Hiring movers vs UHaul for a cross country move? (long distance movers, moving truck, miles per gallon)
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If it truly is that much less to have movers do it, I'd go that route. Worth it to not have to deal with the hassle.
Are you just going to rent a truck and pack it yourself? Budget is generally a bit cheaper than U-Haul. I moved from Indiana to Tennessee in 2016, and packed it all myself with boxes from Lowe's. I think the truck and gas were somewhere between $400-$500. I think I had a 26' truck and it got something like 12 mpg.
How much of that stuff could you replace for that 1500?
For something that small, I'd seriously consider packing what I really wanted in my car and replacing the rest when I get there.
The movers for 1300 sounds suspiciously low, IMHO.
Because poster doesn't have a lot of stuff, they are charging for packing and footage in moving truck
I'm moving from the Midwest to the West Coast soon, and looking at my options for the move. I have a tiny 500 sq ft studio, and the largest (and most expensive) item is a beautiful 600 dollar floor mirror. Everything else fits in boxes.
1st option is to hire movers. The prices I'm being given are in the 1300 range "out the door", i.e. EVERYTHING is included. Packing, moving, taxes, gas, everything. Seems like a great option except I had bad experiences with movers in the past, and if they break my mirror or lose something, my homeowners' policy wouldn't cover it.
2nd option is to do it myself. It's a bit more expensive with fuel and hotels. Comes up to 1500$. Plus 3-4 days of packing, driving and all that "fun stuff". But the chances of my stuff making it are much higher.
What would you all recommend based on your experience?
You can purchase insurance from moving company unless you are using an independent small company
Do the move yourself! We learned a hard, expensive lesson in July when we moved from California to North Idaho....
We contacted a moving company with a name that was well-known, Pan American. They quoted us a reasonable moving fee so we booked them. On moving day a truck pulled up that was only half the size we had been told to expect with a D.O.T. number scrawled on a piece of paper taped to the door. I called Pan American and at that point was told that a company called Golden Valley Van Lines was actually moving our goods because Pan American was actually a broker. This was never disclosed to us at any time, but we thought that maybe this is how they do things now in moving companies. The guys started loading our items, and after putting only half of our stuff on, told us we would need to pay more before they would load the rest, which, as you can imagine, was very upsetting! I started to make some calls to see if I could secure a different moving company, but had no luck. We couldn't even find a truck available that we could drive ourselves. We were stuck. In the end, furniture which had been included in the original quote was left behind. When we finally arrived in Idaho we learned that our items would not arrive when we were told they would, so were forced to spend money on essential items. When our stuff did finally arrive it was yet another moving company, and they refused to unload unless we paid more money! By the time we unpacked and looked over our items we found that a lot of our stuff was damaged, completely broken or missing. All told, the extortion, fees, damages, theft and losses added up to nearly $10,000, a huge chunk of the money we relied on to live and pay bills. I filed reports with over 40 city, county, state and federal agencies and law enforcement authorities, as well as with congressmen and senators, and to date NOTHING has been done to get us compensated or to stop these scammers, who the government is actually well aware of. The following links mention the names of Stanislav Skribnik, Chana Green and Avichai Minkoff, all who, it turns out, are involved with all the moving companies who extorted money from us and damaged our goods. Pan American has also operated under OTHER well known names, like Mayflower, in order to lure people in thinking they are with a well-known legit company.
Do the move yourself! We learned a hard, expensive lesson in July when we moved from California to North Idaho....
We contacted a moving company with a name that was well-known, Pan American. They quoted us a reasonable moving fee so we booked them. On moving day a truck pulled up that was only half the size we had been told to expect with a D.O.T. number scrawled on a piece of paper taped to the door. I called Pan American and at that point was told that a company called Golden Valley Van Lines was actually moving our goods because Pan American was actually a broker. This was never disclosed to us at any time, but we thought that maybe this is how they do things now in moving companies. The guys started loading our items, and after putting only half of our stuff on, told us we would need to pay more before they would load the rest, which, as you can imagine, was very upsetting! I started to make some calls to see if I could secure a different moving company, but had no luck. We couldn't even find a truck available that we could drive ourselves. We were stuck. In the end, furniture which had been included in the original quote was left behind. When we finally arrived in Idaho we learned that our items would not arrive when we were told they would, so were forced to spend money on essential items. When our stuff did finally arrive it was yet another moving company, and they refused to unload unless we paid more money! By the time we unpacked and looked over our items we found that a lot of our stuff was damaged, completely broken or missing. All told, the extortion, fees, damages, theft and losses added up to nearly $10,000, a huge chunk of the money we relied on to live and pay bills. I filed reports with over 40 city, county, state and federal agencies and law enforcement authorities, as well as with congressmen and senators, and to date NOTHING has been done to get us compensated or to stop these scammers, who the government is actually well aware of. The following links mention the names of Stanislav Skribnik, Chana Green and Avichai Minkoff, all who, it turns out, are involved with all the moving companies who extorted money from us and damaged our goods. Pan American has also operated under OTHER well known names, like Mayflower, in order to lure people in thinking they are with a well-known legit company.
