Best Practices for Moving Cross-Country?
April 8, 2023 10:20 AM Subscribe
We're moving a 3 bedroom house from the midwest to the west coast. Wife and I disagree on how best to do it and we're looking for input.
I've moved a dozen times in my life, and every time I do I rent my own uhaul, pack it up, and drive it to my destination. This is the cheapest option and I'm someone who likes doing the driving.
My wife wants to hire a moving company to put our stuff on their truck, have them drive it out, and meet them at the destination. I don't like the idea of giving everything we own to a company I don't know and hope that it gets to where it needs to be without it being damaged, stolen, or extorted to get it back.
Two questions here:
1) When you've made this choice, what made you pick one over the other? Are there pros/cons I'm not considering?
2) If we were to go with the moving company option, what questions should we ask to find a company that minimizes our risk of the above concerns? Or do you have any specific moving companies you might recommend? Thanks!
I've moved a dozen times in my life, and every time I do I rent my own uhaul, pack it up, and drive it to my destination. This is the cheapest option and I'm someone who likes doing the driving.
My wife wants to hire a moving company to put our stuff on their truck, have them drive it out, and meet them at the destination. I don't like the idea of giving everything we own to a company I don't know and hope that it gets to where it needs to be without it being damaged, stolen, or extorted to get it back.
Two questions here:
1) When you've made this choice, what made you pick one over the other? Are there pros/cons I'm not considering?
2) If we were to go with the moving company option, what questions should we ask to find a company that minimizes our risk of the above concerns? Or do you have any specific moving companies you might recommend? Thanks!
If you can afford it, I can't express how much better it is to hire people to do it for you.
Three bedrooms is a lot. A family is a small unit to be responsible for so much packing and heavy lifting and carrying. Find a reputable pro outfit -- they do exist, and will do a far better job of moving and protecting your stuff than you can -- and save yourself the muscle strain, exhaustion, overall wear-and-tear. They will come with boxes and tape and padding and dollies and a truck and it will be over before you know it.
Also, be sure you're not speaking for more than yourself here. Your wife probably does not want to be conscripted into a bootstraps effort to move heavy furniture and boxes. Don't do it yourself if you don't have to. Your marriage will thank you!
posted by invincible summer at 10:31 AM on April 8, 2023 [18 favorites]
Three bedrooms is a lot. A family is a small unit to be responsible for so much packing and heavy lifting and carrying. Find a reputable pro outfit -- they do exist, and will do a far better job of moving and protecting your stuff than you can -- and save yourself the muscle strain, exhaustion, overall wear-and-tear. They will come with boxes and tape and padding and dollies and a truck and it will be over before you know it.
Also, be sure you're not speaking for more than yourself here. Your wife probably does not want to be conscripted into a bootstraps effort to move heavy furniture and boxes. Don't do it yourself if you don't have to. Your marriage will thank you!
posted by invincible summer at 10:31 AM on April 8, 2023 [18 favorites]
I also prefer moving myself when possible, but one risk is theft- either when you stop for the night on the way there, or if you can't immediately unload when you arrive. I know someone who lost all their belongings after driving them all the way, even though the truck was padlocked. just something to consider.
I don't know if they'd go to your location, but this company is great.
posted by pinochiette at 10:32 AM on April 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
I don't know if they'd go to your location, but this company is great.
posted by pinochiette at 10:32 AM on April 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
Do not try and move three bedrooms worth of stuff in a U-Haul. There is no U-Haul in existence that much stuff will fit in. You'll wind up with a truck plus a trailer AT BEST or at worst need two trucks, and your partner will not be happy with having to drive a truck in addition to all the other stuff they don't want to do.
