Rental Truck vs Moving Company (Atlanta, Alpharetta: apartment, insurance, movers)

[tmanitmonee]

Hello I plan to move to Atlanta in February, and I am undecided. Should I rent a truck and move myself from Philadelphia, or hire a moving co. Has anyone ever driven that long of a distance in a rental truck, and if so please share. I also compared a few moving companies and they seem very expensive. I only have a 2 bed apt here and not all of the furniture will come with me. What should I do?

Also I'm looking at Fulton county as a place to move and advice?

[bayarea-girl]

Moving companies seem expensive now just wait until they move you and you get the final bill, the costs go up! Moving companies are con artists. If you could try moving yourself otherwise use a moving company that others can recommend to you.

When you use a moving company make sure if an item that they put on their truck is itemized and accounted for. Make sure to get some sort of movers insurance. Don't give them cash always pay with a check or preferably a credit card (you can always dispute the charge if something goes wrong).

Most movers will try to have your items placed in storage before they move you, just another way for them to make money. Don't go for this. Make sure they are moving your things the same day they put it on the their truck.

Then the most important thing is to verify the weight prior to the delivery. The moving company will say that your belongings will weigh xyz lbs by eye bawling what they see, then they will put everything on their truck and without you present say your belongins weigh a higher amount (which will make your costs very high). You are entitled to view the weight on the same day of delivery. Which I recommend. The movers I had which I would never recommend to anyone tried to say the weight was one thing and when I asked them to verify it they came up with several excuses as to why it wasn't possible for me to see the weight. They finally gave in cause I said I wouldn't pay them if I didn't view it myself (I had to contact the police).

All of my things were damaged and if I had to do it all over again I wouldn't use movers I would just sell all of my belongings and start fresh.

Good luck to you!

[crux]

2 bedrooms = one rental truck = SAVINGS.

Movers may charge you anywhere from 3k-25k and lead to so many other issues. It's kinda fun driving the truck too...enjoy the ride. Gas is cheaper for it too.

[tmanitmonee]

Thanks for all the advice, and information. I never knew that moving companies did that, and I guess driving a rental truck would be fun.

[Mossberg]

I did the "biggest f'n Uhaul available" route and would do it again if need be. Nothing like the experience of driving from the North to the South bonding with your daughter in the front seat of a big ass truck while your car sways in the wind through the mountains while being towed.

On second thought, I might pay someone to unload the damn truck at my destination if I had to do it again. Nothing sucks worse than packing, loading the truck, and making a long ass drive, and then having to unload a 3 bedroom house full of crap.

At least you should have buddies to help pack and load from wherever you're leaving from.

[dw1045]

Well, I tend to disagree with the rest of the posts. Depending on how much stuff you have and the moving company you choose, it might be best to hire someone to move you. It can be a huge pain to load yourself, drive all the way here, hope nothing you loaded gets broken, then move yourself in. I would check out moving companies, review their contracts and then go from there. Especially if you have more than 2 bedrooms. Good luck!

[jrsygrl77]

I moved from Philly to Alpharetta about a year and a half ago, and hired United Van Lines to move my stuff. It cost around $1500 for an apartment full of stuff. I thought it wasn't too bad considering I'd have everything moved and I could just worry about driving my car down.

Well, I wound up being without my stuff for 3 whole weeks! And this is all too common, I found a forum online at the time full of people in my shoes. If you have enough stuff to fill one of their big trucks you're fine, because they take only your belongings. But, when you have an apartment sized amount of things to move, they load it with other people's things and it can go all over the place before making it to you. It was a nightmare for me, I had no TV, no real bed, nothing for 3 weeks. I had to start a new job and everything and only had maybe a week's worth of outfits that I brought to hold me over until my clothes would get there. I slept with my bulldog puppy on an air mattress for the whole 3 weeks, didn't know anyone other than co-workers, and couldn't even watch tv to pass the time. I hated United Van Lines, and they didn't really even care what I went through. I think they gave me maybe a $200 discount to make up for the inconvenience.

Oh, and the worst thing was, my belongings were sitting for 2 weeks in a storage unit in King of Prussia, PA that the moving company owned until the had enough other shipments to drive to GA. I was about to have my parents go and load them into a U Haul and drive them to me! I was told my things would be in transit a couple days after they picked them up at my apartment, which was a lie.

I'm all in favor of the U Haul

[ramblinwreck17]

Rent a truck. If you throw in some pizza and beer I'll drop by and pitch in.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Mossberg

I did the "biggest f'n Uhaul available" route and would do it again if need be. Nothing like the experience of driving from the North to the South bonding with your daughter in the front seat of a big ass truck while your car sways in the wind through the mountains while being towed.

We did that from Minneapolis to Atlanta. Two trucks, two towed cars, three kitty cats, and a lot of patience.

I wouldn't do it again. A constantly beeping truck (some sensor broke 100 miles into the trip), a constantly meowing kitty, and an inadequately working parking brake made things a little more interesting than we had planned on.

On second thought, I might pay someone to unload the damn truck at my destination if I had to do it again. Nothing sucks worse than packing, loading the truck, and making a long ass drive, and then having to unload a 3 bedroom house full of crap.

I strongly agree. We did that on the Atlanta end of the move, and it made things a LOT easier. On the Minneapolis end we had a few weeks to get most of it ready and a few dozen friends (literally) to move everything into the trucks.

[travelingtrainer]

do NOT use Authorized Movers or T&J Moving/Storage.

do use All My Sons. This is my 2nd move with them and they are awesome.