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Originally Posted by JoBo623
I'll soon be moving to North Carolina. Can anyone recommend a reliable mover? (Online reviews would have you think there's no such thing!) Thanks.
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We heard all of the horror stories too. "But Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus". Not all movers are bad.
We used Allied Van Lines for our move from New York to Arizona. I have nothing but good things to say about them. They were on time both ways, nothing was lost, broken or stolen and there were no extra charges. Just make sure that you get a binding estimate from any mover that you choose. If the moving company is not willing to do that then find another mover. With a binding estimate you know exactly what you are paying for and there are no extra charges. With a non-binding estimate you will be charged based on the weight of the truck which in some cases can be more and sometimes less. But how would you know this? You'd have to ask to see the bill of lading. Often times two or more moves are sharing the same truck. I don't know how you would be able to differentiate who's load weighs more? Unless the truck was weighed at different intervals with separate bills of lading and the weight of the fuel left in the tanks at the time the truck was weighed was taken into consideration.
We had several different estimates that ranged from $8,000 to $12,000. Our binding estimate from Allied came in at $8,000 as did North American and Mayflower. Bekins was the highest at $12,000. Atlas was in the middle. However it will all depend on the estimator. The one from Bekins was arrogant as all hell especially when I told him how high his estimate was compared to the others. Maybe if Bekins sent over another estimator the estimate would have been more in line with the others, I really don't know? But overall I was impressed with the way Allied handled our move from start to finish.
I'd also advise you to have everything ready for them. You'd be surprised at how many people that don't. When the mover's arrived at our home they were happy as pigs in poop. Everything was packed, labeled and ready to go. All they had to do was load the truck and off they went. In many cases the driver is an independent trucker that has a contract or lease with the moving company. That's not an easy job, their time is money, anything that you can do to make their life easier will be greatly appreciated. They've gotta' eat too. If everything is not packed and ready for them they can charge for this over and above the binding estimate.
Before we moved I went to our local supermarket and each week I would ask them for their used 20/30 dozen egg boxes. They were glad to get rid of them. They are sturdy, you can store a lot of items in them, they have grab handles on each end and stack very easily. U-Line has a complete line of moving and packing supplies. The egg boxes are similar to their heavy duty storage file boxes.
We also had 3 antique cars and one full size 3/4 ton truck to be moved. For that we used Reliable Transport the official carrier for Barrett-Jackson. That too was $8,000. Like Allied we were very pleased with their service and professionalism. All of the vehicles were carefully loaded and unloaded and arrived unscathed. Loading the vehicles was an all day job as they constantly had to be moved in and out of the truck because of their different heights with the loading ramps having to be adjusted accordingly and the vehicles properly secured. A time consuming process indeed. Those ramps had to be adjusted a few inches at a time with the driver running in and out of the trailer while checking for the proper clearances, loading and unloading the vehicles numerous times. It was kinda' like musical chairs. Unloading was a lot quicker as the vehicles were already in position.
Depending on where you're moving to they may not be able to get a tractor trailer to your house. In which case your goods may have to be unloaded onto smaller trucks. Obviously this will add to the cost. Our moving truck for household goods was OK. But the car carrier could only load and unload at a towing company of our choice. From there the vehicles were put on flat bed trucks to our home.
As for us we rented a box truck for the cross country trip loaded with all of the items we would need to live in our new home right away for at least a coupla' days just in case the movers and car carrier were not on schedule.
I hope of all of this helps, obviously everyone's move is different based on what they own. Oh yes I almost forgot. If you're using a moving company they're probably gonna' need about two weeks notice before you move to have a truck available on moving day.