Choosing a moving company can be a bit tricky, especially if this is the first time you’ll be using professional moving services. The major issue for you will probably be that you won’t know which moving company to trust… and the more you research those professional movers, the more confused you could get as to which one to hire.
The thing is that you don’t want to hand over your valuable possessions to just any moving company that comes your way. On the contrary, you want to make sure that the moving experts that walk through your door on the day of the move will be competent, skilled, experienced, and polite. Also, you’ll need the moving company itself to be reputable and trustworthy so that they send you a good moving team that consists of real professionals who will know exactly what to do to get the job done quickly and safely.
Choosing a good mover is a process – invest a bit of time and effort in it and you’ll get rewarded with a problem-free house move with a minimum amount of stress for you. Go through the major pointers below to gain the required knowledge to pick the best professional moving company under your specific relocation scenario.
There is a good reason why most people turn to the pros when they need help with something – from having a broken pipe in the home (call a plumber) to moving heavy furniture to another home (hire furniture movers). You couldn’t possibly be an expert in all aspects of life, and when you’re getting ready to move out, the chances are that you won’t work as a professional mover either.
You should know the specific reasons why you should hire professional movers to help you pack and move your belongings very early in your preparation. What are the advantages of using a mover instead of organizing a Do-It-Yourself move?
Experience. No matter how you look at it, the move-related experience will be crucial for the success of your household move. If you’re moving house for the very first time, then you should bet on professionals with many years of experience in packing and moving people’s items between homes. In addition to the rigorous training that professional movers get, it’s the daily encounter with various move-related problems that have developed their problem-solving skills.
At the end of the day, it’s the movers’ smart tricks and clever hacks obtained only through real-life experience that will make a big difference.
Efficiency. Provided that you hire one of the top-rated moving companies in your town or city, the movers who will come to your home to help you pack and move your stuff should work with mind-boggling speed. Combine that speed with safety and you’ll get a level of efficiency that you and your group of friends cannot possibly match.
Keep in mind that moving experts’ efficiency is a direct result of their relocation experience and house moving skills (know-how).
Safety. Safety is crucial in each house moving case. When big and heavy items are being transported through small doorways and narrow hallways, and even down or up the stairs, one single step could lead to disastrous results.
Professional movers guarantee safety throughout moving day by 1) using the proper moving equipment, 2) bringing the right types of high-quality moving boxes, 3) practicing safe packing and moving techniques, and 4) having the physical strength needed to handle the heavyweight items in your home.
Peace of mind. Why should you hire professional movers? It’s the peace of mind you get when you have moving experts tackle the toughest aspects of your move. The zero chance of you or your family members getting hurt in the moving process and the minimal chance of your prized possessions getting damaged are reasons enough to hire the services of one of the best moving companies in the country.
Even when you’re well aware of the clear advantages of hiring a professional moving company to handle the tasks that are too difficult and too risky for you, you may still find yourself wondering whether you could pull off a Do-It-Yourself move without the assistance of experienced professionals. In fact, the dilemma of whether you should hire movers or move by yourself will need to be resolved at the very beginning of the move.
The important thing you need to remember is that Hiring movers vs. Moving by yourself is an individual decision and you’re the one to make that informed decision after examining closely the following factors:
Move distance. The distance between the two homes will play a big role in your decision whether to hire professional movers or attempt a self-move. When moving long distance – like moving to another state – you should definitely hire top-rated cross-country movers to handle it all for you. When moving only a short distance away – moving locally across town or to a neighboring city, you may try to move on your own.
Time until Moving day. Factor in the time you have until your move-out day. If you have just a few days to get ready to move out, then you’d better call in the pros who know how to work efficiently under pressure. On the other hand, if you have weeks to prepare for your move, then you should be able to pull it off on your own granted that you have a good moving checklist by your side.
Number and type of items. Should you hire movers for your move? Just take a look at the items you have for moving. If you happen to have plenty of specialty items – antique furniture, a piano, a grandfather clock, etc. – then yes, do yourself a favor and hire moving experts. On the other hand, if you don’t have too many items to move and have very few or no specialty items at all, then you may consider organizing a self-move.
