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Hi folks,
First time posting in this sub forum, planning to move from Long Island, NY to Plano, TX (General Dallas/Forth Worth area). All the expenses are out of pocket, not paid by any employer so looking for ways to save a buck or two. First time moving this long a distance, close to 1600+ miles so no idea what to expect.
Quick Summary: Two bed room townhome (close to 1300 sq. ft.), young kids under age of 12, willing to drive the truck and have the car on car dolly (not too sure about safety and reliability of this for transporting the car). When moved from another state to NY, I used the UHaul truck (forget how big but it must be their biggest) and had the car on the car dolly but the tires of the car dolly burst on the way hence my reservation in using the same thing for transporting the car to distance almost 10 times the distance and if it withstand that kind of beating.
Shipping the car separately costing around $1200.
I should've posted here first as this is Moving related forum and can hopefully expect better answers.
Thank you for your time and looking forwarding to the discussion.
The cheapest way, of course is moving everything with a U-Haul (or other rental companies) truck yourself. Mitigating the costs would be the less items to move, the smaller the truck that would be needed. Selling or donating furniture, and buying after the move can sometimes be a cheaper alternative.
If you are unsure about the car dolly's, you can have your wife drive the car in tandem to you. I have used U-Haul trailers a lot, and have not had a tire problem. But you have to inspect them when you pick it up. I have had them change tires, or used a different trailer on ones I did not like. I have also rejected a trailer due to it having frame damage. This applies to any rental from any company. But as always, there is only so much you, or the company can do.
If you sell most of your stuff and get belongings down to one or two pods, then you can drive both cars. Check into pods. DFW is a great market for picking up furniture — some fabulous outlet stores and used furniture boutique stores.
In several of our moves, we found the ABF trailers the best option. We always had family and/or friends to help us load and unload. We liked having the control over how the trailer was packed, especially since we were charged by the foot. They will give you an estimate based on the size of your home, but if you use less than their estimate you will get a credit (at least that is what happened with us for the 3 times we did this). We then were able to drive our own cars. We could plan how long we wanted to drive each day, plus if we wanted to take a day to tour an area. We had kids but no pets, but my husband pre-planned as much as possible so that we could make hotel reservations.
ABF drivers will drop off the trailer for you to load. You call when you are done and ready for them to come pick it up. They are responsible for driving it to your destination. It gets delivered to a central hub, waiting for you to let them know you are at the location for it to be delivered to.
Anyway, huge fans of this moving option and would definitely do it again.
Thank you for your reply! Not much furniture but few pieces that we plan to take with us. I think another way to think about this is to decide on a decent size truck (biggest available with Penske or UHAul) and only fill it in with most important things first and what's left..donate or get rid of ..this way you are not expanding the capacity of truck to fit the stuff rather fit the stuff into what size truck is convenient, cost effective and easy/safe to drive with car dolly in the tow.
You are right, probably a good idea to shop around to see what's the state of the car dolly and if it looks reliable then it's not a bad option. I'm not opposed to the idea of the car dolly .. just wasn't sure if it would withstand NY to TX drive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wileykid
The cheapest way, of course is moving everything with a U-Haul (or other rental companies) truck yourself. Mitigating the costs would be the less items to move, the smaller the truck that would be needed. Selling or donating furniture, and buying after the move can sometimes be a cheaper alternative.
If you are unsure about the car dolly's, you can have your wife drive the car in tandem to you. I have used U-Haul trailers a lot, and have not had a tire problem. But you have to inspect them when you pick it up. I have had them change tires, or used a different trailer on ones I did not like. I have also rejected a trailer due to it having frame damage. This applies to any rental from any company. But as always, there is only so much you, or the company can do.
Thank you for your reply! Good to know that there're great furniture options in DFW! One recent sectional we bought for close to $2000 bucks from Macy's is the one we want to carry with us.. if we sell it..it's going to be peanuts and it's fairly new so thinking it's probably good idea to take with us.
