Moving Tips

Moving Scam.

Important to know that all moving companies that have complain with the FMCSA is having at least two inspections every year by the D.O.T, be sure to know that even the most honest mover will be nerves to have an inspection.

In some cases even the F.B.I gets involved.

Currently moving companies are overseen by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ( FMCSA ), part of the Federal

Department of Transportation (DOT).

At last count the FMCSA had only nine investigators to handle all of the thousands of complaints against moving companies each year.

That means that there are a lot of "scam" moving companies that still operate and continue without being disturbed ,If an investigation does occur, it takes months until the FMCSA will fine the company or cancel the company license.

Even more dangerous out research show that there is around 730 unregistered moving companies operating all over the USA this guys will have no mercy for you, you can’t even sue them later since they are not a company and you won’t be able to locate them if they will disappear with your goods and money.

Our company and website is dedicated to find those movers and keep you away from them.

Avoiding moving scam.

• The first thing you must do is to check the mover registration number with the D.O.T you can check it on the FMCSA official website.
• After checking that the moving company is registered go to www.protectyourmove.gov   and check the mover records and files.
• Make sure that all moving services are included in the quote and price.
• If some services are not part of the price quote ask how much additional you will need to pay and get that in written.
• You can follow our moving quote {check list} to get more information about the services you need.
• Check customers reviews on-line in at least three different web sites for each company quote you get, some website allowing mover to fake or delete reviews for money.
• Know your Rights and Responsibility .
• If all the quotes that you received seem strange to you just ignore them and get new ones.
• Always make sure you know the price of each service that your mover offers.
• If your mover is near you go visit them if everything is fine they won’t have any problem with that.

This process of check around 3 different companies can take a lot of time, efforts and require an experience to know what to check and how to check it.

Our company offers you all of that information with an easy access to make you move safe process.

We offer that information completely for free to the community.

If you think you have fallen victim to a scam contact us for assistance, contact your local police and report the matter to FMCSA .

Moving price.

The moving business is a seasonal and summer month is much busier than winter month.  

If you can, try to move on winter month and the price will be %25 lower.

If you can’t move on winter month, reserve you a spot with a mover at winter month to get the cheaper price, don’t forget that by law you can always cancel your reservation at least 72 hours prior to you move date and get full refund of you deposit.

If you don’t have a specific date for your move you can still reserve an approximate date with you mover and change it, but make sure that the mover policy allow you to do so without any fee.

Moving price quotes get more expensive from June to September.

The cheapest month is February and you can even ask from your sell representative to ass some moving boxes or other supplies to the quote for free.

Packing expenses

It will always be cheaper to pack your own goods in boxes, white paper, and bubble wrap, also some company charge you $5 for one roll of moving tape, supply the movers with your own tape to cut expenses. (Get the flatback tape).

 
If you don’t have the time to do your own packing, try to buy moving boxes from a local store or order packing materials on-line.

If you need more information about which boxes you should used check our {Packing Guide}.

For example: http://www.moveout.com/  

For local move

If you moving locally and paying by hourly rate mark all of your boxes with color stickers and write on them the room they should go to, so the movers can be more efficient.
 

Try to get some help form friend to get the furniture and boxes out of the house after the movers packed them with protecting blankets and pads and bring them next to truck.

Prepare a Budget.

Many people prepare a budget to save for moving, but if you haven't already done so, it's time to create a reasonable budget.

To make an effective budget, look at your expenses for the past few months and try identifying key areas where you can cut costs.

Plan to create a budget that has you spending slightly less across the board, and eliminating unnecessary expenses in areas where spending is too high.

If you find your new budget easy to maintain, try cutting it further. Keep in mind that a budget is typically a work-in-progress, and it's normal to adjust it - just try to keep your expenses manageable.

Don’t spend your entire budget on a mover services since you can always have unexpected expenses.

For example your shipment hasn’t arrived on time and you need to sleep on a motel for a few day.

Or your find out that you load weight more than you expected.

Moving check list

1. Prepare a list of all the items you plan to move.
2. If you do your own packing, start as early as possible, packing always takes more time than you think.
3. Keep the contact number of the company’s sale person, ‘’order for service’’ or any other document that you receive from your mover. Keep it available to you in hard copy on the day of your move.
4. If your company is paying for the move make sure the payment arrangement is done and that they authorized the mover to provide you with the service.
5. Notify the post office that you are moving. An online Change of Address form is available on the United States Postal Service Web site.
6. Make sure to set up end-of-service date for utilities (electricity, phone, water etc).
7. The more items you can donate, give away or sell, the lighter your load will be – saving you packing time, loading time and money.

 

1. Find a local store that sells {moving boxes}; don’t be tempted to use regular boxes since they don’t offer the same protection ability that moving boxes have.
2. Start with packing the items that you don’t use on a daily basis.
3. Make a list of each of the boxes content and attach it to each of the boxes.
4. Use generous amounts of paper inside the carton, on the top and bottom to provide good cushion.
5. Separate between breakable items and non breakable items.
6. Don’t pack books or heavy small items in big boxes, use the 1.5 cu boxes.

Tip movers

Don’t feel obligated to tip your movers, if you think they did a great job for and took great care of your furniture’s and item you can tip them for than depend  on how hard they worked and how big is your house or apartment $15 each is the average.

As a guy that worked as a mover for 5 years, the movers will just be happy to have cold water.