So you got that big promotion and need to move across country this year? What’s the best way to do it you ask? Well if you’re a poor college kid like myself who can fit all my belongings in my Civic then the only question is where to get the gas money, but if you’re moving your whole family then you may need to hire a moving company and this can turn into a very tricky situation pretty quick. When hiring a moving company there are many different things you need to consider, among then being price of course, but for your sake please don’t just go on how much they are going to charge you as that can lead to a disaster.
Well the first thing I would recommend doing is figuring out exactly what you posses that is going to need to be packed by the movers, moved by the movers and unloaded by the movers. There are plenty of things in your household that with a little initiative and bubble wrap you can pack up and get ready for the movers yourself, so why pay someone to do it? Now that you have that taken care of decide what can drive down with you, you’d be amazed how much crap you can cram in a car. If you’re flying, obviously it will be a very small pile of luggage but anything you can take with will save money in the next. Now comes the fun part; if you have big things like couches, big screens, and refrigerators that will be coming with I’d recommend this next step that most people don’t think about doing. Buy a few six packs and a half dozen pizzas and convince your friends to help you come move all that stuff to the living room or whatever room is close to the entrance. This way when you have the mover come take a look at what you have its all right there and then on moving day the movers will love you and you’ll save money if you’re being charge by the hour.
So now that you’ve done all the preparation work it’s time to actually start collecting quotes and trying to figure out who you’ll trust your loving possessions to. There are many different ways of doing this and many different schools of thought on the subject so I’ll just cover a few basics. The most obvious way is to just pull out the yellow book and call up a few of them and see if they’ll give you an estimate, but remember that it is just that, an estimate. A more modern way would be to use the internet to compare prices, using onlines services will speed up the process as you’ll get multiple quotes at once.
Now that you have a decent amount of quotes it’s time to dig a little deeper. I would next suggest going to their physical location and checking out the operation. If it seems like 2 guys renting trucks then I’d pass on them. What you’re looking for is a company with their own trucks, with permanent labels on them, a clean organized warehouse and any other signs that they are a cohesive working business. You should also know that every moving company is required by law to provide you with a “Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move” booklet. If they don’t provide you with this, cross them off the list and move on. Call the ones that seemed like the best-oiled and see if they’ll come to your house to give a more accurate estimate, if they say no, then cut em from the list. After they’ve given you a more accurate estimate make sure to ask for their DOT number which is essentially their certification with the federal government to be moving your stuff. Take the number and go to SaferSys.org and click on the Company Snapshot link and look them up. This will tell you if they have up to date paperwork, how many registered vehicles they have and how much insurance they carry, anything under $750,000 should be taken from the list.
By now you should have a list of movers that have given you a fairly accurate quote, passed a physical inspection, and a governmental inspection. The only thing left to do is maybe check online for reviews of them either just Googling them or checking with the Better Business Bureau for complaints, or even word of mouth reviews from friends can be handy. Once you’ve chosen who you want to use be sure to understand everything on the paper they will no doubt be asking you to sign, and never sign a blank piece of paper. On the day of the move if they don’t show up with one of their trucks or anything seems fishy, fire them on the spot since you have to be comfortable with them handling your possessions.
Well hopefully something I’ve said here will be put to good use and prevent you from choosing the wrong company. It really isn’t rocket science, just make sure everything checks out, you understand the contract you’ll be signing and that in the end you are comfortable with the company because in the end the only person you can blame will be yourself, so do your homework.. local moving quotes