last time, but part of that stemmed from the person giving the estimate being waaay off in how much stuff we actually had. Ok, I also managed to tick off the packers, but that's another story. Still, if we found out we were about to move, I would be trying to find a way to afford movers.

[justamouse]

I am too old and tired to do it all myself. I'm not hauling heavy stuff up three flights of stairs. I left it to the professionals, and pointed to where I wanted the stuff. Best move we've had yet. Every penny was worth it.

[elegantlion]

We're broke and cheap, we move ourselves. If money wasn't an object I would absolutely hire movers. One issue with self-moving and long distance is making sure you know exactly how much stuff you own. We couldn't fit everything in the truck last time. Thankfully my parents stored some of it for us. Then if you have two cars, you'll need to trailer one and drive the other. If you're not used to driving a load like that, it can be very nerve wracking.

 

We looked into the pods but they cost way more than a truck due to our location.

 

Four kids, long distance quick move? Hire movers.

[kokotg]

We rented a Penske truck and drove ourselves, but we hired movers to load up the truck (we unpacked ourselves at the end). I think we paid for 3 hours, and they got all the furniture (including a piano) and most of the smaller stuff loaded in that time (this was 8 years and 2 kids ago, so we had less stuff than now).

[nancy in nj]

We also had great luck with ABF and saved a ton of money on our interstate move (NJ to NC). We packed ourselves, but we hired local movers on both ends to load/unload the truck. The truck was about $1,400 and the movers on both ends were about $800 combined.

 

Nancy

[Mama Geek]

If you move yourselves, beware of motorized U-hauls. They are the worst maintained in the industry. A friend of ours moved from VA to Indiana a couple of years ago. Their U haul broke down a few times and they ended up having it towed. They had to get a different truck and unload everything themselves and reload it onto the replacement truck. The second truck came from a different company. They weren't happy with U Haul at all.

[Doodle]

I am too old and tired to do it all myself. I'm not hauling heavy stuff up three flights of stairs. I left it to the professionals, and pointed to where I wanted the stuff. Best move we've had yet. Every penny was worth it.

 

:iagree:

When we moved last year, the only thing I packed were the essential that we actually took with us in our car. Basic clothes & personal items (think going on a vacation) and computers. For the rest of the house, I staged certain areas to keep like things together. For example, I had dishes in the kitchen, dining room and some extra pieces in the basement. I brought the basement pieces up and set them on my dining room table to be packed with that room. Doodle had toys in his bedroom and the living room. I made sure all his toys and belongings were in his room to be packed together.

[LizzyBee]

If you can afford professional movers, it's great to have someone else do the packing, loading, and unloading!

 

If money is tight, rent a truck and recruit friends and family to help you pack and load. On the other end, ask the new company if they have any suggestions for finding a couple guys to help you unload for $10/hr and pizza.

 

We've used Uhaul several times with no problems. Well, minimal problems. When we moved from Baltimore to NC, "our" truck was in NC because someone rented it for a local move and took it to NC instead. So we had to wait until the next day to get a truck. We also rented a trailer for one of the vehicles, and I drove the other with the kids.

[JFSinIL]

When we moved a mere couple miles across town....we packed a LOT and moved some delicate stuff ourselves - but let professional movers (who gave us tons of boxes to borrow) on actual moving day to load up, drive, and unload.

 

There is enough to fret about - let the pros do the heavy work on moving day (or days since you are moving a lot farther!)

[hsbaby]

Like a few pp's, we used ABF for our move from CA to TN. Great experience!

[Brenda in FL]

We rented moving vans which dh and my father drove (we needed 2!!). We hired movers through emove.com to load the vans and unload at both locations. the movers cost about $250 at both ends. Our last move from Atlanta to Raleigh with two moving vans cost us just under $3,000. (Hmm that didn't include all the packing material though which was mostly left over from a previous move.)

 

We used emove.com 3 times and were satisfied with the services each time.

 

If the company was paying more for relocating costs - we probably would have had movers do the entire thing. But for this move $3,000 was our limit

 

Is the company paying for your relocation? Depending on how they structure it - you do have to be careful tax wise. Our first move from SFL to Atlanta, we received a lump sum - way over and above the actual tax deductible moving expenses. We had to pay a huge amount of income tax on it!! We probably would have been better off to hire movers to do everything!!