Moving labor. You’re going to need helping hands more than ever when moving house. If you don’t have any friends to help you pack and lift and move the heavy furniture and boxes, then you’ll need to hire a moving company. On the other hand, if you’re sure you’ll get the friendly backup you need, then a DIY move could be a good option for you.
Safety. Moving day can present a number of dangers for non-professionals due to the fact that numerous heavy and bulky items will be moved around and out of the house. Hire professional movers when your risk assessment shows the risks are too big for you and your friends. However, if you’ve moved house before and you know how to ensure safety, then you may be willing to try and move out on your own.
Your decision to use a professional moving company to help you move out will mean that now you’re going to have to find one of the best movers in your town or city, and then to book their services. But before you can do it, you’ll need to know what to look for in a moving company.
Here are the critical things you should look for when choosing a moving company:
Legitimate status
First of all, you should make sure that your movers are legitimate – that is, that they are properly licensed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). All interstate moving companies must be certified by the U.S. Department of Transportation and have valid USDOT numbers as proof of their legitimacy. All intrastate movers need to have state licenses in order to operate legally.
So, perform that legitimate status check to protect your move against possible moving scams.
Affordable services
Another thing you should look for in a moving company is the affordability of their services. After all, it’s your money and you should do everything in your power to lower the moving costs. Of course, a great way to cut moving costs and expenses is to hire an affordable moving company.
Do this by requesting in-home surveys from several top-rated moving companies – after the inspection, you will be given accurate moving cost estimates by each mover. Compare those moving quotes and pick the moving company that offers fairly affordable services that happen to be agreeable to your budget.
Professional experience
One of the most important things to look for in a moving company is their professional competence. You need professionals who have outstanding move-related skills, and those very skills have come as a result of proper training and years of experience.
Even more importantly, you should be looking for movers who have substantial experience in the type of move you’re facing – for example, if you’re moving into a high-rise building, you do need a moving company that’s completed successfully many apartment moves before yours.
Adequate insurance
Look for a moving company that’s fully bonded and insured simply because those professionals will be liable for any type of damage to any of your belongings while the latter are in their possession. Knowing that your movers are properly insured will give you peace of mind during those uncertain times.
Don’t rely on the basic liability protection that comes at no cost – instead, consider getting the Full Value Protection where the movers will be liable for the full cost of repairs or the replacement value of any damaged or missing items.
Specialized moving services
One important thing you may be looking in a moving company is specialized moving services. In addition to the standard package of services offered by a mover, you may happen to need special ones such as custom wooden crating for super-delicate items, disassembly and re-assembly of large furniture pieces, hoisting of big and heavy items through a window or a balcony, shuttle services, and so on.
The best way to know in advance that you’ll be working with experienced and skilled moving specialists is to get trustworthy recommendations about them before you hire their services. Professional movers with excellent track records, predominantly positive moving reviews and high overall ratings are always a smart and safe choice during a house move.
Here’s how to get recommendations for movers:
Get personal references
The best way to receive honest and genuine recommendations about a moving company is to get them from people you can trust. Therefore, ask friends, neighbors, and coworkers if they can recommend the services of a professional mover they have recently used. Also, you can use the power of social media networks and try to get recommended movers by publishing a short post such as “Can anyone recommend a good moving company?”
The best thing about getting moving company recommendations from friends and acquaintances is that you can actually trust the source of the information – you know that they will tell you the truth simply because they won’t have anything to gain from deceiving you in any way.
So, try to obtain as much useful information as you can from the people you trust – after all, you’ll be aiming to make an informed decision that will enable you to choose a good moving company for your relocation needs.
Read moving reviews
Despite your efforts, sometimes you won’t succeed in getting personal recommendations from people you know. In such cases, it’s time to visit trustworthy specialized websites that offer moving company reviews left by former customers of those same companies. In other words, it’s time to check what strangers had to say about the services of the moving companies you’re researching.
Moving reviews can serve as a guide about how reputable a mover is and the quality of the services they offer. If the majority of people have been happy with a particular moving company, the chances are high that you will be too.
As a rule of thumb, you should stay away from movers that have too many negative reviews and too low overall ratings.
