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Hello! We are moving from San Antonio TEXAS in next couple months with 2 small kids, and pay by ourselves. 3-4 bedrooms, 2 cars (drive one and ship one) Any recommendation for long distance moving company or trailer (Upack, pod or others?) Cary/Apex area NC.
1. I did some research, it looks like Upack trailer is cheaper then Pod. Anyone share your Pod or Upack experience?
2. Moving Company: should i compare the major moving company like United Van, Mayflowers or smaller company? should i contact them directly or use 3rd party service from google search?
3. What the price different between use trailer and moving company if we pack our self? 40% cheaper? Any example?
4. Any recommendation of shipping a car?
5. If we use Upack, any local mover recommendation to help us unload ?
Please share any of your long distance moving experience. Thanks!
We did the exact same trip with 2 young kids (and a dog), from the northeast. Not quite as long as the trip from San Antonio, but not too far off.
We took both cars, and made it a three day event, driving around 5 hours a day. It worked out really well - left plenty of time for bathroom and food breaks, and the kids were excited about staying in hotels.
We used Wheaton for our move, no complaints. We priced out twp other major moving companies, they were all pretty similar. We packed everything ourselves except for the kitchen, and any other fragile items.
Price out three major movers and compare apples to apples. For instance two of the movers did not included crating mattresses (a must, or the springs will pop) and the 3rd "always includes it because we won't ship without mattresses being crated".
I can't imagine using a POD or some other service where you have to load and unload. We moved from NY with three kids, no pets. We packed ourselves (having the movers pack will greatly increase your price) but they did all the loading, unloading, taking apart and wrapping of furniture, etc.
We only moved here with one car. My parents shipped one of their from NY, I have no idea how much that was. It would make more sense for you to drive them both, honestly.
We used a pod and hired people to load and unload on each end. I would caution that a lot of my savings were eaten up having to buy things like moving blankets. I have no issue packing up my boxes, but in hindsight I would have preferred a mover that would pack and wrap our large furniture pieces.
I would definitely recommend TROSA to unload, but I’m not sure if they just do that. We did an in town move with them and they were reasonably priced, efficient and really fantastic to work with.
I have used most DIY options, they are all pretty much the same. Penske, Uhaul, etc. Pay a couple guys $200 to load up the big stuff for you and at the other end to unload, makes it a lot nicer. Just have everything ready to go in the garage and you'll be mostly done in a couple hours. Trailer one car and drive the other. Figure on 8mpg or so for the truck.
Also seriously decide if shipping things are worth it, it might make sense to sell off most your possessions and rebuy once at the new location.
We used Upack for our cross country move and it was an effortless experience. The one issue we had is some items were banged up because the people we hired didn't wrap everything with blankets so lesson learned there. The big advantage of Upack is if you pay a little extra they will guarantee your delivery date which is something I don't think other movers will do for you. Traditional movers are also twice as expensive! We used Trosa to unload here, they are a wonderful organization with well trained movers and I highly recommend you hire them if you go with a POD or Upack option.
I have done three interstate moves. Getting recommendations is always a good idea, unfortunately the national movers are just essentially call centers that farm out work to local sub contractors. So the quality always varies.
We did two moves with national carriers and both times had bad moves. I'll spare you the details.
The last one, we hired labor to load and unload the truck and my husband drove the Uhaul himself. MUCH smoother move.
Personally, I never want the entirety of my household contents trapped in a truck some random person is driving again.
If you do have them transport for you - pay to have them pack. None of the carriers we dealt with would do insurance claims on lost or broken items unless they had packed it themselves.
thanks! beside box, what other packing materials do I need to purchase? did you spend a lot of money on those?
Look on local craigslist or next-door sites to see if people are giving away boxes. A lot of people don't want to have to dispose of them after a move so they give them away.
You'll need bubble wrap (not newspaper which weighs more and will "up" your weight) and maybe some specialty boxes like wardrobes and china boxes.
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