I suppose doing a U-Haul would be fine if everything would fit if you load and unload the truck with the assistance of hired help, which you can totally do on both ends. That would be cheaper than a moving company, but still have you driving across the country.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:34 AM on April 8, 2023
I suppose doing a U-Haul would be fine if everything would fit if you load and unload the truck with the assistance of hired help, which you can totally do on both ends. That would be cheaper than a moving company, but still have you driving across the country.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:34 AM on April 8, 2023
Thanks to going from single broke student to married software developer, I have experience with both extremes of this. Strongly agree with Blue Jello Elf and invincible summer that getting professionals to do the packing/unpacking and especially the loading/unloading is 100% worth it, whatever you end up doing with the actual transportation. The last two times I moved (between two cities, then inside the same city) I got the same moving company to do it, and the experience was excellent, even though I had the usual pain points like folks showing up late. I packed fragile/delicate things myself, but left everything else to the movers and it was lovely to not move all that stuff. Before that, I did "back of car" moves, and "uhaul" moves, and.. eh, it's eminently do-able for a one-bedroom apartment or a rented room, but by the time you've got three bedrooms of stuff, I wouldn't want to do it or conscript my partner to help me do it. Totally worth spending the money.
posted by Alterscape at 10:36 AM on April 8, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Alterscape at 10:36 AM on April 8, 2023 [8 favorites]
When I moved across the coast I had movers move all the household stuff that wouldn't be worth stealing, like kitchen stuff, furniture, books, etc. Then I filled up my car with the valuable stuff and drove it.
posted by hermanubis at 10:39 AM on April 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by hermanubis at 10:39 AM on April 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
ABF U-pack is generally better and often cheaper than PODS, if you go that route.
Yes full service is the best, but as someone who has also moved at both extremes of cost over long distances, the U-pack is sort of a sweet spot that I might use again if I were trying to save a bit.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:41 AM on April 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
Yes full service is the best, but as someone who has also moved at both extremes of cost over long distances, the U-pack is sort of a sweet spot that I might use again if I were trying to save a bit.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:41 AM on April 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
I've used ABF U-Pack a couple times, and PODS once - I'd be happy using either again and they're both kind of the middle ground between doing it totally yourself and hiring a moving company. With either, they'll leave a container at your place (assuming you have space for it), you fill it up and put a lock on it, and then they'll take it away and deliver it to your new place (again assuming you have space to put it). PODS has a few different size containers - a bigger one might be able to fit a 3-BR house. U-Pack containers are one fairly small size and I wouldn't expect to put more than a 1-BR apartment in them, but they also have an option where you can fill a trailer and you only pay for the space you use. With either PODS or U-Pack, you can hire help to load or unload at either end. If you can't fit a 26 foot long trailer at either your new or old place, you can load/unload at the U-Pack terminal, but you'll probably be renting a U-Haul to do it. Loading at the terminal saves a decent amount of money with U-Pack, but maybe not enough to offset the additional U-Haul rental.
posted by LionIndex at 10:52 AM on April 8, 2023
posted by LionIndex at 10:52 AM on April 8, 2023
Response by poster: Clarification: we're definitely hiring people to do the loading/unloading. My back can't handle that! This is just a question of who's doing the driving of the truck/pod whatever. Also I said 3-bedroom, but we've pared down quite a bit and 1 bedroom isn't even being used. This is like a 1200 sq ft house.
posted by soonertbone at 10:56 AM on April 8, 2023
posted by soonertbone at 10:56 AM on April 8, 2023
It is very difficult these days to use a moving company as an individual (rather than on a corporate relocation contract where shenanigans will get the contract and future business cancelled) without encountering a scam. You will spend twice as much as the quote when they stop in Colorado or the nearest corner to your house and refuse to go any further until you pay more. And yes, you can put all the GPS beacons in your boxes you want, you can drive right up to the truck if necessary...and then what? You can also see when they've rifled your stuff and some of it heads off on another route - still not terribly useful if you actually like your stuff more than insurance claims for your stuff.
