Moving van cost (San Antonio, Austin, Georgetown: apartment, rental, insurance)

[Smoothgraywolf]

We are moving from eastern WA to Georgetown area next spring and trying to decide if is cheaper to bring our stuff down in 3 or 4 rental trucks ( like Penske or Uhaul) or hire a moving van to do it. Never hired a moving company and they seem to not give online quotes in spite of their ads. We have a lot of 'stuff' in addition to 3 bedroom house as we are also caregivers for my wife's disabled sister and she has an apartment full of stuff on top of ours. Also quite a bit of shop equipment.

Could anyone please share about what such a move cost you?

Or any way for us to get enough of an idea to start refining the cost/logistics without having moving companies come to house for precise quote.

Thanks

Don

[capitolhilltohillcountry]

For us coming from the east coast it was cheaper to have someone bring it out. I had 5 or 6 companies come and do estimates though. We got lucky the company had a trick going to San Antonio so we were on the same truck. Also we had the luxury of time on our side. Your just gonna have to have someone come out for an estimate. I will say we had all our things boxed pre estimate and that helped. Ours was a couple grand for a one bedroom apartment and we purged a lot before they came. You would be surprised how much stuff weighs in the long run I'm glad we hired someone. Make sure when driving yourself factor gas,lodging,tolls, weigh station and your back.

[OpenD]

Get a couple of professional estimates. They are free, and they will turn up all kinds of things you would never think of yourself. Based on those, you can start making reasonable decisions about what to move, and what to get rid of.

Trying to guess on a big move like you are describing is the road to ruin.

[G Grasshopper]

Having moved from CA, I can tell you that now is the time to start going through all your stuff and getting rid of everything that isn't absolutely necessary or that you don't actually love. In the year before we moved, I took 4 carloads of stuff to our church rummage sale, had a garage sale, took plenty of stuff to Good Will, and ended up giving away furniture, lamps, and misc. stuff to the friends that helped us move. Even so, I have given away a lot of things while here in TX. I know that with some things, it is hard to know if you will need them, because you don't know what the new house will require. Still, we tend to accumulate stuff over time, and the less you actually have to put into those vans, the better.

[rrjr]

Lots of good advice so far.

Definitely get a quote from a few different moving companies. We packed ourselves and had a company move our 4BR house from Philly to Austin. It was a little over 5k to transport the goods in 2007. I had quotes that were higher and lower. I looked at renting trucks but got dizzy figuring out how many I needed.

In the end, I was very glad to let pros load the truck and get the stuff here and unload it. I had enough on my plate without having to coordinate 3 moving trucks.

[Smoothgraywolf]

Thanks.

We're starting to get rid if stuff but still will have a "lot" when we are done. Getting a quote seem hard as we still have the equivelant of a small house to get rid of. We are also 3 miles up a gravel road that has had snow on it for two weeks. Don't know if they will come up.

Is it worth it to move heavy stuff like referigator, washer, dryer, table saw, planer, joiner, welders, riding mower, etc? Starting to wonder how much stuff to sell and rebuy once there.

Also, we will have to rent a small place for a few months while we find and close on a house. Will moving companies park the trailer somewhere and charge a monthly fee for our stuff to sit there? That seems easier than unloading everything into a house or storage units and then doing it all again once we have a place. Among the many moving companies, does anyone know who does this?

Thanks again,

Don

[Idlewile]

Categorically, the most expensive part of a professional move is if you have to have your stuff stored instead of unloaded immediately once the truck arrives at your destination. You want to avoid this at all costs if you're doing a professional move.

After getting rid of a lot of stuff (dumpster full), it was 9K to pack and move a 2500 sq ft home from CO to TX; this included loading on one car to a van that held solely our load (no one else's). This included unload but not unpack, which is SOP.

[rrjr]

Originally Posted by Smoothgraywolf

Getting a quote seem hard as we still have the equivelant of a small house to get rid of...Is it worth it to move heavy stuff
...
Will moving companies park the trailer somewhere and charge a monthly fee for our stuff to sit there?

So, what I did when we moved was get all the crap that I thought we were going to get rid of in one spot (garage). Then I told the estimator to ignore all that stuff in his quote. I also told him to skip the W/D and Fridge since we were leaving that stuff. I think if you can get it consolidated as best you can - any estimator can work with you. I'm pretty sure most moving companies do it by weight, so I'm sure they pad a bit. I also think most movers give a "not to exceed" number so you know the top end.

I'm sure if you add a 3,000 pound statue, they'll have an issue - would think you'd be fine otherwise. 3 different cross country moves and I've never come close to the "not to exceed" cost.

Most any moving company can do storage too...

[OpenD]

If you need to move from one location, then have a delay before moving into another place, then Moving & Transfer, or Moving & Storage places can provide that service. The usual way is to pack your belongings into large plywood containers which get trucked to wherever you are storing them... usually at one end or the other... warehoused until you need them... then loaded up and trucked to the final destination, and unloaded there.

Some companies will also work with you to load up a standard ISO shipping container... a steel box basically 8' x 8' x 20'... then truck it, etc. This is very common for people moving to and from Hawai'i.

Costs for a moving company consist of several chunks... packing boxes, loading truck, transport (distance x weight + fuel charges), unloading. That's why you need a professional estimate.

Also, the "Not to exceed" estimates generally exclude the weight charge, because they charge on actual weight measured at a public scale. This "gotcha" cost me an extra and totally unexpected $2K on one move, and taught me a big lesson about not moving low value but heavy items.

Another thing to consider... if they pack the boxes there will be some insurance on damage, but if you pack the boxes yourself you won't be covered against damage to contents.

[EzPeterson]

Personally, I'd sell everything I possibly could. I've actually moved this way long distance twice. Sold almost everything, then hit up craigslist when I got to the other end of the move. The amount of money and time saved was higher than I had expected, and it was a great chance to hit the reset button.

For the stuff you'll be hanging onto - go with something like PODS. You load them up, they ship/store/deliver them and you unload them.