ugh - moving recommendations....

Hey everyone -
With Match Day quickly approaching and our fate finally being communicated to us, it's time to think about moving and that whole process.

I've read so much advice about who to hire, who not to hire, how to do it yourself, etc... and wondered if anyone here had any advice? DW and I will, most likely, be making a 700 mile move, selling a (full) house and purchasing another at our destination. This stuff is freaking me out, as I'm the one that will be doing most of the coordinating and packing.

Being that we've got a lot of family support and will probably be moving ourselves, I've started reading and have heard very good things about Penske and Budget/Ryder and some very terrible things about UHaul. It looks like there are Penske offices near both the source and destination, so this is probably the company we'll go with. They also offer some discounts to physicians and on their website.

Of course, we could be shocked on Match Day and not have to worry about any of this.

Anyone have any experience or advice on this topic?
I'm pretty nervous about the whole operation.

Nothing like a move!

When we moved Denver to Portland last year, we used ABF (http://www.upack.com). We had a great experience with them. The trailer showed up/picked up when it was supposed to same on our arrival. There was little difference between ABF and U-Haul when accounting for gas prices and a slower drive. We also hired people to pack it -- that was a mixed bag. It was worth it to have the truck packed but, unfortunately, they got tired at the end and got sloppy. Stuff got broken. We have a couple of big pieces of furniture and it just wasn't worth the backache to do it ourselves. You could hire help for big pieces and do the boxes yourselves to save $$$. My advice to avoid the problem we had would be that you supervise and keep an eye on the move and not be afraid to say something.

Another good resource is: http://www.movingscam.com
I would definitely check that out. Their message boards are helpful.

Good luck!!!

(OMG, Alison, panting cats?!?! )

The last time we moved, DH rented the UHaul and did everything by himself along with my dad. I was four months pregnant, so I did a lot of "directing". But we swore that we would never do it on our own again--so we're planning to use a service that everyone here in Columbus raves about-- Two Men and a truck http://www.twomenandatruck.com They are a national chain.

They seem to have pretty good rates and they'll do free estimates if you provide the details of your move. I know a lot of people that have been really happy with them.

That's all I know!

[fluffhead]

a service that everyone here in Columbus raves about-- Two Men and a truck http://www.twomenandatruck.com They are a national chain.

We used them for our last move, and they were quite good. It's a franchise, so your experience will probably depend upon the local franchisee.
Our last move was crazy - we bought the house in January, and weren't moving till June. So for several months, each time my wife would not be on call (not too often - this was internship year), I would load my car during naptimes, and as soon as she would get home I'd drive up in the traffic and dump a carload of stuff in the house. That way we didn't have to pack up the dishes and stuff in boxes - the movers only ended up taking the heavy and bulky stuff.

[migirl]

We moved ourselves from Washington, DC to Michigan for residency, and used a 20' Penske truck. We had a good experience with them, the truck was nice and clean and pretty new. We had people (friends) help us load/unload it, so that took a lot of the burden off of us doing it ourselves. Next time we'll hire movers, though.

We hired a professional mover, North American, to move us from CA to NC last summer. We were really happy with them. Only a couple of glasses were broken and that was because of our poor packing job. It was actually not much more expensive to hire a mover than to rent a UHaul. I think we paid $3000 to move a 2 bed apartment and a UHaul wasn't going to be much less when we figured in gas and the gigantic one-way fee they were going to charge.

Fluffhead is right, most moving companies are franchises. It would be wise to check with the BBB to see what kind of record the franchise you are considering has. There were 3 North American franchises in our area and I got estimates from all 3. Each one gave me a different estimate and 2 of them had unsatisfactory records with the BBB. Luckily 1 of them had a clean record.

One tip is that you'll probably pay less if you move mid-month as opposed to the beginning or end of the month. We got a huge discount since we moved on the 23rd of the month. If we had moved at the beginning or end of the month, we would have ended up paying around $10,000!

[DCJenn]

If you check our articles archives, we did a huge articleon moving a few years ago that really is probably the best, most comprehensive set of recommendations ever.

I will never, never move myself again, but then again, I've moved 13 times in 12 years. so- I'm bitter.

Jenn

[Amiens]

When we moved from Denver to Seattle for rest of residency we moved ourselves. We used a Ryder-Budget truck. Packed it ourselves, and drove the 23 hour drive over 3 days with my inlaws, and my 6 month old daughter at the time. We had an excellent experience with using UHaul, in fact they ended up being $400 cheaper than the competition for the 24' truck.

This time around, we have been given bonus money for dh's new job- putting away part for taxes, using minimal amount for moving and then the rest for the new house. We have a reservation with UHaul ($595 for the largest truck), but I am keeping my eye on Ryder-Budget to see if the rate goes down a bit. We have a lot of boxes from our last long distance move.

If you decide to move yourself- the sooner you reserve your truck the better.

Crystal

[SuzySunshine]

We were moved by North American Van Lines and they did a fabulous job - not one broken or lost item. They packed our entire cottage in less than four hours and unpacked the truck in less than 2. We got a discount through them through our alma matter but the residency program had negotiated rates that were about the same. It made our move from CA to MN a lot less stressful.