If you choose to drive yourself instead of using packable containers, you'll need to figure out how to secure the truck at your overnight hotel stops - which you are going to do because you are a responsible driver who knows that driving tired is the same as driving drunk. It's hard with a large truck because there's only certain places you can park it, and that is rarely within eyeline of of your room and almost never within sight of the front desk either. Compressor-driven power tools mean that by the time you recognize the sound of the tool there's already half a dozen dudes emptying your trailer into their trailers. We drive a van that holds everything we own, so we have invested some in hotspots and wifi security cameras and alarms - being able to see and hear inside the truck from the cameras means you can get alarms going off fast enough that you can likely run off all but very professional thieves or tweakers who are super desperate and probably also not really competent enough to do anything but break the truck and ruin your day.
You should also at least hold calendar space for a self-move to take at least one extra day per two days of travel, in case your truck breaks down - because you're not going to drive double-shifts to make up time because that's too dangerous.
If you do go with pod-type containers, the cost is likely going to be higher than either self-move or maybe even the moving company's alleged quote, and if you're going to go that route you should think about the price per pound or square foot, basically, to decide what's worth shipping that way and what suddenly turns into the world's most expensive toaster or awkward chair or holiday ornaments. It is the safest (for you) and most secure (for everything) method. It's not impossible to get a pod broken into, but again these are being moved by very large lucrative shipping contracts (and also, at least when we did ours over a decade ago, moved with specialized trucks/traincars so it's not just Rando Truckdriver at the wheel) and extra steps are taken for safety and security.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:08 AM on April 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
If you choose to drive yourself instead of using packable containers, you'll need to figure out how to secure the truck at your overnight hotel stops - which you are going to do because you are a responsible driver who knows that driving tired is the same as driving drunk. It's hard with a large truck because there's only certain places you can park it, and that is rarely within eyeline of of your room and almost never within sight of the front desk either. Compressor-driven power tools mean that by the time you recognize the sound of the tool there's already half a dozen dudes emptying your trailer into their trailers. We drive a van that holds everything we own, so we have invested some in hotspots and wifi security cameras and alarms - being able to see and hear inside the truck from the cameras means you can get alarms going off fast enough that you can likely run off all but very professional thieves or tweakers who are super desperate and probably also not really competent enough to do anything but break the truck and ruin your day.
You should also at least hold calendar space for a self-move to take at least one extra day per two days of travel, in case your truck breaks down - because you're not going to drive double-shifts to make up time because that's too dangerous.
If you do go with pod-type containers, the cost is likely going to be higher than either self-move or maybe even the moving company's alleged quote, and if you're going to go that route you should think about the price per pound or square foot, basically, to decide what's worth shipping that way and what suddenly turns into the world's most expensive toaster or awkward chair or holiday ornaments. It is the safest (for you) and most secure (for everything) method. It's not impossible to get a pod broken into, but again these are being moved by very large lucrative shipping contracts (and also, at least when we did ours over a decade ago, moved with specialized trucks/traincars so it's not just Rando Truckdriver at the wheel) and extra steps are taken for safety and security.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:08 AM on April 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
I moved from Chicago to Marin County. 3 kids under 3 at the time. Having the 3 kids sort of precluded us from a DIY move. What we decided was best, was to sell a lot of our furniture, reduce the load and have a moving company move mostly boxes and a lot of kids gear. We purchased new furniture (beds, a couch and a few other things from IKEA when we got there. Most of our furniture was hand me down stuff and would not have survived the move anyway. I am like you and wanted to drive. I did. I drove my car. Took 3 days. 1.5 of those days was glorious to drive because there was no speed limits. Was able to test the limits of my speedometer. Never squeezed so hard on the steering wheel before (or after) that.