Check moving company ratings
Another way you can get recommendations about movers is to check their business ratings with reputable professional organizations. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has set strict accreditation standards that moving companies have to adhere to in order to become BBB-accredited. The Bureau’s accreditation enhances the trust between customers and moving companies, and it uses a rating system from A+ (the highest one) to F (the lowest one) to grade the overall performance of a mover.
To find recommended moving companies, make sure you visit the BBB website and check the records of the movers you’re interested in. The records will also show you if the movers have any complaint history – a useful bit of information that you must use when forming your final decision.
Before you can pick the right moving company out of the ones that have contacted you, you’ll need to know how to compare movers in order to single out the best service provider for you.
Comparing moving companies is not an easy task because each mover is likely to claim that they are the best one for the job, and that may easily confuse you when figuring out which one to trust in the end.
Ultimately, the only way you can know that you’ve picked the right moving company is to do a moving company comparison – that is, to compare the movers by using various comparison criteria, and then see which one will get to be your top choice for a provider of moving services.
In-home surveys
The only way to know for sure what type of movers you’ll be dealing with throughout your household move is to request in-home consultations from several top-rated moving companies in your area. Before anything else, you’ll need to know how much the move will cost you, so you must request on-site surveys from the pros – the proven way to get accurate cost estimates for your move.
It’s very important that you have the moving experts come and visit your home in person so that they can actually quote you a price that will match the final bill.
Thus said, don’t agree to get moving cost estimates over the phone or via e-mail because such quotes could not possibly be as accurate as you need them to be.
As a rule of thumb, you should stay away from moving companies that refuse to visit your home as part of the cost estimation process.
Cost estimates
After the moving experts get a closer look at the things you want to be moved and assess all possible risks and dangers for the day of the move, you will be left with cost estimates in writing that should clearly state the price and all additional services needed to complete the move as scheduled.
Of course, the first thing you should compare will be the prices on those moving estimates – after all, you’ll most likely be moving on a budget and oftentimes that moving price will be the deciding factor for you. However, keep in mind that even though the move price matters, sometimes it can be misleading and even fraudulent.
This is why you should also factor in other important factors such as the additional services offered by the pros and their corresponding rates. Extra services include packing and unpacking, disassembly and reassembly of large furniture, temporary storage, crating, hoisting, and so on.
Moving company reviews
Choosing the right moving company for you often comes down to comparing effectively the different movers and picking the one that fits your budget, satisfies your requirements, and meets your expectations in the best possible way.
The next step is to compare moving companies by checking the reviews and ratings people have left for them. That type of feedback from complete strangers can help you select a moving company that’s earned a good reputation by offering high-quality moving services to their customers.
If a moving company happens to have too many negative reviews and rather low overall ratings, then you’d better stay away from it.
Choosing a moving company you can trust with your valuable belongings is never easy. There’s always the risk of you hiring bad movers and having a nightmarish relocation experience as a result. Therefore, you just need to find the time to research your movers well in order to avoid potential problems and strong headaches down the road.
One good proactive way to pick the right mover for you is to ask the pros the right type of questions and then try to judge their levels of professionalism and trustworthiness from the answers they give you. In reality, your pre-selected questions will be the ultimate test that the movers you’re considering for the job will either pass or fail.
Here are a number of important questions you should not forget to ask moving companies before picking one of them as your relocation partner:
Are you properly licensed? You should do the online license check nevertheless but you need to hear it from the pros themselves. All interstate moving companies must be licensed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the cross-country movers you’re researching should be able to show their USDOT numbers as proof of their legitimate status.
Intrastate movers must be licensed by the state they operate in.
How long have you been in business? You want to hire movers who are very experienced because that relocation experience alone will enable them to resolve any move-related issues during the house move. Also, the fact alone that those moving companies are still in business should mean that they must be doing something right.
Do you have the necessary equipment? The right type of moving equipment will make all the difference in the world on the day of the move. In addition to quality packing materials, it’s the moving dollies, furniture sliders, straps, and of course – the right size of moving truck – that will make the move quick and safe for everyone.
Do you offer on-site binding written estimates? It’s critical that your movers give you an accurate cost estimate and then stick to it until the end. And the best way for you to get such accurate moving quotes is to have the moving experts visit your home in person for a visual inspection.
