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Help! Does anyone know of a transport company that will ship a car hood from NJ to CA? It is oversized for UPS, FEDEX, USPS. They do accept oversized shipments, but for businesses only, not personal shipments. My son has paid for the hood, but the person he bought it from will not arrange shipping....(good lesson there!) Any suggestion is appreciated.
I'm relocating for professional reasons to the east coast, and trying to figure out the most hassle-free, economic way to make the move. I'd appreciate any suggestions from people who've done this before. I need to transport my car and my belongings (many, many, many books and dishes; a few clothes, chairs, and bookcases) and myself. I would prefer to fly and ship my effects, but don't know how the economics work, how long it takes to ship a car, etc. This is a very sudden move, so it will still be winter, which makes the drive less appealing. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Bracing Myself for the Cold!
Although I personally moved with ABF and wrote a glowing review about it for www.Epinions.com, I now feel that Broadway Express (BE) is a better choice for most people. Included in the low BE price are amenities such an air-ride trailer, a ramp, moving pads, tie-down straps, and dollies. You can also move your car on the same trailer with your household goods. Although it's somewhat more expensive to do this than to ship your car on an open carrier with a company like Dependable Auto Shippers or Tn'T (both of which have good reviews on MovingScam.com), your car and your household items arrive at the same time with BE, avoiding the long delays that beset the auto transport business. Transit time cross-country with BE is usually 7 to 10 days, sometimes less.
The most important advantage of BE in my mind is that you can hire the BE driver to help you load for a small hourly fee (and you can get additional labor from a temp agency like Labor Ready at www.laborready.com if you don't have friends to help you). The more than 70 people who have posted good reviews of BE at http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1935 praise the drivers to the skies and say that it's like having a trusted friend there helping you in what can be a very stressful situation. The driver who picks up your things is the one who delivers it and there are virtually no reports of damage, probably because of the air-ride trailers.
Because moving with a freight company like BE is a new concept for most people, I developed a FAQ sheet about it (with photos showing how it works) at http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1771. I have no financial connection with either BE or ABF, but I feel that they are both excellent companies that treat customers right. The fact that they charge by the floor space your things occupy, rather than by weight, also favors people who have a lot of books. Most people who move with BE or ABF save about 40% over the cost of a full-service moving company.
A further comment about the advice given to use Movex. DO NOT USE MOVEX. Movex is a broker in Tampa, FL, that uses Broadway Express as one of its main carriers, and people who think that Movex did a good job for them have often had BE as their assigned carrier. However, if you use a broker you are opening yourself up to paying a broker's fee and putting an extra layer between yourself and the freight company, which can cause problems as described here - http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff125851.htm.
There is no reason to go through Movex to use BE--contact Broadway Express directly at www.broadwayexpress.net. Note, however, that Movex has set up a non-compete clause with BE whereby you can't get a quote from BE if you already have one from Movex. (The person who posted about Movex also had some of the facts wrong--you don't get a full day to load and a full day to unload. The driver stays with the trailer while you load and unload and you get several hours depending on the size of the shipment.)
If you want to use a full-service moving company (one that will load and unload the trailer) and cost is a concern, a company that has very good reviews on MovingScam.com is Delancey Street Movers in San Francisco, reachable through the Delancey Street Foundation there. They often cost somewhat less than other companies because they employ ex-prisoners, ex-drug addicts, etc. I describe Delancey Street in detail in this thread - http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2775. In general, expect to pay at least $2,000 for a full-service mover to move a shipment of whatever size cross-country.
MovingScam.com maintains a Blacklist of scam movers that can be checked out, and you should always put the name of any company you?re considering into Google to see whether any complaints come up. If anyone needs further advice about moving, please feel free to contact me or just go to the messageboard at MovingScam.com. I hope this helps! Diane
My 80 year old parents have sold their home in Massachusetts and are moving to the Bay Area. I'd appreciate recommendations for long distance moving companys.
