Long Distance Household Movers

[guzzi4me]

We are searching for a moving company to move us to Grand Junction CO from our home in Lathrop CA.

Seems like there are a lot of brokers dealing with various companies and independent owner operators.

Anyone have any recommendations for an actual moving company?  Anything we should be on the look out for i.e.  red flags?

Thanks!

Jeff

[jbell]

Sorry, no recommendations but be careful, very careful.  Get several estimates and make sure you have a firm understanding regarding the insurance on the load and what happens if they have to store it for you.  Good luck.

[Vagrant]

Sell it all. 100% of it. By the end of 5 years you will have anyway. Buy a used trailer and put new 10 ply tires on it to move your tools and bike.

[blackcat]

If there ever is a contract you should read, it’s a moving company’s contract.

We moved years ago with Allied and I got a call from the in route driver saying he couldn’t deliver to my particular street and they needed to off load our furniture to a smaller truck and it was a $350 up-charge  or  I could get our belongings at a remote location and finish the delivery myself.  Of course I paid the up-charge, but it’s not untypical of that business.  Our next move was through a self load operation and even with buying furniture pads it was less expensive, less stressful and nothing was broken.

[yogidozer]

Just get bigger saddlebags and a BIG trunk for your Guzzi 🤣

[dirtiegirtie]

+1 on getting multiple quotes.

We moved almost 8 years ago, but the numbers really stuck with me. It was not far, maybe 60 miles, but there was a 3 day 'no house' storage time and we only managed to pack about 60% of our stuff ahead of time. So don't pay attention to the actual numbers, but be aware of the variation! The three quotes ranged from $3,600 to almost $8,000!!! It turned out one of the large country-wide companies ended up providing the lowest quote by far. The mid-size moving company (mostly in the North East) was in the middle around $5.5k, and the small (mostly within Massachusetts) came in with the quote up close to $8k. The large and small company both came out to the house, walked room-by-room to take an inventory, and provide the quote. The mid-sized company only wanted to know the finished square footage of the house, number of bedrooms, and number of occupants.

Get. Multiple. Quotes. It's worth it. ;)

[screamday]

Sell it all. 100% of it. By the end of 5 years you will have anyway. Buy a used trailer and put new 10 ply tires on it to move your tools and bike.

That's what we did when we moved from FL to NC over 30 years ago. Had a fire sale at the house. What didn't sell we donated. I then rented a small box truck and loaded up my tools, the motorcycle and a few essentials we didn't sell like a bed and clothing and went down the road.

[guzzi4me]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Gives us something to think about!

Jeff

[Rebochi]

  Vagrant is right, sell your crap and make a light move. Keep your motorcycle, tools and documents the rest will cost more to move than it is worth.

[yogidozer]

Haven't used them myself. But neighbors used those Pod things.
Loaded them up themselves, had them dropped off in their new location.
They said it worked out well.

[Gliderjohn]

Will be moving soon from KS to NM and the POD thing looks like the way to go.
GliderJohn

[Bisbonian]

Sell it all. 100% of it. By the end of 5 years you will have anyway. Buy a used trailer and put new 10 ply tires on it to move your tools and bike.

Planning to move across the country within the next year and for the most part this is how we're going to do it.

[Tom]

Any mover can extort more for the final delivery.  I'd check with what ever moving company Yelp, ICC, BBB & your local state gov.

[reidy]

I have had no experience with USA movers but plenty with Australian ones when I was in the Air Force. The y often employ big strong blokes who can lift a bank safe, but have no respect for you stuff (not always the case but greater than 50%).

They will assess everything for damage, just about every item you own will have a scratch somewhere. They will just be general and say scratched, therefore if it gets extra scratches you have a hard time proving it.

My tip is similar to above, go through your house and sell everything that does not hold sentimental value, or at least do a list. Anything that is small on that list, work out how to pack and move it yourself. If you only have a couple of large items work out if you can move them yourself, or use a pod or if need be use a mover.

Now go back through the house and cull the list, you are never going to use that crystal decanter that aunt Thelma gave to use as a wedding present, and she has not visited in the last 27 years.

Anything that you are going to have someone else move, make sure you take hundreds of photo's, if all goes well you can either delete them or keep them on a memory stick at a friends house. If you loose everything in a flood/fire it makes the claim easier apparently.

A final tip is any box you have not unpacked after one year, reassess if you want it or get rid of it.

Steve

[Tom]

Good advice.  Depending on where in the country.  Might be a good time to turn-over furniture.  Get new stuff.  The missus will be happy as she "redecorates".  Some furniture doesn't work if you use it in the hot SW.

[old head]

my Dad retired from the Air Force, and we moved about every 3 years.  The movers would show up, pack it up, and deliver it to our new house across the county.  Seemed we always had damage or missing stuff after it was said and done.  The worst was the last move from Washington DC to Omaha.  Several of our dining room chairs had their legs ripped off, and all the bicycles were missing along with tools.  Not sure how it was resolved to my parents satisfaction or not, but moving isn't pleasant.

I have moved about 10 times in my career and each time, we moved ourselves.  packed it all up, loaded a Uhaul and moved it.  its a lot of work, but I wouldn't want people I don't know in charge of my stuff.  Good time to get rid of a lot of useless stuff start fresh.  I have one more move left when I retire from where I am now, not sure where it will be, but hopefully someplace drier, and non tropical. 

Move yourself, thats my recommendation.

Old Head