Wowza, sorry you had such a bad experience, I have never heard of Pan American.
I just recently moved from Florida to North Carolina, used Allied Van lines and they were great.
Same drivers who loaded up in Fl unloaded in NC, gave me a time frame for delivery and were there in that time frame, called the night before.
Not even a tea cup was broken, no unexpected charges
If you don't have a car, check into a 10 foot truck and drive it yourself. Either that or get a 7x7 Pod and have it shipped. Just make sure to wrap your mirror with blankets and tie it well. Secure it inside the truck or pod with rope. It should stay put. For that small amount of belongings, I wouldn't hire a moving company.
...The guys started loading our items, and after putting only half of our stuff on, told us we would need to pay more before they would load the rest, which, as you can imagine, was very upsetting! I started to make some calls to see if I could secure a different moving company, but had no luck. We couldn't even find a truck available that we could drive ourselves. We were stuck. In the end, furniture which had been included in the original quote was left behind. When we finally arrived in Idaho we learned that our items would not arrive when we were told they would, so were forced to spend money on essential items. When our stuff did finally arrive it was yet another moving company, and they refused to unload unless we paid more money! By the time we unpacked and looked over our items we found that a lot of our stuff was damaged, completely broken or missing. All told, the extortion, fees, damages, theft and losses added up to nearly $10,000, a huge chunk of the money we relied on to live and pay bills. I filed reports with over 40 city, county, state and federal agencies and law enforcement authorities, as well as with congressmen and senators, and to date NOTHING has been done to get us compensated or to stop these scammers, who the government is actually well aware of. The following links mention the names of Stanislav Skribnik, Chana Green and Avichai Minkoff, all who, it turns out, are involved with all the moving companies who extorted money from us and damaged our goods. Pan American has also operated under OTHER well known names, like Mayflower, in order to lure people in thinking they are with a well-known legit company.
...
What do you expect those agencies to do? You're basically describing a breach of contract. Yeah, in theory, it could be considered fraud, but the reality is that it's mostly just breach of contract. Which means if you want to be compensated, you need to file a lawsuit against them. With multiple companies is somewhat complicated, but it might be worth at least running it by a contract lawyer. Since you could probably file for treble damages plus attorney fees, it could easily end up being a $50,000 settlement cost for the moving company if your lawyers make the case properly.
Second best option will be the state attorney general in the state you were moving *from*, but since you've left the state the political reality is that your case will be lower priority than cases involving current residents who aren't planning to leave the state.
There are also stories about rental trucks being broken into and things stolen during nights at hotels. Apparently, the sides of rental trucks are not hard to cut open.
Last time I moved to another state, I used PODS. My heavy duty locks were on the PODS and only I could unlock them. Only move I ever made in which nothing was stolen. When I drove to the new home, I unpacked my car into my hotel room each night.
Regarding your mirror -
The mirrored glass is the weak point. If it breaks, it could damage the frame. I suggest you remove the mirror from the frame and wrap each separately and well. If the mirror breaks, you could get another one cut. The frame would be harder to repair, if even possible.
A small move might be cheaper to do with a mover. I did a small move once and it was probably the same price to hire movers as it was to drive the stuff up myself, as you’re just renting space in a truck with the movers. I think I was able to do it for around $1200 with the movers and the truck alone was $1200. I then had to pay for gas (which at that time was close to $4 a gallon) and hotels. The move with the movers was around 4 years after I used a truck, FWIW. The last time I used a van lines, it ended up being more expensive, but it was based on the weight and it is impossible for them to be 100% accurate. I had a lot of pictures on the wall and wardrobe boxes that were fairly heavy.
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