Help -- Moving company advice

[avendesora]

We're moving for residency at the end of the month. I'm looking at a truck rental (UHaul, Budget, etc). We're going about 700 miles.

Anyone have advice on which company is best, and how to do it as cheaply as possible?

Also, any moving tips in general? The only moving I've done before is local -- one car/tuck-load at a time.

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[gaslady]

Price and availability for long distance moves varies based on truck availability and region. So the best advice about individual companies you will get will come from people in your area. Get on the internet and request quotes from a bunch of places. That's what I did. The prices varied from $600 to $1500 (for a move of 500miles) with a big range on how many miles we were allowed and the number of days we were allowed to have the truck. Prices can also vary for the same company for different dates.

 

[dwstranger]

Also, if you're going to do it yourself (rental truck), keep in mind that they don't all do one-way rentals. I ended up renting a Penske truck because they offer unlimited mileage, although they do specify the number of days allowed for the trip. We also decided we don't want to break our own backs this time around, so we hired moving help. If you go to the U-Haul website, there's a link for eMove, and you can choose to get help for packing/unpacking, loading/unloading, etc. You choose what you want help with, put in the zip codes, how many helpers you want and for how many hours, and they provide a list of companies and their prices. You pay the eMove site, and they hold it (sort of in escrow) until the job is done, when you enter a "payment code" and the company is then paid for the work. The address is http://movinghelp.emove.com/ .

 

[aliraja]

I just finished a 700-mile move in a truck with a motorcycle in the back and my car hitched on a trailer. It's completely doable (and actually kinda fun if you drive in the middle of the night sans traffic when it's just you and the female trucker triplets at those lonely truck stops...) but that's another story for another time.

One bit of advice: Go with Penske. DO NOT go with UHaul. For more opinions surprisingly similar to mine, check out www.epinions.com (which is good to use for just about anything) and search for moving companies.

And don't hesitate to call them up, talk to a customer rep, and play them against each other for a better deal. I did this and, although it took almost 20 minutes, convinced the Penske folks that, since U-Haul had screwed me over by not having my truck when I needed it, I was ripe for the picking and they could get themselves a customer for life by giving me almost 40% off of their stated internet price.

Good luck!

 

[Docxter]

Also, if you're going to do it yourself (rental truck), keep in mind that they don't all do one-way rentals (e.g., U-Haul doesn't).

I've rented U-hauls for one-way trips a couple of times. Unless this is a very new change in U-Haul policy in the past six weeks or so, this is not true. The availability of one-way rentals mainly depends on your city of origin and destination. Not all destinations will be available for one-way rental.

For the original poster, check out the opinions of people on different moving companies: http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Moving_Services-All

Apparentlyy, U-Haul doesn't rank very well, although I've never had a problem with them.

 

[dwstranger]

I've rented U-hauls for one-way trips a couple of times. Unless this is a very new change in U-Haul policy in the past six weeks or so, this is not true. The availability of one-way rentals mainly depends on your city of origin and destination. Not all destinations will be available for one-way rental.

You're right -- sorry. Regardless, of the major ones, not all offer one-way rentals. U-Haul does not offer unlimited mileage, though, which was important for us because we have to make a couple of stops to load the truck, which would put us over their allotted mileage. Sorry again for the misinformation! I edited my original post to remove it.

 

[Annette]

I had a miserable experience with U-haul. They didn't have the size truck I reserved, and the one I got I wouldn't have trusted going across town, let alone cross country.

I ended up getting a van from enterprise (didn't have that much stuff), when I returned it, I picked up my car. I had Two men and a truck help me unload all my stuff.

 

[avendesora]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

We considered having someone move us, but although we have lots of "stuff" we don't have any really big furniture (bed, dresser, bookshelf - been living on one teacher-income!). Doesn't really make sense to hire someone to cart our multitude of smaller furniture and boxes that we can easily carry ourselves.

I spent a couple hours on epinions.com after posting -- seems the concensus is definitely to stay away from UHaul. I've used them for local moves, and the trucks have indeed been old and scary.

My wife got good quotes from both Budget and Penske, so I think we're going with one or the other.

 

[tkim]

Here's a good site to explain the nuts and bolts of the moving biz:

http://movingscam.com/

Lots of good info for anyone doing the move thing.

 

[k's mom]

Just say no to uhaul...they are usually the cheapest, so I've been suckered back in to using them a few times, and each and every time there is a problem....

My favorite is making a "reservation" for 10:00 am. Calling at 10:00 am and finding out that they have no trucks. They will "see what they can do" and CALL me back. Um..I'm moving and have no phone service. WTF???????????? We end up stalking three different locations and get our truck at 6:00pm (as the shop is closing).

 

[blotto geltaco]

I would avoid UHaul at all costs. Their equipment is terrible and they are basically a terribly run company. In fact, I had so many problems with them in the past, I wonder how they are still in business. I guess people go for the most recognizable name. I would rather carry my boxes a thousand miles than give thise worthless idiots another cent of business.

blotto geltaco

 

[not-on-fire]

So what if someone wants to have someone else do the loading, driving, and unloading (self-pack)? What companies would y'all recommend and/or advise me to run screaming from?
Thanks!

 

[beriberi]

Can I just throw in that when I moved to medical school I used Uhaul to go cross country and then stored in a Uhaul storage center. They charged me lots of money for the storage (on my credit card) and then kept saying I hadn't paid them. They started sending me letters (daily) saying that they were going to sell my stuff or throw it away. I would call them and say "dude, you charged my card for the money" and they would say "oh, yeah, I guess we won't sell your stuff." Then, the next day I would get another letter. It was terrible. I will never use Uhaul again. (And problems with the elevators, the equipment, awful.)

I hope to use budget this time--they seem to have the best price for my move (slightly under 1000 miles.)