Have only car.. thinking if we can put the car on car dolly, husband drives the UHaul truck and wife and kids can drive in a rented minivan or something roomier .. Having a 2.5 years old may be challenging ..maybe with stops in between it would be manageable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WorldKlas
If you sell most of your stuff and get belongings down to one or two pods, then you can drive both cars. Check into pods. DFW is a great market for picking up furniture — some fabulous outlet stores and used furniture boutique stores.
Thank you for the reply and the recommendation, I will look into it.
I'm not sure how can we make a good road trip put of it. NY to TX is quite a distance but would love to break it down into multiple stops to take breaks and let the kids have some fun along the way.
Interesting idea to keep the actual stuff in the container and have them take care of the transporting it and we take care of transporting ourselves. On second thought, if we the container option works out in terms of cost then maybe no point in driving all the distance ..better to travel by air..
Would still need to think of transporting the car which would be additional!
Gives me more to think about..
Quote:
Originally Posted by BuckeyeAtHeart
In several of our moves, we found the ABF trailers the best option. We always had family and/or friends to help us load and unload. We liked having the control over how the trailer was packed, especially since we were charged by the foot. They will give you an estimate based on the size of your home, but if you use less than their estimate you will get a credit (at least that is what happened with us for the 3 times we did this). We then were able to drive our own cars. We could plan how long we wanted to drive each day, plus if we wanted to take a day to tour an area. We had kids but no pets, but my husband pre-planned as much as possible so that we could make hotel reservations.
ABF drivers will drop off the trailer for you to load. You call when you are done and ready for them to come pick it up. They are responsible for driving it to your destination. It gets delivered to a central hub, waiting for you to let them know you are at the location for it to be delivered to.
Anyway, huge fans of this moving option and would definitely do it again.
Few general questions for someone who may have done the similar move:
1. Is it realistic to drive a UHAul truck with car in tow on car dolly from NY to TX? Would one over night stay at a motel suffice?
2. How about driving a minivan with kids from NY to TX? Renting the minivan one way, picking up from NY and returning at DFW location.
3. Is it possible to make it fun if traveling with kids? Don't want to be on the road for full week but 1-3 days if that makes the trip bearable and somewhat fun at the same time?
4. Are there things to do or place to see along the way..not looking to see every museum and theme park along the way but some notable places here and there to break up the monotony.
Few general questions for someone who may have done the similar move:
1. Is it realistic to drive a UHAul truck with car in tow on car dolly from NY to TX? Would one over night stay at a motel suffice?
2. How about driving a minivan with kids from NY to TX? Renting the minivan one way, picking up from NY and returning at DFW location.
3. Is it possible to make it fun if traveling with kids? Don't want to be on the road for full week but 1-3 days if that makes the trip bearable and somewhat fun at the same time?
4. Are there things to do or place to see along the way..not looking to see every museum and theme park along the way but some notable places here and there to break up the monotony.
Anything else you would suggest?
I cannot follow you - money seems to be a factor but you want to drive a rented moving van with a car on a trailer and a rented minivan and make it a road trip with entertainment for the kids. Have you looked at a roadmap?
Few general questions for someone who may have done the similar move:
1. Is it realistic to drive a UHAul truck with car in tow on car dolly from NY to TX? Would one over night stay at a motel suffice?
2. How about driving a minivan with kids from NY to TX? Renting the minivan one way, picking up from NY and returning at DFW location.
3. Is it possible to make it fun if traveling with kids? Don't want to be on the road for full week but 1-3 days if that makes the trip bearable and somewhat fun at the same time?
4. Are there things to do or place to see along the way..not looking to see every museum and theme park along the way but some notable places here and there to break up the monotony.
Anything else you would suggest?
My family made the move from Massachusetts to Arkansas when I was a kid. We stopped in St Louis for a break. The Gateway Arch, the Mississippi River, were interesting. We toured the Budweiser brewery and saw the Clydesdales, but I don't think that's available anymore.
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