Edited October 31, 2010 by Brenda in FL

[VA6336]

We've moved long distances a few times and while the first move was much less expensive because we packed ourselves (had professionals load/unload/etc), the second time we had movers pack us, too. Made a huge difference. They use way more packing materials and much less gets broken. AND they take your furniture (like beds) apart AND put it back together again at the destination. I love that. :) If I had teenagers to help, we might do the ABF thing, but my kids are all little and useless. We also have a few pieces of furniture that are priceless to us and there's no insurance policy that could pay us enough if the catastrophic happened to it. I'd rather pay the professionals. Even though it is way more expensive.

[Mrs Mungo]

I vote movers. We've only moved ourselves once post-kids and it was a nightmare compared to having movers.

[momofmiracles]

Whatever you do - do not use a moving broker (like moving.com). We did that to save money and have someone do the packing and transporting. However, it turned into a total nightmare!

 

I would tell you all about it, but it is quite a long story!

 

BTW - when researching a moving company look at the total number of complaints. If the complaints are excessive but it shows they were resolved - don't trust it! When we tried to settle with the moving broker they wanted us to sign an agreement that we would not report them to any consumer reporting agency or if we had, to revoke it. I refused to accept any money from them under these conditions! (It was only $250 anyway and we had WAY more damage to our goods than that)!

[amey311]

I haven't read all the replies yet, but please check your homeowner's insurance and see if you have moving coverage included. It might not cover you if you move yourself, but it will if you hire movers.

 

While it's a rarity, the company that moved us from CT to AZ broke EVERYTHING we owned when the driver fell asleep (yes, fell asleep) at the wheel and drove the truck into a ditch, rolling it over. The driver had the nerve to tell us about how he had just had dental surgery and so he was taking these painkillers that made him sleepy and that's why he fell asleep (told to use while he was unloading all of our broken stuff into the garage of the new house). Oh, and no one was hurt - not even the third guy who was sleeping in the foot space of the passenger's side. :cursing:

 

Our homeowner's insurance included full replacement coverage for the contents of our house - we didn't have to pay extra for it. DH is really great about keeping receipts for expensive stuff, which made things a lot easier.

 

That said, if you're one of those people who NEVER wants to make a HOI claim, then look into moving insurance from the moving company. We had initially done that, but then canceled it when we found that we were covered by HOI.

[Momling]

We moved with PODS from East coast to West coast last year. I got a quote from both PODS and ABF and ABF was signifcantly cheaper. So I emailed PODS and told them the ABF U-Pack quote and they offered me an even better offer. I got the impression it had something to do with the location I was moving from and to (like... they wanted more trucks on the West Coast or maybe they had another POD going that way too.) It's worth checking -- I hadn't realized that the prices were negotiable at all. Anyway, it was a good deal for us and we had a great experience with them. We hired "Two Studs Movers" to do the heavy lifting at $75/hr. It was totally worth it.

[mom2abcd]

Well, I guess we are really cheap compared to the other single-income families here. Sometimes dh's employer would pay for professional movers to come load our packed boxes, drive them to the new place, and unload boxes (set up bed frames, too, which was a big help).

 

Usually we have to pack ourselves. We always end up calling friends in at the last minute (day or two). We usually rent the biggest truck Budget has and have friends help us load it up. Then dh drives it while I take the van with the kids and photos and suitcases. Our new church helps us unload at the other end.

 

I have said many times that I would love to save up money and pay people to pack and help unpack. Of course, we never have the money.

 

One tip: Look for movers in the yellow pages and have them come out and give an estimate. Even if you don't go with them, they can tell you what size truck you will need.

 

Another tip-- UHaul sells colored tape that says "Bedroom 1," "Living Room," etc.-- a different color for each room. It''s not cheap, but it is so worth it!

 

We always get boxes free from grocery stores or other stores. Just ask them when a good time is to pick them up. If you have a friend that works at a store, they can help save them.

 

All the best!

[Crimson Wife]

We've tried all the options- U-Haul (never again), PODS (slightly better but still a PITA), packing ourselves & having pros load, drive, & unload (I would do this again if we had a tight budget), and having pros do everything (best but pricey).

[QueenCat]

With our last move, the new company paid for the move. Everything: packing, loading, moving, unloading. Did not unpack, per our request. I told dh that this is now a must in any move.... too old to be loading and unloading trucks!

[Renee in NC]

*I* packed everything (my 17yo helped load the furniture.) We moved almost everything in a 7x18 trailer. My mother then rented a truck to drive back to FL with from NC and took some other stuff that we weren't going to take until she rented the truck.

 

This time we will move everything in a 6x12 Uhaul trailer and my Dad's trailer with sides built on (mainly for my 12yo's tool box, bikes, etc.) We don't have much stuff at all - that helps the most.

 

I am getting the house ready now so we can pack everything and load the truck in one day if necessary. There really isn't much to it!