A Beginners Guide To Finding Local Moving Companies
In this article we’ll go through a few tips that will help you make an informed decision on the right movers for you and your family.
29/06/2021
Are you and your family moving your home? We know that can be a big decision and entrusting someone with your most valuable possessions and family memories are never easy. In today’s competitive world, there are so many moving companies that are either the cheapest, or the most experienced, or have some other impossible to prove the claim that sounds too good to be true, one doesn’t know who, or what, to trust!
Today we’ll go through a few tips which will help you make an informed decision. Click here for more information and reliable sources when first-hand experience is needed. First and foremost, you’ll have to make an inventory of the things in your house that need transporting, and the level of care needed to transport those items. This is important as it will help you filter through the list of movers that you find near you. Before looking up an internet directory, you could also try asking family and friends if they’ve used any company’s services recently. Ask them what they had to move, how the moving service was, and the price they were quoted.
After asking family and friends, you can search internet directories for moving companies. A simple Google search will give you the moving companies operating in your area. At this stage, you should have a decent list of options in front of you and your next step would be to research your shortlisted moving companies for what services they offer. Some moving companies only offer the “moving” part and you’ll have to pack everything yourself. This could be difficult because some items are bound to be fragile and properly packing them does require some experience. Other companies go the full hog and offer a full range of services, disassembling furniture, packing everything properly into boxes, and storing them accordingly in the trucks for safe transportation. With your list of inventory (which we talked about earlier), you could judge what kind of services you’ll need and shortlist the candidates.
To recap, you’ll need to find a company that is reliable, experienced, and offers a wide range of services. In addition to this, you should also check if the company has the proper accreditation and licensing to operate its business. By law, interstate moving companies need to be registered with the Department of Transportation and through a USDOT number. The FMCSA website lets you search companies by name and you can confirm the status of the company. This licensing is a benefit for you as a consumer as it guarantees that your possessions are carried safely and in accordance with the law.
Now it’s time to contact these moving companies and get a quotation. Any professional company will send a team member to your residence to carry out a survey of the items to be transported. Talk to them and give them all the details you think are relevant and address your concerns. If you’ve got any questions, this is the right time to ask, so you shouldn’t hesitate. Remember, these companies want your business as much as you want their services, so it’s your right to ask questions and make an informed decision.
Once the survey is over, you’ll be given a quotation for the services, and this is where the matter gets a little tricky. You can’t just go by the written quote and say yes to the cheapest offer. With moving companies, you need to see if you’re getting the most value for your dollar. Does the quotation include assembling and disassembling? Will the moving company be providing boxes and packaging material or will that be billed separately? Will the quotation be covering transportation and handling of unusual items like a grand piano? Does the company provide insurance coverage of the goods or do you have to arrange for it yourself? These are all VERY important questions that you should be asking after you have your quotation.
All of the above information would help you make an informed decision, as far as you and the moving company itself are concerned and what the moving company has advertised and represented it will do. In our experience, an added measure is to check user reviews of the company online. Going for the money alone can sometimes turn out to be a bad idea, as a cheap quotation can be designed to catch your interest, avail your business, and then renege on promises that were made or, overall, just not provide a good service experience. The best way to weed out such service providers is to check their standing in the consumer market. With the way that businesses have become so competitive, professionals truly care about such things and go above and beyond when it comes to customer service.
The easiest way to check this is the company’s website itself. However, sometimes easy translates to lazy. At most, the website will tell you how much attention they pay to the reviews that have been posted, but chances are only the positive testimonials will be displayed. A better way to go about this is to carry out simple Google searches and check for their ratings. Alternatively, consumer report websites such as Yelp will have unbiased reviews and you’ll be able to see the true experience customers have had in the past with the moving company in question.
It also helps if the moving company is part of some professional association or is accredited with the Better Business Bureau. These are indicators as to the company’s relationship with not only the consumer, but also other service providers in the profession, and eventually points to how much a company invests in its image and ensures that its services are maintained at high standards.
Hopefully, all of this will help you make your decision with ease. You may be a beginner to all of this, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be well informed before you make your decision. It may seem like a lot to do, but why should it be any less when it comes to ensuring your prized possessions and family mementos are properly handled and transported.