Do you offer the moving services I need? It’s clear that some moving companies will be better than others, but it may turn out that the movers you’ve contacted do not offer the services you need to complete the move. And if that’s the case, then working with those professionals will not turn out to be productive for you.
What will you do to protect my items? Request more specific information about what the pros will do to protect your valuable items and prevent property damage throughout the move. You’re looking for concrete answers here with case-specific examples of what safety measures they will take to transport all your valuables safely to the new home. Don’t settle for vague answers that usually spell unprofessionalism and incompetence.
One of the things to remember when looking for a moving company is that you should know well in advance what type of mover you need.
For example, if you’re moving to another state, then you should be searching for a state-to-state moving company and not for a local instate mover that will only operate within the state of origin. And vice versa – if you’re moving to another town or city within your own state, then you should concentrate on finding a good in-state moving company and not a cross-country mover.
Move distance aside, you should also be looking for a moving company that can tackle the specifics of your house move. For instance, if you’re only moving a small load of household items to another place (a single furniture piece or only a few furniture items and some moving boxes), then you should hire the services of a small load mover and not those of a full-service moving company. On the other hand, in the event that you’re moving the contents of your entire home, and not just the items from a single room, then you should definitely hire a full-service moving company.
Short distance movers
Local movers, aka short distance movers, will transport your items from one home to another within the same state because, in most cases, those professionals will not be licensed to cross any state lines. Even when you’re moving across town, you can use their experience and physical strength to guarantee the safety of the relocation operation.
In contrast to interstate moving companies, local movers charge by the hour and will most likely charge you one extra hour of labor as a travel fee.
If the destination home is situated in another state and the move distance is more than 100 miles, then you’ll be up against a long-distance move. And to make it work, you’re going to have to find and hire the services of one of the best long distance movers in the country. Why?
When moving across the country without the logistic support of a cross-country mover, the self-moving expenses tend to become too many and too much to handle. What’s more, the risks and dangers associated with a possible DIY move can easily become unjustified in the case of a personal injury or property damage.
Cross-country movers are, in fact, long-distance moving companies that have the experience, expertise and capacity to complete house moves across the entire country, often from coast to coast. It’s those professionals you need to turn to when you’re moving to another long-distance part of the country.
After all, there’s a HUGE difference between a move distance of around 300 miles and one of roughly 3,000 miles, or more.
Sometimes you won’t need to move all the things from your current home from one place to another, or you may happen to have just a handful of items to transport. In such cases, hiring a full-service moving company is not a good idea because standard movers have a minimum shipment weight requirement of around 2,000 pounds. So, when your partial load is (much) less than that, you’ll be practically wasting money.
Also, hiring partial load movers is a good idea when you only have a single piece of furniture to move to a new place, or just a few boxes for that matter.
Full-service movers will do it all for you. In fact, hiring a full-service mover will often be the most expensive option but whenever you can afford it, then you should definitely do it because that way you won’t need to lift a finger throughout the move as the movers will take care of every aspect of the house move.
As the name suggests, a full-service moving company can offer you all services needed to complete the relocation in a safe and timely manner. As a bonus, you’ll get enough time to say goodbye to your friends before you move away.
Furniture movers are the ideal choice when you have too many small, medium-sized and large furniture items that you wish to transport safely to the new residence. Those professionals are specialized in protecting, handling, and transporting furniture pieces of all types and dimensions.
Furniture movers will arrive in your home with all the necessary packing materials, moving equipment, and furniture moving know-how. To keep your furniture protected throughout the move, they will disassemble safely the larger pieces for easier and safer transportation.
Hiring professional movers for your move is a step-by-step process that you will need to follow closely in order to contract one of the best moving companies in your town or city. Oftentimes, the success of a household move depends on the choice of moving specialists, and you should be able to avoid a number of possible problems and plenty of headaches down the road by picking the right mover for you.
Here are the steps to hiring the services of a good moving company:
Step 1. Know what you need
Before you begin the hunt for a professional moving company, you’ll need to know what to look for. So, before anything else, make sure you’ve defined your needs and requirements to make it easier to pick the right mover.
Are you moving locally or across the country?
Are you moving the contents of your entire home or just a small shipment of household items?
