Any idea how much it costs to move cross-country?

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Thinking ahead to fellowship, likely moving from California to New England in a year or two--we rent a 2 bdrm house, have furniture, books, etc. How much could this cost? Worth it to hire a professional?

Thanks!

a lot of money.

if you did it yourself, maybe 1-2K (uhaul rental, gas, boxes, tape, etc)

if you hired someone to just move you...6-10k. they charge you per pound and for mileage. the minimum is about 3000lb (about a 1 bedroom apt). to move my 1 bedroom apt 400 miles, it was about 2k. dont foregt the packing expenses.

if you hired someone to pack and move you...10k+

Originally Posted by fiatslug

Thinking ahead to fellowship, likely moving from California to New England in a year or two--we rent a 2 bdrm house, have furniture, books, etc. How much could this cost? Worth it to hire a professional?

Thanks!

Well I'll give you my experience. Moved from Brooklyn to Portland, OR. Ended up w/ the largest moving truck you can get (26') and a car trailer. We moved a 2BR apt and picked up some furniture in storage along the way and into a 3br house.

The truck/trailer and fuel ended up costing something in the $2500-3000 range! We also paid people to load and unload the truck on each end. That is money very well spent. Paid <$250 on each side and just stood back and watched while other people did all the hard work.

I looked into paying movers for the same thing and the couple of quotes I got from reputable movers (be very careful w/ movers, there are a lot of horrible stories out there) were in the $5-7K range for the same move and since we didn't have a full truck, we would be at the mercy of them lining up other similar sized moves along the way to fill the truck.

Moral of the story is that it's wicked expensive. We have a ton of books and some antiques and handmade furniture that we wanted to move. If we had an apartment full of IKEA stuff and nothing but CDs and med school books it might have been a better deal to ship a few things, sell the rest of it on Craigslist and just buy new stuff.

If you decide to rent a truck yourself, use Penske, join AAA (you save 10-20% and when you're talking about a $2000 rental, that's nice change) and prepare for an interesting time.

Good luck

So many things to consider. . .

If you stuff is not worth keeping, have a huge yard sale, and get rid of it. Buy what you need in New England.

Moving any kid stuff? Or just a few couches and lots of clothes for you and your SO?

You going to live in NE after your fellowship, or moving back west? How long is the fellowship? Might consider storage if your fellowship is only a year.

IF your stuff is worth the effort of dragging across the country, and you are trying to save on the budget, consider using a freight company. ABF (you'll see the trailers all over the interstates) is a GREAT way to go. You pack your own stuff. They deliver a trailer to your home and you have 2 days to pack it. Have it delivered on a Thursday, and you will have the weekend too, if you need more time.

You are charged by how much of the trailer you fill. No penalty for going over, no excess charge if you use less than expected. Once filled, you put a partition up to hold your stuff in place. Only 1 household's stuff is put on a trailer. Once secured, the driver picks up the trailer, and takes it to the nearest ABF substation, where the trailer is filled with commercial freight. You will be given a window of 3-5 days when the trailer will be delivered (took 5 days from Salt Lake City to Saint Louis)

You have 2 days to unload. Cost is about 1/2 of Uhaul's cost, when you consider that you do not have to drive the truck and fill the gas tank. Also, no paying for tolls (big deal through Chicago, or in the Northeast). Also, no hassle of having to drive a crappy rental truck that is bound to explode at any time. Add about 300-500 if you are going to drag your car behind the Uhaul truck and the savings continue to grow.

I moved my family from Utah to Missouri for $1300. Uhaul was going to cost about $2300, including insurance for the stuff, car dolly, and some moving blankets. That figure did not include the gas for the 1300 mile trip. The ABF trailers are clean and BIG! Moving company quoted us at $4500.

I've driven across the interstates in a rented Uhaul. I will NEVER do it again. I am a doctor, not a professional driver. Sharing I-80 with the 18 wheelers going 80+ over the mountain passes was enough to make me just about piss my pants. Check out ABF (Arkansas's Best Freight - all over the country) you'll be glad you did.

My experience:
moved our 2 bedroom condo from chicago to phoenix (so only 1800 mi, but still). paid someone to do it since we promised ourselves 2 moves ago never to do it again ourselves. we didn't care about how long it took the stuff to get here, which saved us some money and stress. We were right at the 5000lb minimum, and the total cost was just about $5000- and we gave away our kitchen table, mattress and couch prior to moving (although i have a TON of books, so that counteracts the weight of leaving that stuff behind). We got quotes from 6-8 moving companies that ranged from $2400 to $7000. Just be careful with the moving company you choose- you hear nightmares about loss of stuff, etc.

thanks for all the responses--we're thinking of a short stint (2 yrs & then back to California)--oh the pain of multiple moves!

This thread has links to a another website that I used to research different types of moving services when I went from MA to CA for med school:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/show...ght=movingscam

Diane Moore posts here, but she's from the Movingscam.com website and offers really good advice. Mosey on down there and be sure to drop some coin if you think the advice is worth it. It is.

I moved a 2 BR apt using Broadway Express and hired local movers at both ends with a total cost of ~$2500. Not the cheapest, but certainly not bad for a true cross-country move with no hauling boxes back and forth from the truck, and more importantly, not losing 3-4 days in drive time.

It's a good thread. Perhaps I should sticky sometime, as this topic comes up every year.

Originally Posted by fiatslug

thanks for all the responses--we're thinking of a short stint (2 yrs & then back to California)--oh the pain of multiple moves!

You might then consider putting your stuff into storage - say a POD or just any old Public Storage for a couple of hundred a month, just taking what you can fit into your car, maybe shipping some other stuff and then hitting IKEA or some such for the essentials in NE.

