How to Find a Reputable Moving Company

“That people consider to be honest and to provide a good service.”

This is how the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines the word reputable. But why should you care? you wonder. A good question, no doubt.

If a house move is just around the corner for you, then you should definitely care about that definition because a reputable moving company is exactly what you will need to have the headache-free relocation you want.

The success of your moving endeavor hinges on that single choice of a trustworthy and reliable professional mover, so don’t make the rookie mistake of underestimating the significance of it all.

How to find a trustworthy moving company you can really trust?

You’d better find out.

Are there any reputable moving companies at all?

The short answer is, Yes.

But you probably won’t be that easily convinced so let’s go into a bit more detail here so that you can understand why finding a trustworthy moving company for your upcoming house move is not particularly hard if you know where, and more importantly – how to initiate your search.

The very first thing you should understand is that the moving and storage industry in America is extremely diverse – from big corporate organizations (multi-million dollar moving companies) to small independent “mom-and-pop” businesses. According to reliable information, there are currently around 7,000 moving companies that operate at 13,900 locations around the country.

Do you still think you won’t be able to find a reliable mover out of 7,000 professional moving companies? The presence of the so-called “rogue movers” – dishonest and fraudulent con artists on the unscrupulous mission of making a quick buck at the expense of unaware customers – won’t really make your task any easier.

So, what should you do? How can you make sure that you won’t fall victim to a moving scam orchestrated by imposters – the proverbial black sheep of America’s moving and storage industry?

To make things much easier for you from the very start, we’re offering you a list of top-rated long-distance moving companies that are 100% trustworthy, licensed, insured, and BBB accredited so that you can rest assured that your prized household items will be in good hands.

The only thing you need to do is compare those reliable cross-country movers by requesting moving cost estimates from them and then matching the price and additional services on their quotes to pick the best one for yourself.

Read on to learn why finding a reputable moving company matters more than you think.

How to distinguish between good and bad movers?

Read our Moving Fraud Prevention Guide to make sure you stay 100% protected from any despicable scam attempts by rogue moving companies.

Through a detailed explanation of the most common moving frauds and red flags of moving scams, you’ll soon know enough to stay away from movers who are as close to being reputable and trustworthy as Mercury is far from Neptune.

Here, we’ll do a quick comparison between good movers and bad movers so that you can sense that something is not quite right while looking for the most trustworthy moving companies out there.

Red flag 1. Answering the phone

You phone a professional moving company, and

• Good mover: they answer the phone with the company’s name.
• Bad mover: they answer the phone with universal and vague Movers or Moving company.

Red flag 2. Cost estimates

You request a price estimate from a professional mover, and

• Good mover: they agree to visit your home for an onsite inspection of the household goods in order to give you an accurate moving quote.
• Bad mover: they refuse to visit your home and give you a quick estimate over the phone or via email.

Red flag 3. Website

You research a professional moving company on the Internet, and

• Good mover: they have a decent website that shows their USDOT number (for interstate movers), provides information about their registration and insurance, and lists their contact information, including a local address.
• Bad mover: they have no website at all, or if they do, no local address is present there.

Red flag 4. Office and warehouse

You do a bit more extensive research on a moving company and find out that

• Good mover: they have local offices and warehouses in good operational condition.
• Bad mover: they have no local offices or warehouses, or if they do, their condition is awful.

Red flag 5. Deposit

All of a sudden, the moving company contacts you and

• Good mover: they request a deposit (booking fee) of no more than 10-15% of the final estimated cost which you should preferably pay with a credit card (extra security).
• Bad mover: they demand cash or an alarmingly large deposit before the move takes place.

Red flag 6. Moving day

Moving day arrives and the movers appear

• Good mover: in company-owned and visibly branded and marked fleet trucks.
• Bad mover: in unmarked and unidentifiable rental trucks.

To be able to know which mover to trust and which mover not to trust, take a look at the rest of the red flags of moving fraud.

How to know if a moving company is reputable

The 10 steps at the end of this article will instruct you on how to find a trustworthy moving company so that you don’t have to deal with any kind of move-related issues during a life event that is already too stressful, to begin with.

But before you can initiate the hunt for the best-rated national moving companies, let’s explain a few things about the reputation of a professional moving company and how much that (online) reputation is a guarantee for excellent moving services.

As you can probably guess, a good reputation is something very important for a moving company, and for any business organization whatsoever because such high ratings provided by customers can bring in more new clients for the company itself, which in turn will help their business grow.

The best professional moving companies in the country also realize that securing more customers is critical for the success of their business so they often choose to make a sound investment in getting more high-quality leads from a top moving leads provider.

The more satisfied clients a local mover or a cross-country mover has left behind thanks to their professional attitude and high-quality service, the easier it will be for you, as somebody who’s pretty interested in finding a good moving company, to find that mover. But how?

