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After requesting info on a mover I thought...maybe we should move ourselves down. Not a big house and not much stuff.....wonder which is the better way to go.
Depends on how far you are going, how much stuff you have, how many people can you count on helping you lift the heavy stuff.
I've moved so many times it's sick. The first few times, my car was enough, with a strong guy to help move the couple big things. The first out of state move was done by my fiance--every time he came to visit, he filled his pickup full of stuff. Not too bad. The next move, from rental to house, was done by multiple friends with trucks and cars--and we moved only about 10 minutes away. We had no fancy furniture, just a bed, dressers, small stuff, mostly boxes.
The last move was from fully stocked house to new house one state over...we rented a UHaul and had a ton of other firefighters to help us out...but the truck was too small and a few guys loaded up their vehicles too. Not good. If we ever move again, I'm hiring someone. I now have nice furniture that I want wrapped properly ,etc.
Hope that helps somehow!
If I had to do it again, I would recommend hiring the movers. One option you could look at is to rent a uhaul (if you're comfortable driving it yourself), and hiring people to load it, and hire people to unload it when you get here. I know they have ads on uhaul when you book your truck. I've heard that door to door interstate movers can run 10-30k, so it's a huge expense. When compared to uhaul (Texas to NC was $800 for the truck) and another $300-$500 for loading, $300-$500 unloading you can see the cost difference. I have also heard of unthinkable accounts of movers holding peoples possessions ransom for thousands of dollars. Good luck on your move.
If I had to do it again, I would recommend hiring the movers. One option you could look at is to rent a uhaul (if you're comfortable driving it yourself), and hiring people to load it, and hire people to unload it when you get here. I know they have ads on uhaul when you book your truck. I've heard that door to door interstate movers can run 10-30k, so it's a huge expense. When compared to uhaul (Texas to NC was $800 for the truck) and another $300-$500 for loading, $300-$500 unloading you can see the cost difference. I have also heard of unthinkable accounts of movers holding peoples possessions ransom for thousands of dollars. Good luck on your move.
For what you just mentioned, you spent close to $1800 to move yourself. You probably could have gotten a good, reputable mover for that price or a little more. Please click on my blog if you're interested in what I have to say regarding getting a moving quote and avoiding a bad experience.
If you have a samll house and you and your spouse together can handle mattresses, sofa, tables and a bedroom dresser by yurselves, rent a 28' U-Haul, appliance dolly, and a dozen furniture covers. You can tow a car but not a van or pickup.
If you cannot, hire a mover, Be careful what you ask for. Insure everything at full value. The drivers don't care what breaks. Been there done that. You will not get full replaceent value without paying max for insurance. I like the small home owned locals because their reputation depends upon you. However not all locals make long distance drives. National lines will charge you at least $60 per hour for two men and a truck. I was quoted 4K for 550 miles.
What national movers do not tell you is they mix loads. If your house cannot fill a truck, they willl stop at john Doe's house and add his to the truck and maybe stop again and pick up Mary's things. You may not get your things delivered for 10 days. It depends upon where itis in the truck. They have a last on, first off policy. And if you do decide on a national mover, take a picture of everything you own. Front, back and sides. And pack it like it is going to the moon in a space ship.
I Properly packed furnitue items mother left behind when she moved 1600 miles. When it affived an Italian marble top for table was crushed. End chairs from the dining table where broken and beyond repair. The glass in the display case was shattered. They claimed it was improperly packed. Uh huh. I packed antiques for 25 years before I packed that. I've moved thousands of miles. In 40 years I've broken two items, and both times it was my fault. I dropped glass. No one except you cares even a little bit about the things you love. Not even military movers. My cousins is a Navy officer. He's arguimg now over a 10k oriental rug and some art pieces the military movers destroyed. If you want to do it yourself, I can tell you how to pack so you will not lose one item unless you are clumsy like me.
Last edited by linicx; 03-01-2009 at 12:45 AM..
Reason: edit
If you have a samll house and you and your spouse together can handle mattresses, sofa, tables and a bedroom dresser by yurselves, rent a 28' U-Haul, appliance dolly, and a dozen furniture covers. You can tow a car but not a van or pickup.
If you cannot, hire a mover, Be careful what you ask for. Insure everything at full value. The drivers don't care what breaks. Been there done that. You will not get full replaceent value without paying max for insurance. I like the small home owned locals because their reputation depends upon you. However not all locals make long distance drives. National lines will charge you at least $60 per hour for two men and a truck. I was quoted 4K for 550 miles.
What national movers do not tell you is they mix loads. If your house cannot fill a truck, they willl stop at john Doe's house and add his to the truck and maybe stop again and pick up Mary's things. You may not get your things delivered for 10 days. It depends upon where itis in the truck. They have a last on, first off policy. And if you do decide on a national mover, take a picture of everything you own. Front, back and sides. And pack it like it is going to the moon in a space ship.
I Properly packed furnitue items mother left behind when she moved 1600 miles. When it affived an Italian marble top for table was crushed. End chairs from the dining table where broken and beyond repair. The glass in the display case was shattered. They claimed it was improperly packed. Uh huh. I packed antiques for 25 years before I packed that. I've moved thousands of miles. In 40 years I've broken two items, and both times it was my fault. I dropped glass. No one except you cares even a little bit about the things you love. Not even military movers. My cousins is a Navy officer. He's arguimg now over a 10k oriental rug and some art pieces the military movers destroyed. If you want to do it yourself, I can tell you how to pack so you will not lose one item unless you are clumsy like me.