I've done it both ways - moved across the country from cali to PA with the 27 foot UHaul, packed and unpacked by me and my parents and then this time, for fellowship, I got a small truck from UHaul ($125 for three days), put most of the stuff into a storage unit here (but you would leave it behind in Cali) and then got the rest of my stuff (I didn't need much) from Target and Ikea. Cost me less than renting the big truck, and although over the long run it will cost me more to store stuff, if you're coming back to same area, its a real hassle to drag stuff back and forth across the country for such a short period of time. I'd go for the convenience factor.

Originally Posted by Kimberli Cox

You might then consider putting your stuff into storage - say a POD or just any old Public Storage for a couple of hundred a month, just taking what you can fit into your car, maybe shipping some other stuff and then hitting IKEA or some such for the essentials in NE.

Except the only Ikea in New England is in New Haven, CT.

I moved from Cali to Boston a couple of years ago -- didn't have much time to do it since I finished work in Cali at 5pm June 30th, and had to be at work in Boston at 8am July 1st. So I hired a moving company and had my car shipped -- cost me about $3K to move my 1 bedroom apartment (unfortunately no Ikea stuff so I had to move everything), $1600 to ship my car, and $200 for the red-eye flight from SF to Boston. Had a really bad experience with the apartment movers -- they damaged and/or lost a number of my boxes and a couple of pieces of furniture, which I was never able to recover. Plus it took them about 6 weeks to get the stuff to Boston, so I had to sleep on an air mattress for longer than I would have liked. My mistake was that even though this company checked out with the BBB and other QA watchdogs, I skimped on the money, and chose the least expensive crew. If I were to do it over again I would have gone with the higher-end movers, or just rented a U-Haul if I had time.

If you're only planning a short stay on the east coast, then I would also recommend considering placing stuff in storage -- the hassle and cost of moving everything back and forth over such a short time period is just not worth it....

Originally Posted by AJM

Except the only Ikea in New England is in New Haven, CT.

Oh wait - I just found out there's one in Stoughton, MA! I'm going to have to go check it out!

I went coast to coast for 5K for 3BR house. 3.6K was to rent part of a Yellow Freight trailer - I think it was thru U-Move.com. They would locate and have a semi trailer dropped off at your house and you load it -- kind of like PODS, but goes to more locations. I just had to load and unload with a few stout friends.

A lot better than u-haul without time restrictions and a lot more space.

Originally Posted by AJM

Oh wait - I just found out there's one in Stoughton, MA! I'm going to have to go check it out!

C'mon down to Joisey - we've got one about 15 mins from my house (although in typical Joisey fashion, its a bear to get to)!!

Originally Posted by DogFaceMedic

...had to load and unload with a few stout friends.

I did that too...oh wait, that was stout for a few friends.

Payment with stout or other choice beverages I believe constitutes fair labor practices.

Originally Posted by DogFaceMedic

Payment with stout or other choice beverages I believe constitutes fair labor practices.

Only if you add the pizza.

Moved: 2400 sq ft house full of furniture and junk (anybody got a procedure to cure packratitis).
Location: Denver to Ann Arbor Michigan
Costs: 2 years ago compiled for tax purposes.
Truck: Penske 26' Diesel $1665
Fuel: 153 gallons ave cost $1.93/gal ~ 300.00 (more today obviously)
Boxes, tape, sticky lables and stuff (used foam floor underlayment for wrapping glassware from Home Depot
Moving blankets and rope two dollies and a hand truck (from Harbor Freight) $118
Paying 2 guys to load the truck after everything was packed $300
(includes grand piano and piano truck rental)
Paying 2 guys to unload the piano and heavy furniture $225

Motel 1 night: $57

Total costs: $2608

Puting up with the moron Iowa State Cop at the truck inspection station on I-80 somewhere around Pella who was somewhat confused concerning the relative difference between a hole in the ground and other openings among other things like ICC regulations: Priceless.

Next time, I'll go through Kansas.

When I do it again (next year), I'd probably do it the same way.

I've used moving companies in the past, and things get broken, missing and damaged. Usually the things that get missing are things that the movers themselve might like to have, like say a tool cart full of Mac Tools. The insurance company did understand why I wouldn't settle for Craftsman. And then there's the $9000 price quotes from the movers and the well it'll get there any day now mentality.

Atlanta to West TX with 3000 sq ft home of nice stuff and several antiques. Bids from Bekins, United, Allied & Mayflower ranged from $5K to $7.5K. We chose Allied.

Allied $5,000
Ship two cars on private enclosed trailer $2,800
U-Haul trailer $150
Gas - too much! (Bought a new tahoe and with the U-Haul trailer only got 10.6 mpg.....trip was ~1400 miles)
Packing material $500

We saved about $1500 by packing ourselves. Well actually my wife packed while I sat in a room and studied for my boards - poor girl but atleast I passed

As mentioned before, if you do decide to have movers, only get a large well-known company. When you go cheap, you get a fly-by-night organization that'll say it'll only cost X amount and then demand several thousand more upon delivery in cash or else they won't unload your stuff. Happened to a fellow med school buddy and there are thousands of stories like this all over the internet - friggin scum bags

If I forgot to feed the labor pizza is that an OSHA violation?

As for boxes, if you are near a military housing area, people are coming and going all of the time with tons of extra, used only once, packing boxes. This saved me both time and money.

- Rent your own truck.
- Only from Penske (it'll cost 30% more, but money well spent)
- rent the platform carrier for your car, not the dolly
- hire local moving companies to do the loading and unloading for you

NEVER hire an interstate moving company. There is a federal law that immunizes them from being sued in state court. As a result, 80% of them are criminals. They will routinely hold your moving goods hostage and jack up the price until they unload. Your recourse: Go to the federal motor carriers comission and file a complaint. One of their TWO investigators will get back to you in 6-8 years.