I also moved from Marin to NY (two years later). Then, one of the guys in my office had a family moving business based out of Montana. He explained to me how it worked. It is the driver rating that is important. If I recall correctly, the drivers are rated on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best. He assigned us a 4. 5s are mostly guys who move trade show stuff that cannot be damaged and have very strict timelines, etc. He also suggested we take a whole truck. In order to do that, we put two cars into the moving van. They built a shelf above the cars and put all of our stuff on it and behind the cars. We put a few things we did not want crushed into the cars. Having the entire truck made it a straight shot with no detours and only loading and unloading once. When you share a truck, you could possibly have your stuff moved in and out of the truck multiple times. The same driver was at the pickup and dropoff. They hire locals to do a lot of the heavy lifting and moving. We tipped real well at the front end so that the driver knew we would tip well at the back end and could hire "better" locals. Not one thing was damaged or broken except I had left a socket wrench in my wife's engine bay after disconnecting the battery of her car after it was loaded into the truck. It rattled around and made a few small dents in the hood from underneath. My fault, not the movers.
The question I would ask myself is, can I afford a bargain? At what price is your back, your stuff and your peace of mind worth hiring someone? Not every moving company is shady and will hold your stuff hostage. Ask a lot of questions, get any promises in writing, and take a lot of pictures of your stuff and the boxes.
Fwiw, I think there is a net migration out of California and the other west coast states. You might have a valuable (to the moving company) load. They hate to drive without a full load so if they can find multiple people for the same route, it may lower your cost. The time of year you move also will affect price. The summer is the most expensive time bc of all the people that are moving after the school year and before the next school year. Gas prices are cyclically hirer in the summer because of all the roadtripping. If you can move soon, before the end of the school year in your state. do it.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 11:51 AM on April 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
I also moved from Marin to NY (two years later). Then, one of the guys in my office had a family moving business based out of Montana. He explained to me how it worked. It is the driver rating that is important. If I recall correctly, the drivers are rated on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best. He assigned us a 4. 5s are mostly guys who move trade show stuff that cannot be damaged and have very strict timelines, etc. He also suggested we take a whole truck. In order to do that, we put two cars into the moving van. They built a shelf above the cars and put all of our stuff on it and behind the cars. We put a few things we did not want crushed into the cars. Having the entire truck made it a straight shot with no detours and only loading and unloading once. When you share a truck, you could possibly have your stuff moved in and out of the truck multiple times. The same driver was at the pickup and dropoff. They hire locals to do a lot of the heavy lifting and moving. We tipped real well at the front end so that the driver knew we would tip well at the back end and could hire "better" locals. Not one thing was damaged or broken except I had left a socket wrench in my wife's engine bay after disconnecting the battery of her car after it was loaded into the truck. It rattled around and made a few small dents in the hood from underneath. My fault, not the movers.
The question I would ask myself is, can I afford a bargain? At what price is your back, your stuff and your peace of mind worth hiring someone? Not every moving company is shady and will hold your stuff hostage. Ask a lot of questions, get any promises in writing, and take a lot of pictures of your stuff and the boxes.
Fwiw, I think there is a net migration out of California and the other west coast states. You might have a valuable (to the moving company) load. They hate to drive without a full load so if they can find multiple people for the same route, it may lower your cost. The time of year you move also will affect price. The summer is the most expensive time bc of all the people that are moving after the school year and before the next school year. Gas prices are cyclically hirer in the summer because of all the roadtripping. If you can move soon, before the end of the school year in your state. do it.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 11:51 AM on April 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
I discovered that when you book a uhaul, that doesn't mean they'll have a truck ready for you when you show up, it only means they'll have warm feelings for you.
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:01 PM on April 8, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:01 PM on April 8, 2023 [11 favorites]
I don't know if this is possible for you, but I got a personal recommendation from a friend who moved and had the movers do everything. It was a large moving company, and they had no problems at all. They said the guy who packed the fragile items apparently specialized in that, and he was excellent.
At some point, a MeFite posted that the only fragile item that actually broke was something they packed themselves. That's really stuck in my head.
I have two moving companies coming out next week to give me an estimate. You might want to start with that so you know how much money you're actually talking about.
posted by FencingGal at 12:41 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
At some point, a MeFite posted that the only fragile item that actually broke was something they packed themselves. That's really stuck in my head.
