Tips for dealing with moving companies

[AFwife Claire]

We are in the process of (slowly) moving to Ohio from Virginia this summer.  We have moved quite a few times before, but it's always been the military moving us, so I really have no experience at all working with moving companies.  My dh has already started working in Ohio and is just back here on weekends, so I'm the one that needs to get the actual moving of our big stuff on the calendar.  I have several questions, and I thought I would start by asking here.  I don't want to look like someone who can be taken advantage of because I clearly don't have any idea what I should be expecting!

1.  Do I just randomly call big moving companies that aren't just local, get some kind of estimates, and compare?  Are there other things I should be looking at besides price?

2.  I've been packing up stuff and sending it back to my parents' house with dh each weekend, but their basement is getting full.  Do moving companies expect to only move stuff they pack, or should I continue packing my stuff up, and have them just move the boxes I pack (if that is even an option--again, for military moves, packers just swoop in and I have never packed anything for a move before!)

3.  We are hoping to have our furniture moved out of this house mid-July.  What is the usual timeframe of how far ahead you need to call to get scheduled for a move? 

4.  There are several big pieces of furniture we won't be moving--if/when someone comes over to give us an estimate, do I just point out those things?  Tape a big piece of paper with an X on it on them?  I don't want to throw away our couches, etc. until we are actually out of here, but I don't want them to confuse estimators! 

These are the questions I can think of off the top of my head!  Thanks for any help you can give!

 

 

[Annie G]

We recently had a local company come give us an estimate so my sample size is small, but recent. The company I called was the same one that moved us here 25 years ago but it was a corporate move so I wasn’t involved in details then. 

He walked through every room and took a detailed inventory of what was staying and what was moving with us, then spent about half an hour putting together a detailed estimate. Basement, garage, little outbuilding that holds the lawn mowers, etc. He was thorough!

This company is fine moving things we pack ourselves but  if the contents are damaged they won’t cover it unless the box is damaged- as in, it’s not their fault if we pack poorly. But if they drop a box it’ll show outside damage and that mean they’d cover it. Some movers won’t take boxes you pack yourself so getting several estimates might mean you have to mull over what each includes....they pack, you pack, etc. 

Timing can make a big difference in price - our guy said a move during cold months was a third cheaper and his estimate noted that if we move in spring or summer it will be more. We plan to move sometime between November and May and he totally didn’t think it was too early for the estimate. I would call now.

Like you, this is our first ‘on our own’ move and it’s kind of overwhelming!

[Jaz]

One thing that has helped us in moves across the country and locally is to tip the movers after they load our belongings on the truck. Years ago, I think we gave each man $50 in cash for a move across country (and $20 locally). They seemed to be extra careful with our belongings.

We then tipped again at the end of the cross country move. 

[Holly]

I moved my family 2 years ago.  I think I called two places and they went over estimates over the phone.  I answered a lot of questions about how much of everything we owned (beds, couches, dishes, etc.).  It's so helpful to write everything down on paper as they go over it.  I had a very full page by the time I got through our move! 

We ended up going with Pods.  We moved it into storage ourselves temporarily, but hired local movers when it came time to move it to our house.  There are so many options out there!