Cross Country Move - which company did you use?

[cono0507]

We will be moving across the county this spring and I'm getting ready to get some estimates from moving companies. We've only done local moves in the past. Anyone have any good or bad experiences with movers during cross country moves? Can you recommend the company you used?

Any other advice welcome too!

Thanks! :)

[brittone2]

We did ABF for a 400+ mile move...not cross country. They dropped off a trailer 2-3 days in advance (I think?) and we packed and loaded it by ourselves (didn't have any corporate relocation money, etc.). They drove the trailer to our destination and then we had 2ish days to unload it ourselves.

If you are having a fully paid corporate move, that wouldn't be the option you'd want to go with, but we had to do our move on a budget, so it worked well for us (and allowed us to drive our vehicles, etc. down on our own while someone else dealt with the truck).

[cono0507]

We did ABF for a 400+ mile move...not cross country. They dropped off a trailer 2-3 days in advance (I think?) and we packed and loaded it by ourselves (didn't have any corporate relocation money, etc.). They drove the trailer to our destination and then we had 2ish days to unload it ourselves.

If you are having a fully paid corporate move, that wouldn't be the option you'd want to go with, but we had to do our move on a budget, so it worked well for us (and allowed us to drive our vehicles, etc. down on our own while someone else dealt with the truck).

Unfortunately, it isn't a paid corporate move and we'll be paying for it ourselves. Not completely cross country but it is 1,000 miles. We could probably do the load/unload ourselves if we have the ILs take the kids for a couple of days on each side. That would save a ton of money. Thanks for the idea!

[sariana]

We've used United Van Lines twice, once paid by the company, and once by us. We returned to them because we had a good experience the first time. That's not to say we didn't have any problems. There was damage both times, but we were satisfied with the way they handled the issues that came up.

When we moved the second time, we told the local affiliate (United is just the long-haul carrier--a local company actually does the move) that we wanted to do a lot of the packing ourselves ahead of time. Our agent told us what day the company got back boxes from other customers. We could go pick up the sizes we needed (if they had them), for free. Sometimes they hadn't even been used. Even when they were used, they were still in excellent condition. So that was a big savings, not paying for the boxes or for the people to pack them. We also could get newsprint (that dun-colored packing paper) and other supplies at a discount.

We did pay for packing of furniture (of course) and some large items. But we did most of it ourselves.

[willow33]

My BIL/SIL have moved several times and swear by Castine Movers www.castinemovers.com

I don't know the prices, but she said they were very professional and polite.

[jenmcadams]

Definitely do a search here for old threads on this topic. We used Broadway Express (similar to ABF Upack) on two different cross country moves (one from CO-->FL and then FL-->CO) and hired Labor Ready folks to load and unload. We were able to put one of our cars on the truck along with all of our belongings which was great.

Check out the forums at http://www.movingscam.com/. There's a ton of good info there.

[AnnieW625]

We moved 400 miles within California and the $1700 we paid United Moving to pack, move, insure, and store our stuff for around 10 days was a god send. They also unloaded all of our stuff. We got partially reimbursed for our moving costs so that helped. One old casserole lid broke and that was is it, and I never reported it; it wasn't a big deal. I didn't know about ABF then otherwise I most likely would've priced them out too.

When my inlaws moved from California to Wyoming they used Mayflower and didn't report any problems.

[tylersmama]

We used Mayflower twice, once paid by corporate, once paid by us. I was pretty happy with them overall. They cracked a glass lampshade, but that's the only complaint I can really make. In fact, on our move from NJ to CO, the driver beat us...we got a phone call at 6:30 am (we had stopped at a hotel around 1 am, about 30 miles out of Denver) that the driver was waiting for us at our new apartment complex!

[lchang25000]

We used United Van Lines also and was happy with the experience.

[MoJo]

I don't know what company my sister used, but I think it took them THREE WEEKS to move her stuff from Phoenix to North Carolina. She knew it would likely be a couple of weeks, but they couldn't tell her until the day her stuff actually showed up when it would be there.

Hers was a company-paid move, and so at least she didn't have to arrange for others to pull stuff off the truck. But after this, I'd definitely ask how they normally time this.

(I think part of the problem was that she didn't have enough stuff to fill the truck, so they were using the same truck to move other people as it made it's way accross the country. The best reason AGAINST decluttering before moving I've ever heard!)

[Jen841]

Packing/no packing
Storage/no storage
Unpacking/no unpacking
Ask if the same crew will load/unload (not that it really matters, but maybe you want to know)
Will they set up beds etc. for you (cribs I recommend doing yourself, but at the end of the day it is nice to not have to put together a bedframe and headboard when you are dead tired!)

My friends found packing was much less than they thought, and it moves the liability of things to the moving company vs yourself if items are damaged.

I forget who we used, not one of the ones mentioned to date, but they had the lowest quote. Our move was a corporate move that included all of the following:
Packing (1 day)
Truck loading (1 day)
They stored (unloaded) until we gave them a date for delivery (we did 3 mos of househunting/corp housing)
They loaded/shipping (Chicago to Philly)
Unloaded
We unpacked, they put together essential furniture (drawers in dressers, chairs at table, beds assembled, bookshelves in place...)

Growing up we did a lot of moves. All the major companies we used, and no major issues. One move my Mom could not be at the other end so things ended up in whack rooms, but there was a blizzard and we were just thankful to have a house of boxes when we arrived.

[DietCokeLover]

We used Paul Arpin for our 1000+ mile move almost 5 years ago. They were the most inexpensive and we were pleased with it.