[no replies received]
My family will be relocating to Olympia, Washington from the East Bay in late September and we are looking for a reliable mover. A reputable, careful mover is more important to us than finding the lowest price. We also need to find a company that will load everything (we will pack). I have checked the web site, but did not find recommendations for specific firms that fit these criteria, only those to avoid and general moving advice. Any experience you could share would be much appreciated. Movin' Mama
Recommended: Ron Wimberly
Hi, I will be moving to the midwest this summer. I have been looking for an inexpensive way of moving my things. The cheapest that I have found yet, is U-Haul. But with my driving skills and the size of the truck that we will need, I doubt that that will be such a good combination. Does anyone know of any moving company that is fairly cheap? I have heard that moving by train is pretty reasonable, but I have many breakables and am unsure of whether this is a good way of moving or not. Any recommendations? Dorothy
Can anyone recommend a long distance moving company (to use or to avoid)? The posts on the website are quite old. We are moving from Oakland to Knoxville, TN and have never used a commercial mover before. Cost is a big concern, but we'd also like to avoid making our baby drive across country. We're looking in to Delancey St. Movers and also ABF U-pack. The current plan is to have our household things driven by a commercial company, dad and dogs will go by car, and mom and baby will go by plane. Any other solutions out there? Anything to watch out for? Thanks for your help! Marguerite
We will be relocating from Berkeley to Ann Arbor, MI, this summer. Since we have never moved across the U.S. before, we are not sure if we should do the moving ourselves or hire someone to do it for us. We would greatly appreciate to hear about the experiences of people who have done either, especially with respect to the costs involved in such an undertaking. We look forward to hearing from you.
We had the reverse experience of moving from New England to the Bay Area. I no longer remember how we picked a moving company (I just remember lots of calls to the Better Business Bureaus and other agencies). The one piece of advice I have is from a friend who has moved many times who said "you should always expect to file claims after any move and you usually will." We did not file a claim, but did have one piece of furniture somewhat dinged, and I discovered a month later that my (unlocked) toolbox had been pilfered of all the nice tools. I do remember some of the details of the advice we got about shipping the car. 1. You'd like a car shipper who has insurance. In the old days this simply meant they had an ICC license, but now that the ICC is no more I'm not sure how you find out about insurance. 2. Your car will almost certainly not be shipped the entire distance by the company you contract with -- it may get taken on and off a truck several times. It is highly likely that if your car is damaged, it will be in some anonymous lot in the mid-West. The issue here is that if the car is damaged, the standard shipping contract will say that the carrier is only responsible for the car while in their possession, and you'll have to figure out in what place the car was damaged in and pursue the relevant company or lot owner yourself. The better approach is to get your shipper to agree to be responsible for the car from pickup to delivery (yes they will change the contract to say this, at least, they did for us when we pushed). 3. We had been told that auto delivery companies will often try to deliver in the evening or night, when the light is bad so you have a hard time inspecting your car -- demand a daytime delivery. What we did not expect, but should have, was that the dealer (just like moving folks who mark the inventory with every piece of furniture as "worn") would carefully examine the car for any nick or scratch so that the car's value would be lower if a claim was made. I'd recommend at least getting your car washed and polished, and consider taking photos of the car just before delivery. It will at least help your case if the car gets damaged. Hope that's useful!
We have moved across country twice in the last 4 years. Basically it is cheaper to have movers move you (due to the cost of renting a truck one-way, gas, food and lodging) than going with U-Haul unless you don't have much to move. We also had our car shipped for around $850. You can find car carriers on the internet or check with the local car movers since they will come pick up the car. Having it shipped thru car carrier is cheaper than including it with your furniture on a moving truck.
You should get at least one estimate from the bigger companies (just to get an idea) with and without books. They charge by weight so books are costly. We had around 40 boxes of books. Depending on the value of the books, shipping it via the post office is cheaper, but we have lost several boxes that way too (box fell apart, books were damaged. Some books could not be replaced). Another way is ship the less valuable books 3rd class, and ship the better ones via UPS or take them with you on the plane or ship them with the furniture.
If your budget is really tight, another way is to use a moving truck but you do all the packing and unpacking. Basically, you are renting the space on a truck. They do not offer blankets, padding. A wood partition is built after you load your stuff (to separate from other pick-ups). I don't know if they're still in business - Lowest Price Movers (1-800-453-1103) out of Arizona. The truck drove from S. Calif. to NJ in around 8 days (accurately estimated). Good luck. It takes a lot of planning and coordinating.
We just moved clear across the lower 48 with Allied Van Lines. We used their 'local' office, Peeters, in Dublin, to set up the move. STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!! They were disorganized, unprofessional, dishonest (they tried to back out of their 'guaranteed price pledge'), and made our move a near-disaster. In general, Allied is fine-the 'home' office in Illinois rectified everything, and the SF office of Peeters seemsto be on the ball, but the folks in Dublin are clueless.
Andy (7/99)
Last updated: Oct 13, 2006
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