Do you have any specialty items that require more special packing and transportation?
How involved in your own house move do you want to be?
Step 2. Ask friends to recommend you good movers
When looking for professional movers, you may not have a good idea which companies offer high-quality moving services and which ones do not. That’s especially true when you’ve never used movers before – in which case, you won’t know what it takes to find a recommended moving company.
To begin with, ask friends, family members, colleagues, and neighbors if they know any good movers – maybe the ones they used the last time they moved house? Those are the people you can trust because they won’t have any reasons to mislead or misinform you. If any of them can recommend a good mover, then that moving company must really be doing something right.
Step 3. Request in-home cost estimates
The price of your move is a critical factor that will either seal the relocation deal, or break it. Before you can reach an informed decision, you just have to know how much money the professional moving company will charge you to get the job done. And this is why you have to get several moving cost estimates to get a better idea about what to expect price-wise from the moving experts.
Moving quotes done over the phone or via e-mails won’t work – instead, request in-home visits from several top-rated moving companies and have the pros inspect the items you’re moving and the moving day conditions as well.
Opt for binding moving estimates in writing.
Step 4. Research the moving companies
No matter how recommended some recommended movers are, you’re still going to have to do your homework and research those companies to make sure they are legitimate, insured, experienced, trustworthy, and reputable.
Check the movers whether they are properly licensed by the U.S. Department of Transportation – that is, that they have valid USDOT numbers (only for interstate movers);
Check if the movers are BBB-accredited – that is, they are members of the Better Business Bureau (BBB);
Read moving reviews about the moving companies left by real-life former customers.
When using a moving company for the first time, it’s only normal that you should worry not to make any mistakes when hiring those movers. The lack of experience in picking a good moving company can easily lead to a number of judgment errors when choosing your relocation partner.
Avoid the most common mistakes when hiring a moving company and you should have a smooth house moving experience from start to finish.
Mistake 1: You hire movers in the last possible moment
Start looking for reputable and trustworthy movers very early in the moving process. If you leave that task for last, you may not be able to find any good movers at all since the best moving companies get booked early.
Also, even if you find last-minute movers, the price you’ll pay for the moving services will most likely be much higher than normal due to the added urgency.
Mistake 2: You get cost estimates without in-house inspections
Some moving companies may try to give you cost estimates without bothering to visit your home in person. Those companies will assure you that the moving quotes will be accurate… but that’s just impossible. Without actually inspecting the things you’re planning to move, the movers won’t have enough information to prepare precise estimates that will reflect the final price.
The best moving companies in the country will never refuse to do on-site estimates for their customers.
Mistake 3: You only get one moving quote
How will you be able to compare several moving companies if you only get a single moving quote from one mover?
Moving companies vary when it comes to rates and quality of services, as well as their level of professionalism. So, to be able to pick the mover for you, you’re going to have to request quotes from several moving companies and then compare those written estimates really carefully.
Mistake 4: You never ask movers the hard questions
You’re about to hire the services of a moving company so you’re entitled to get satisfactory answers to all the burning questions you’ve got. Don’t be shy to ask the pros the hard questions – after all, you’re looking for professional and competent moving specialists who will be honest with you in order to build the required trust for a problem-free move.
Top-rated movers shouldn’t have anything to hide so they’re expected to answer all your questions fully. Should you sense that a company is not completely open or honest with you, you’re under no obligation to work with it, so just move on.
The important thing to remember is that any mistakes when hiring movers can lead to you losing hard-earned money or precious time as a result – not something that you would like to go through when moving between two homes.
Luckily, you should be able to avoid any blunders during the hunt of good movers just by being adequately informed about possible pitfalls that might be coming your way.
It’s not a secret that the house moving process is both stressful and expensive. The average cost of an interstate move is around $4,300 for a move distance of about 1,225 miles. And that statistical data is more than enough to make you look for various ways to make your own move more affordable by lowering the moving costs and expenses, whenever possible.
One proven way to move house for less money is to look for and find affordable movers. And how do you do this? You just request 3-4 in-home estimates from different movers and pick the best (understand the lowest bid) without falling victim to a potential moving scam. And once you pick that low-cost moving company, you still have a good chance of bringing down the quoted price.