I like the premise of your post but I have a few points to make. Keep in mind every mover, especially "national" movers are independantly owned and operated and depend on their local reputation. There is not one mover that is "nationally" owned. In fact, every major name (Mayflower, Allied, United, Atlas, and North American are the big 5 with over 85% of the market share!) is made up of locally owned and operated "agents". Those names mentioned above don't own any trucks or have any employees that are movers. In most major metro areas there may be multiple agents for the same "carrier". In my market there are three different Mayflower agents, five United agents, etc. It makes all the difference in the world which agent you hire. To say the driver doesn't care what breaks is completely false. If so, you hired the wrong company. Most movers, national names or not, use independant contractors, or owner/operators as drivers. They have to pay for their claims, or at least part of it. Trust me they care. Never dispute a claim with a driver, always go back to your representative who sold you the move to point you to the claims manager.
Full replacement coverage does cost money and most people will buy that. Please see my post on "Moving Claim". I have some good info on that there.
There is nothing wrong with "mixed loads". No one has a "first on-first off" policy. Before you hire a mover, get guaranteed dates in writing on your order for service. They have to meet those dates whether or not they have enough loads on their truck or not. You will know exactly when you will get your stuff. The benefit of going with a mover who does that is they can keep the cost as low as possible as opposed to a mover who is going with just your stuff, they have to make the same money with just your load. They will have to make profit just off you load. The truck with multiple loads can meet their overhead and make a profit with all those shipments. A good fit.
If you hire a mover who doesn't care as much about your stuff as you do, you hired the wrong mover. No offense to anyone in here who has packed their stuff and moved thousands of miles. There is no way you are as experienced as a mover who does this every day for a living. They will know how to pack better than you will. I have been in the moving industry for over 26 years. Trust me, I know about packing and moving. It is all I have ever done. I was an owner/operator for 16 years with Allied, Mayflower and United before I got into operations and management. If you packed a marble top any other way than putting it in a wooden crate, you packed it less than it should've been. That is the safest way to handle marble.
The problem you had with that mover is they should've told you what was improperly or insuffeciently packed prior to putting it on their truck. That should be your arguement with them and they should pay you for your damage because they didn't consult with you properly before loading.
If anyone has any questions regarding moving with a moving company, what questions to ask, how to avoid problems with a mover, etc., please read my blog. I would also be glad to offer unbiased, expert advise for free if you contact me privately. I will be glad to help as I am fairly new to the forum and want to establish a good reputation.
We moved ourselves across the country...sure some of the load shifted...but the only thing that broke was the bedside lamp that slipped out of my husbands hands as he was handing it off to me...
We secured the load in the middle of the truck...used large furniture as a barrier...and then the last large thing that went in the truck was our king size mattress. That was tied and secured so nothing flew around. Of course when the truck was opened we both got in the back and pushed it forward to move everything back
All in all it cost us about 2k to move that included the moving truck and gas for it and my SUV that I drove. The moving companies wanted a minimum of 3500.
The vehicle I drove one way from PA to Florida cost me $1,275. The fuel costs exceeeded $385. Friends help loading and I paid the realtor's son and his friends $300 to unload. (it was well worth the cost)....
We were quoted three prices by well known moving companies ranging from $8,200 to $12,000 to load the large moving van, travel 1200 miles and unload the van. Two days after we moved we partied because we were so worn out we had to sleep for almost 2 days straight.
We did not take any large appliance and gave away our freezer, frig, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer to friends. They were in new condition and we all 3 years old.....We had 4 bdroms and 2 baths in PA and we moved 2 full bedrooms plus rec room furniture. That's it.....
I got the truck for a great price and it was only a 16' so it seemed to have gotten fairly good mileage... same as you we left all our major appliances except the fridge...we have a huge safe and 2 drumsets complete with cases and hardware ... I still like the idea of knowing where my stuff is at all times.... The other costs were the 100. bucks to get the truck loaded and 150. to unload...hotels, food, tolls.
Overall the move cost us way less than we had originally budgeted.
And since the company didn't offer any type of relo...we had to get the best deals we could...thankfully gas prices were low.
I had a full one bedroom apartment and we would have three going plus pets. In order to get a truck big enough we'd have had to got a 22 foot Uhaul or a 26 ft Penske. Penske was cheaper. If you decide to rent a truck PLEASE don't use Uhaul. Check the multiple threads in this fourm.
The plan was to get the Penske diesel. It gets a lot better mileage than the smaller gas trucks. At the last minute an offer of the borrowing of a truck and horse trailer came through and we took it
So my stuff came to Oklahoma in a horse trailer but when you wrap stuff and stack boxes it takes a lot more space than you think.
The pro movers wil pack and move your stuff while you drive, but use only the major companies. A lot of the others get multiple complaints, close and reopen with a new name. If anyone gives you a quote not based on their estamate of how much you are moving beware.
But the major companies are by no means fool proof. My neice and her husband moved from New York to California. They brought their furnature but did not have a large load. They arrived two weeks after.
The truck made a few more stops along the way, ended up sitting somewhere in Texas (as far as the company could figure since they had lost track of their stuff) while they were waiting to fill up the truck again. It wasn't until after it finally got full and left Texas before they knew where their stuff had even gone.
It took three months to get their furnature and kids clothes and such. They kids already had new toys and had outgrown most of the clothes.
Its a big hastle to drive it yourself but you can hire people to load and unload and you may have to have someone drive the car. But you do know where your stuff is and it gets there when you do.
If I ever move again (which I hope never happens) I'd use a rented truck.
Have you ever considered Pods? This might also be a possibility. If you don't have tons of stuff and pack compactly it might be the easiest.
Good luck on you move and may you love your new home as much as I do mine
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