I have two moving companies coming out next week to give me an estimate. You might want to start with that so you know how much money you're actually talking about.
posted by FencingGal at 12:41 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
I have U Hauled (panel van) across town with a similar ish quantity of stuff to what you're talking. It was not one trip. It was not even close to one trip. You know your stuff, but if it doesn't fit in a U Haul, what are you going to do?
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 12:44 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 12:44 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you decide to pay a moving company you should not work with anybody who will give you a quote without coming out to see your house/stuff.
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:09 PM on April 8, 2023
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:09 PM on April 8, 2023
It is very difficult these days to use a moving company as an individual (rather than on a corporate relocation contract where shenanigans will get the contract and future business cancelled) without encountering a scam.
Maybe? I've used movers multiple times within the past five years and never had an issue, other than staffing limitations during the worst of covid that caused some long delays but weren't anyone being bad, they simply didn't have enough drivers. Scams definitely happen, but mostly it's just a business. Over the years I got PODS-type quotes several times but it always was the more expensive option for some reason.
I also rented a Uhaul within the last year. Well, really I tried to rent from a different company that was cheaper, but a couple of days before they called and said "so sorry about your reservation, we actually rented all our trucks already, sucks to be you, bye" and luckily Uhaul had last-minute availability. It was fine but I stressed each night in the hotel room about it being broken into. (It didn't happen, fortunately, but like was said above, it's unusual when you can park the truck within a well-lit, observed space. Usually you are out at the back of the lot or over by the street.)
All of this to say, personally I'm agnostic on the issue. I think you should get multiple quotes and decide from there. Up until this last year, I was able to hire movers for about the same price as a truck rental, when you included gas and hotels and so on. This last year, the cost of the movers was way up and truck rental was cheap, go figure. If it is a major bone of spousal contention, I don't think this is the hill you want to die on, even if it costs a bit more.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:37 PM on April 8, 2023
Maybe? I've used movers multiple times within the past five years and never had an issue, other than staffing limitations during the worst of covid that caused some long delays but weren't anyone being bad, they simply didn't have enough drivers. Scams definitely happen, but mostly it's just a business. Over the years I got PODS-type quotes several times but it always was the more expensive option for some reason.
I also rented a Uhaul within the last year. Well, really I tried to rent from a different company that was cheaper, but a couple of days before they called and said "so sorry about your reservation, we actually rented all our trucks already, sucks to be you, bye" and luckily Uhaul had last-minute availability. It was fine but I stressed each night in the hotel room about it being broken into. (It didn't happen, fortunately, but like was said above, it's unusual when you can park the truck within a well-lit, observed space. Usually you are out at the back of the lot or over by the street.)
All of this to say, personally I'm agnostic on the issue. I think you should get multiple quotes and decide from there. Up until this last year, I was able to hire movers for about the same price as a truck rental, when you included gas and hotels and so on. This last year, the cost of the movers was way up and truck rental was cheap, go figure. If it is a major bone of spousal contention, I don't think this is the hill you want to die on, even if it costs a bit more.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:37 PM on April 8, 2023
You can also just load up a proper shipping container and have someone move it — this is how overseas moves usually work.
posted by aramaic at 4:38 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by aramaic at 4:38 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
There are moving companies, and there are moving brokers. The difference is that moving companies own the process themselves, and brokers basically put out "hey, anyone willing to move a load of size X from Y to Z" into the ether and hope a trucker driving by will pick it up. Do not ever ever ever ever ever use a broker. I've used moving companies with great success, they came, they packed the stuff, they came the next day with a truck with the name of the company, they showed up at the destination and unpacked, and they paid for anything that was broken. Wife accidentally booked a broker for a small move, and the truck never showed up. Had to threaten legal action with the broker to get our money back.
posted by Runes at 4:45 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Runes at 4:45 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was another happy ABF customer 15 years ago.