Are you a good negotiator?
Basically, it all comes down to how well you will be able to negotiate with your movers.
ASK your movers explicitly if they are currently offering any discounts or having special offers. It won’t hurt to ask, so do it since you’ve got nothing to lose. The worst that can happen is the moving company to refuse to give you any discounts in which case you’ll know that at least you’ve tried.
OFFER your moving company a more flexible move-out date, if possible, and see if they will be willing to lower their price as a result of that extra flexibility. You’re likely to get a better deal if you hire them during one of their slow times.
USE a little trick to hopefully get a better deal – tell the moving company you’ve chosen that you would really like to hire their services but that you’ve been offered a lower price by one of their competitors. Ask them directly if they will be willing to price-match that lower bid you’ve got – ideally, they will not want to lose you as a customer and will offer you a better price.
GO through all extra moving services included in the cost estimate and discuss with your mover whether you’ll need all of them. Ask them if you can do something to bring down the rates of some of those additional services – that’s especially relevant when it comes to the packing service.
Even if you know you’re not a skilled negotiator, you should still try to negotiate a lower price with your moving company just because money doesn’t grow on trees.
Another tip to get what you want, or at least to get one step closer to it, is to be persistent and try to negotiate a better price with your mover at least one more time. If you’ve got any luck, you may get to speak with another moving company representative – one who may happen to be more open to your cost reduction request.
Sometimes hiring a moving company may turn out to be trickier than you expect. Why? Mind you, not all movers on the market will have your best interests at heart.
There are those moving companies that are just plain bad, and their ultimate goal is to scam you. There are several types of moving frauds that you should be aware of: from presenting fake references, through giving low-ball cost estimates and asking for higher-than-normal deposits or advance payments, to holding your goods hostage and requesting large sums of money to release them.
When hiring movers, you should always be on the lookout for the unmistakable red flags of dishonest “rogue” moving companies so that you and your items stay protected from any type of fraud.
So, how can you distinguish between good movers and bad movers?
What are the red flags of moving that you should know about when choosing a moving company?
You get in touch with a moving company and they answer the phone without stating the name of their company but rather saying something very generic like Movers or Moving company.
You request an in-home survey from a moving company and they refuse to visit your home in person, instead insisting on giving you a cost estimate over the phone.
You check an interstate moving company and they don’t have a valid USDOT number issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation. All interstate movers must be properly licensed by the U.S. Government.
A moving company does not have a physical address – no local offices or warehouses. The fact that a moving company has no official business webpage could be a potential flag as well.
A moving company requests a large deposit that exceeds the standard booking fee of 10%-15% of the estimated move cost.
A mover offers a cost estimate that is very low compared to the estimates supplied by other moving companies. Such too-good-to-be-true estimates are known as low-ball estimates and their purpose is to “hook” unaware clients to book the move. Later, such a scammer requests much more money than they quoted originally.
Movers ask you to sign incomplete or blank documents. You should NEVER agree to that.
On moving day, movers arrive in non-marked trucks or rental trucks instead of their own company-owned branded moving vehicles.
In most cases, it takes a bit of common sense to protect your move and yourself from dishonest movers. Keep in mind the above-mentioned red flags when using movers and don’t proceed if you sense that something’s not quite right. Sometimes it’s better to trust your instincts than to entrust your valuable possessions to dishonest movers who want to cheat you.
To simplify the entire process of finding, choosing and hiring the right movers, we recommend that you use our special-purpose guide on this topic and follow the 31.5 steps inside it to pick the best mover for you and your family.
Posted on September 24, 2019
Joshua Green
Joshua Green is a relocation expert and a moving industry professional, one of the esteemed contributors to MyMovingReviews.com with specialized articles and informative guides which help people organize and execute their moves easily and comfortably.
Joshua is a recognized author of two books about moving one of which is Relocating Without Breaking A Sweat - Your Personal Handbook For A Perfect Move. Both books are well received and help thousands of people make the right relocation decisions.
He is known to skillfully incorporate his never-ending energy, utmost dedication and raw passion into his works.
You can contact Joshua Green at: joshua@mymovingreviews.com | Linkedin
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