In the majority of cases, it comes down to the power of moving reviews, occasionally backed up by recommendations from people you can actually trust.

Customer reviews on MyMovingReviews

To know if a moving company is reputable or not, check its online reputation on dedicated websites that specialize in moving company reviews. Access those customer reviews and see what clients had to say about the movers you’ve shortlisted for your household move.

MyMovingReviews is one of the leading websites that offers genuine customer reviews of pre-approved moving companies. Clearly, it’s the place where your search for reputable moving companies should begin as both short-distance (local) and long-distance (cross-country) companies are listed by state, and then by cities. Select your state and city to find the top-rated professional movers in your area, and then take a closer look at how their services have been rated.

The 5-star rating system will give you a quick overall impression of just how reliable a moving company is in the eyes of the customers who chose to rate it after their respective household moves had been completed.

Moreover, individual reviews will present even more detailed information about how a particular mover handled the entire move, and whether or not there were any problems throughout the relocation.

Finding reputable movers is not an easy task but now you know your first stop on your way to finding professionals you can trust with your belongings.

Customer reviews on the BBB

The Better Business Review is a professional organization that’s dedicated to helping people find businesses they can trust – the very thing you’re trying to do at this moment in time.

BBB has helped people make better decisions for over 100 years, so that is definitely your second stop when looking for trustworthy moving companies to contact and hire.

Do a simple search on their website and access customer reviews, together with overall customer review ratings of various movers so that you can compare them better. In addition to reading positive, neutral, and negative reviews, you can also see if the movers you’re comparing have any customer complaints lodged against them.

This is important to know because if you disregard too many caution flags during your search, you yourself could end up filing a complaint against a moving company – something that even your worst enemy would hesitate before wishing you such a misfortune.

Recommendations from friends and co-workers

While searching for a reliable moving company, you may spend hours and hours browsing through tens and tens of online customer reviews and still remain undecided about which company to pick as your partner.

Such indecisiveness may be a direct result of reading too positive and too negative reviews about a single company to the point that you no longer know who to trust.

Reading customer reviews can be very useful and helpful, but it can also be rather confusing at times. Use those moving reviews as a reference point only. A much better way to pick a worthy mover is to ask friends and co-workers for recommendations – if any of them has recently used professional moving services, then they won’t really mind telling you the gist of their experience with the company and all.

The great thing about asking people you can trust for advice about which trustworthy moving company you should use is that they won’t try to mislead you or misinform you on purpose, or at least that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

For best results, follow reputable moving company reviews with credible counsel from your circle of friends.

How to Get Recommendations for Movers

How to find a reputable moving company in 10 easy steps

Finally, here’s a short guide with steps on how to find a good moving company -reputable, reliable, and of course, affordable – to take care of the most difficult and problematic stages of your forthcoming household move.

• Step 1. Fill in a quick moving quote to get price estimates from a few good movers that support your route and are available on the date you wish to move out. This request for moving estimates is 100% free and takes approximately 60 seconds to complete.
• Step 2. Get contacted by trustworthy movers to negotiate the conditions and terms of your move. Ask them for on-site visual inspections of the things you need to have moved to the new home.
• Step 3. Find out exactly how much your move will cost. After the arranged in-house visits from the moving experts, you will receive much more accurate moving cost estimates which you are expected to compare carefully. Don’t be quick to accept the very first offer that comes your way – you need to pick the one that is best for you in terms of both price and conditions.
• Step 4. Take a closer look at the offered additional services and their rates too. Will you need professional packing services for some or maybe all of your belongings? Professional handling of special items such as a piano or a pool table? What about temporary storage for some of the items your new home is not ready to accept yet? Think about what’s best for your prized possessions.
• Step 5. Check the licensing information of your movers. If you’re moving to another state, then you need to make sure that the cross-country movers you’re considering as potential partners are properly licensed by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Check their USDOT numbers here to ensure that your household items are in good hands.
• Step 6. Check the movers’ BBB rating. If the moving companies you’re reviewing are BBB-accredited, then that’s another strong indication that you’ll be doing business with one of the best cross-country moving companies. Click here to check their overall BBB rating, and read customer reviews or even possible complaints.
• Step 7. Access customer reviews about the best national moving companies to help you pick the winning bid. As explained in detail above, the best-rated cross-country moving companies, or the best-rated local movers depending on your move parameters, have predominantly positive online reviews that help them maintain their good reputation.
• Step 8. Use our comprehensive Movers Comparison Chart to compare those professional moving companies like never before. All it takes for a successful comparison analysis is 25 quick points – trust us, it works great.
• Step 9. Use your intuition.
• Step 10. Select the trustworthy moving company that will be the best one for you. And, having followed these easy selection steps, you should be perfectly ready for that important choice.

How to Find a Good Moving Company in 31.5 Steps