Mr. Dash and I are frequent cross-country drivers in this stage of covid life, but I would truly loathe and fear doing that in a U-Haul. Aside from the points already made above about real-life availability, consider: Uncomfortable, terrible to drive, wildly unknown reliability -- I don't expect that they maintain those trucks in cross-country condition. I have known people who've had to deal with getting a rental truck fixed and/or replaced in ButtFudge, ND. It was days. I would pay a hefty premium to avoid that risk at this point in my life. Nope out.
So yeah, someone else drives would be "best practice" for me.
posted by Dashy at 6:26 PM on April 8, 2023
Mr. Dash and I are frequent cross-country drivers in this stage of covid life, but I would truly loathe and fear doing that in a U-Haul. Aside from the points already made above about real-life availability, consider: Uncomfortable, terrible to drive, wildly unknown reliability -- I don't expect that they maintain those trucks in cross-country condition. I have known people who've had to deal with getting a rental truck fixed and/or replaced in ButtFudge, ND. It was days. I would pay a hefty premium to avoid that risk at this point in my life. Nope out.
So yeah, someone else drives would be "best practice" for me.
posted by Dashy at 6:26 PM on April 8, 2023
You mentioned you're hiring folks to to the loading which is great. I would also reinforce invisible summer's comment and say you should also have them pack for you.
We moved our 3-bedroom apartment using a local moving company. Adding the packing part is easily the best value service I've ever paid for. We did *absolutely nothing* to get ready for our move, and 3 guys took our place-- with over a decade's accumulated crap-- from fully lived-in to entirely boxed up in about 6 hours. They provide all the supplies, work with professional speed and precision, and do not spend time agonizing or reminiscing or reading or any of the 1000 things that distract me when I'm trying to pack. They know exactly what size box will fit what vase, and what else you can put in there so it won't break. They have done this hundreds of times before and are just so. freaking. fast.
posted by hovey at 6:52 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
We moved our 3-bedroom apartment using a local moving company. Adding the packing part is easily the best value service I've ever paid for. We did *absolutely nothing* to get ready for our move, and 3 guys took our place-- with over a decade's accumulated crap-- from fully lived-in to entirely boxed up in about 6 hours. They provide all the supplies, work with professional speed and precision, and do not spend time agonizing or reminiscing or reading or any of the 1000 things that distract me when I'm trying to pack. They know exactly what size box will fit what vase, and what else you can put in there so it won't break. They have done this hundreds of times before and are just so. freaking. fast.
posted by hovey at 6:52 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
Like sm1tten, we also used ABF Upack. We were moving domestically overseas so we couldn't drive, but it would have been better than driving, regardless. The stuff showed up on schedule without worrying about thieves, breakdowns, etc. The cubes had good attachment points (for which you needed to buy accessories), fit in even narrow driveways/streets, and the forklift drivers were great.
Packing, though...Lord Oscar very competently packed us, but it was stressful (though our moving situation had more awkward items, such as motorcycles, than normal). The one time we moved with real movers who packed and unpacked everything it was amazing. But that was a work move, and we seem to have lucked out in terms of the companies involved, at least anecdotally from friend stories. And they didn't move the motorcycles.
posted by LadyOscar at 10:06 PM on April 8, 2023
Packing, though...Lord Oscar very competently packed us, but it was stressful (though our moving situation had more awkward items, such as motorcycles, than normal). The one time we moved with real movers who packed and unpacked everything it was amazing. But that was a work move, and we seem to have lucked out in terms of the companies involved, at least anecdotally from friend stories. And they didn't move the motorcycles.
posted by LadyOscar at 10:06 PM on April 8, 2023
Clarifying question: you say "I've moved a dozen times" - how many times have the two of you moved together, excluding the initial commingling of households?
