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I've read thread after thread from people who have used ABF and, based on these, that was the option I went with. They have quoted me a delivery time of 3-5 days from MO to AZ. Based on this quote, I have planned to book unloading help late afternoon on the 5th day (I accounted for that not including the pack up day and weekend days, so it is actually 7 full days from the loading/pick up day.)
Can anyone give me their specific experiences on their arrival times? Are they usually good with arriving at their estimated time?
Yep. We had a problem but it was a bookkeeping issue on getting our payment recorded. Otherwise, we called the terminal and told them we were ready, delivered the next day.
The way it works is that it is time to the terminal. When you get ready, you call the terminal and they set the time of delivery. You have three drivers involved. The local terminal driver that picks up the trailer, the cross-country driver, and the delivery driver from the terminal to the final location.
Don't plan on telling them to deliver it at X time on the X day. If you are planning on the 7th day, confirm with the terminal towards the 5th day (they will give you the number) that the trailer has arrived and that someone can deliver the trailer on the day you are planning.
We were quoted 5-7 business days for our recent move from SoCal to Nashville. This was our third time using ABF and we really noticed a difference in the SoCal end. The truck was later than we thought for drop-off (loading) considering our advance reservation. It ended up not being a big deal, but we also found that even though we called before the end of the day to say we were ready for it to be picked up (the same day as drop-off, only several hours later) we were told to call early the next morning (after 8:00). Hubby called at 8:30 and the trailer was not picked up until mid-afternoon on Wednesday. We truly were worried about the 5-7 business days since we had people with us to help with the unloading, but only for a specific period of time. Then we would be limited to local help (and nothing confirmed).
ABF used to have a way to track your trailer's progress. This system is no longer working so they have removed it from their site (really, they need to get on this glitch!). We ended up calling them on Tuesday (4 full business days from the time it should have been in the system) and were told it was in Little Rock, AR, probably out for delivery the next day (Wednesday). This did prove to be the case as our trailer was delivered before noon on Wednesday.
So in our case, a quote of 5-7 business days in transit was an overestimation after all. I would say our trailer was in transit 4 business days (Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday) with 2 partial days for pick-up and delivery. We were so happy that it did not take until the end of the week for all of our furniture to arrive!
I used 1800 pack rat and the quoted transit time was terminal to terminal. The actual delivery was a day AFTER the terminal delivery day. You may want to verify this with your company just so its clear. Pack rat did not make that clear to me
My experience was spot on fluid and seamless. They dropped off the cube on the day and time (am/pm) that they quoted and were there to pick up the next day when I asked them to be there. The cube arrived at its destination when it was promised. Used them twice. One time we were able to get to our new home a day earlier and I called them with our change of plans and they were able to bring it out a day earlier. It sounds as though you've built some extra time into your move, so you should be fine. If you want it dropped off earlier, so you can get a few things before your "helper crew" arrives, they might be flexible with dropping it off earlier, if you call them and they are able to send it out. We live in a neighborhood where the by-laws state that campers/boats/trucks/trailers/cubes can only be held at the property for 24 hours at a time, so we had to unload everything into the garage and then move it into the house.
ABF was still a great option for us.
I used ABF cubes, as well. They were on time, within the two-hour window they gave me, on both ends. That was a multi-state move and I had them store my stuff for almost 3 weeks. If I had a similar situation, I'd use them, again.
I recommend them to others.
Worded that way because my next move will be local, and I'll use a combination of an open trailer and a cargo van since it'll be less than 20 miles.
ABF was on time both picking up and dropping off. No problems.
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