5 Things to Consider When Hiring a Moving Company
Whether moving across town or across the country, it might seem easier to just hire a moving company to help with your move.
However, to the unsuspecting person(s), it might be a lot more complicated than you thought it’d be.
Here are five things to consider when choosing a moving company.
1. Determine if it’s a Broker or Moving Company you’re considering hiring.
As odd as it might sound, there’s a huge difference between a broker and a moving company. And, unless you ask (or they volunteer the information up front) you might not know the answer.
What’s the difference between a broker and a moving company?
Prior to a recent move, I didn’t realize that some brokers will advertise themselves as a moving company. Unfortunately, I hired such a broker.
The broker is simply the middleman between the customer and the moving company. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the federal regulatory body for moving companies, they’re to specify that they’re a broker and not a moving company. Also, they’re supposed to list (on their website) the various moving companies that they utilize.
When the broker does what they’re supposed to, it’s easy to determine that they’re a broker and not a moving company.
The moving company is the company that’s actually performing the move. Going through a reputable, and legitimate, moving company is the best way to go.
The broker gave me a lower quote, isn’t that a better deal?
In my opinion, that’s a resounding NO!! Going through a broker might sound better, mainly because they often provide a quote that’s much lower than the moving companies.
Unfortunately, because they’re just the broker, the moving company will provide a different quote when they come out to perform the move. And, based on my experience and all the research I’ve done, that’s the only quote they’ll go off of. The quote you received from the broker is invalid to them.
Brokers typically require a deposit for the move as well. This is their fee for coordinating the move. And unless you cancel the move within their allotted cancelation period, you won’t get that back.
If you choose to go through a broker, it will cost you much more than you thought it would. In my case, and many others, it was double the original quoted price.
According to the FMCSA, if this happens to you, there’s nothing you can do but pay the company and then file a complaint against them. After that, if you want to recoup your loss, you will need to take the company, or companies, to civil court. Because according to the police and the FMCSA, what they’ve done is not a crime.
2. Check out the Company’s Reputation.
When choosing a moving company to hire, it’s good practice to see what other people have to say about them. Don’t ever take their word for it.
This is not an exhaustive list, but some good places to check are:
- Better Business Bureau – www.bbb.org
- Look to see if they have any complaints against them. This isn’t always helpful though. But it’s a start.
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration – www.fmcsa.dot.gov
- The FMCSA has a “Safe Move” section on its website. This allows you to look up the company that you’re considering hiring. Because the FMCSA is the federal regulatory body, any formal complaints against the various moving companies or brokers are registered with them.
- Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, and other various search engines
- Go to your favorite search engine and type in the company’s name. Look for the reviews on it.
- This should not be your only source though. Some companies have insiders that give false reviews to make them sound better than they really are.
- If the company is legitimate, they’ll have reviews (either good or bad). If they don’t have any, or they’re all good, stay clear. Because even the best moving companies have bad reviews.
- Go to your favorite search engine and type in the company’s name. Look for the reviews on it.
- Moving.com (https://www.moving.com/moving-companies-directory/)
- This provides a list of several moving companies. It allows you to sort by the Most Reviews, BBB Rating, User Rating, or A-Z (company name).
3. Search Through Your Social Media Platforms.
The third thing to consider when choosing to hire a moving company is asking others. Typically, there’s going to be at least one other person who has used the company you’ve considered hiring. It might not be one of your contacts. However, with the hundreds of millions (if not billions) of users on the various social media platforms, there will be some reviews/posts out there.
Go to your preferred social media platform, preferably more than one, and type in the company’s name. It would be great if one of your contacts has dealings with that company. Then you can contact them and ask about their experience.
4. Move Your Valuables (i.e., jewelry, trading cards, coin collection, etc.) Yourself!
When it comes to choosing to hire a moving company, even the most reputable companies have problems. And sometimes, they might hire someone with “sticky fingers.” Unless you can prove your stuff was stolen, you can only file a claim.
- If you don’t get your own moving insurance, you’ll only get $.60 per pound for your lost or damaged items. Meaning, that if and when you file a claim, you may only get a few pennies for the $2,000 ring that went “missing” during the move. Hopefully, your homeowners/renter’s insurance will cover your loss.
And if you and the moving company have a disagreement on the cost, they could hold your things “hostage.” Meaning, that they will not deliver your things unless you pay them more money. If you don’t pay them, they could auction off your stuff to the general public (to recoup the money you wouldn’t pay).
- According to the FMCSA, this too is not a crime.
5. Move Your Things Yourself.
When choosing to hire a moving company, you should choose yourself instead. You might be asking, “If I’m looking for a moving company, why would I move by myself?”
To begin with, you wouldn’t be alone if you follow the way I’m about to explain it. The primary reason why I chose to use a moving company is because I’m a disabled vet. Due to my injuries, there’s a limited amount of things that I can do. But choosing to use a moving company was the wrong decision for me and my family.
Let me ask you this, what does a moving company do? They show up and load your things in their truck. If you’ve paid for a full pack, they’ll pack your stuff for you too. At the other end, they’ll unload your stuff and put it into the new location.
What if you hired individuals to load and unload your stuff into a truck or container you rented?
There are several options for this:
Containers:
- Companies like Pods (www.pods.com) and U-Pack (www.upack.com) allow you to pack and load your stuff into containers. Then they’ll transport it to the new location.
They often allow you several days to load and unload them. The amount of time is set (and additional fees assessed if it goes beyond that).
Trucks:
- This is where you rent a truck to drive yourself (or have someone else drive it). Such companies as U-Haul (www.uhaul.com), Penske (www.pensketruckrental.com), Budget (www.budgettruck.com), as examples.
These companies allow you to reserve the truck for one location to the next. They’ll provide you with a specified number of days and miles for the trip. Anything beyond that will cost extra.
It’s important to understand, that the typical personal car insurance policy does not cover rental vehicles.
Individuals to Load and Unload:
- If you didn’t know, U-Haul, U-Pack, and Pods all have the option to hire loading and unloading labor on their sites. They provide several options for your origin and destination locations.
Some other options include (but are not limited to):
In the event that you find that you’ve hired a broker and now they’ve changed the contract/quote, are holding your items hostage, or are just scum of the earth individuals, according to the FMCSA, if there’s a contract involved, there’s nothing they can do until after the move is done.
Once the move is done, then you can file a formal complaint against the company/companies. Remember to have digital copies of your contracts, all payments you’ve made (never pay in actual cash – always have a paper trail), conversations that you’ve had (who, what, when), and any photo evidence you’ve gathered. All of that will help when you go to file your complaint.
If the investigation finds that the company did wrong, they can be fined and even have their license revoked. Unfortunately, according to the FMCSA, you will not get any money back unless you take the company to civil court and win.
I’m not endorsing or an affiliate for any of these sites or companies.
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