Has your wife ever done the U-Haul move with you?
posted by freethefeet at 11:16 PM on April 8, 2023
Has your wife ever done the U-Haul move with you?
posted by freethefeet at 11:16 PM on April 8, 2023
We hired movers at both ends but my husband drove the truck. He is a former long haul trucker but ofc uhauls are not maintained anything like what he is used to driving. However he is realistic about the speed a fully packed truck is going to be able to achieve going uphill (or the braking needed on downhill grades), etc etc so that made me worry less about him driving. We had severely pared down the contents of our 2000 sq ft house and were almost fine fitting it all in. We like to say that we actually needed 1.1 moving trucks. So we had a bit of a scramble to get rid of those last scraps, which turned out to be getting a bagster and getting permission from the new owners to gift them our wheelbarrow and a few other things. (I was naively unprepared for this possibility and it was kind of traumatic in the moment and also every now and then I come across something that I’m like, how did you make it in the truck when my beloved x did not? For our next move, I will triage a bit better so I’ll be ready for this last minute scramble, so just throwing out that suggestion for you!)
We planned out 8 hr drives for each day to aim for cities with plenty of hotel options. Only the first night was sketchy as far as some worries about the security of the uhaul. I drove a car separately (where we stored all the real valuables in luggage that we brought inside every night). Also I could take care of checkins and outs with the extra time I had due to the car being faster.
We made this decision primarily because it was much cheaper at the time (2021, so gas was lower $$$) and I’ve heard too many accounts of moving vans holding furniture hostage. Our next choice was pods or something like that, and I bet that would have been first choice if we didn’t have a pro driver in the house.
Interestingly we were plied with offers from uhaul in the weeks before the move to tow a trailer of someone else’s belongings (and we would be paid some hundreds of dollars). I’m not sure who is selling these spots or whose stuff would be in them… we turned them all down!
posted by Tandem Affinity at 11:21 PM on April 8, 2023
We planned out 8 hr drives for each day to aim for cities with plenty of hotel options. Only the first night was sketchy as far as some worries about the security of the uhaul. I drove a car separately (where we stored all the real valuables in luggage that we brought inside every night). Also I could take care of checkins and outs with the extra time I had due to the car being faster.
We made this decision primarily because it was much cheaper at the time (2021, so gas was lower $$$) and I’ve heard too many accounts of moving vans holding furniture hostage. Our next choice was pods or something like that, and I bet that would have been first choice if we didn’t have a pro driver in the house.
Interestingly we were plied with offers from uhaul in the weeks before the move to tow a trailer of someone else’s belongings (and we would be paid some hundreds of dollars). I’m not sure who is selling these spots or whose stuff would be in them… we turned them all down!
posted by Tandem Affinity at 11:21 PM on April 8, 2023
I prefer the combo option C - hire local movers on each end to load and unload the truck, respectively, but do the packing of boxes and driving ourselves.
Use Penske not UHaul. UHaul does not take real reservations and your truck can just not be there the day of (ask me how I know). Penske is the only company with real guaranteed reservations (and appropriately more expensive).
posted by amaire at 3:45 AM on April 9, 2023
Use Penske not UHaul. UHaul does not take real reservations and your truck can just not be there the day of (ask me how I know). Penske is the only company with real guaranteed reservations (and appropriately more expensive).
posted by amaire at 3:45 AM on April 9, 2023
I don't know if anyone will look back at this question, but I am in the process of hiring movers, and I read the Wirecutter article, which suggested looking at Better Business Bureau ratings. I did that, and it was eye-opening. I wouldn't have even called one of the companies I had give an estimate if I'd known to do that earlier. I'm sure it's not a perfect system, but that combined with online reviews can tell you a lot.
posted by FencingGal at 9:18 AM on April 15, 2023
posted by FencingGal at 9:18 AM on April 15, 2023
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Or the opposite: a friend used PODS to move from one coast to the other. You pack your stuff, and you keep the key to the container; all they do is pick up the locked container and relocate it for you. You could even throw an AirTag in there or something to track where everything is at all times.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 10:29 AM on April 8, 2023 [13 favorites]