Moving homes can be an incredibly stressful time with so many mixed emotions. No matter what your reasons are for making a move, packing up your belongings and heading across the country is, an exciting new beginning and a terrifying new start await.https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/realestate/28cov.html
A missing suitcase when you fly might be an inconvenience and the last thing you want when you’re going cross country is to have things broken and lost in transit. Not only because the sentimental loss when you’re already stressed can just be one thing too many for most people, but the financial loss if it is an item that needs to be replaced can be very difficult at a time when most people are also financially stretched with unexpected expenses already associated with moving.
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U-Haul, We Haul, Who Hauls the Furniture?
Although many a great family movie revolves around a family hiring a truck and happily heading off on a big moving adventure across America,the reality is that moving just doesn’t go like that. Packing is stressful, loading the truck is hard work, driving a truck across state lines is tiring and by the time you eventually get to your destination there is rarely a kindly neighbor waiting with a freshly baked cake and a strong teenage sonwilling to help. This is why people call in the professionals. Despite the perceived expense, it is almost always cheaper to hire a moving company that specializes in cross country moves than to try and do it yourself. If you doubt, get out your favorite spreadsheet and do some calculations. Look at the cost of gas, the cost of accommodation if you’ll be driving more than 8 hours straight, the cost of snacks on the road (and the cost of meals), add in insurance for the contents as well. If you have a family, you will likely want to add in the costs associated with any activities that they will want to do as you go past this once in a childhood opportunity (check out some tips for road trips here). Although many people compare the cost of hiring a truck and compare it with the cost of hiring a moving company, they are not comparing apples with apples.
Choosing A Moving Company
If you’ve decided that a moving company is going to be your best option there are a few things to consider before picking a company to trust your treasured belongings to. Ideally you’ll have time to get a quotation and from more than one company, but like the comparison above that looks at comparing a cross country mover with doing it yourself, make sure that you are comparing the same things in the quote.
Insurance:
- Have they included this in the quote?
- What is the excess?
- What is the level of cover?
- What are the clauses (e.g. does the insurance cover breakage in transit, while loading the truck, while unloading the truck, does it exclude any items of any value)?
Boxing
- Does the quote include packing or unpacking?
- Does it include loading or unloading?
- Are boxes (and tape) provided or are these an extra cost (or something you will need to find for yourself)
- If they are packing, what level of packing is to be done (the packing quality of a move across town is usually of a lower quality than an international pack and move)?
- If you are packing, do they have any rules or restrictions? Do the boxes have to be of a certain size or left in a specific room?
- If they are unpacking what level of unpacking will be done (e.g. cutlery in the kitchen cutlery drawers or simply the box marked ‘kitchen’ will be placed on the kitchen bench)?
Transport
- Will you have the truck to yourself or are you sharing a container with another household?
- How long do they think the move will take?
- If there is going to be a delay between your arrival and your furniture’s arrival will the transport company hold the cargo in storage?
- Are they transporting via truck or via cargo container (if a cargo container (like these) often they will be able to leave the shipping box on your property for you to load at your leisure, ship it to the new house and leave it for you to unload at your leisure – but check to see if there is a charge for time above and beyond agreed)