Have you done a long distance move?

I’ve done it a few times and yes, it’s a bear. The last time was before online reviews (1998) and I learned that going with an established familiar name (like Atlas, Mayflower, United, whoever) was a better choice for me. More expensive, but more reliable and backed by corporate money in case of liability issues.
Work out your logistics ahead. If you’ll be moving into storage while you look for housing at the other end, arrange the storage yourself, at that end so the company doesn’t dump your stuff halfway there in the facility of their choice.
Get the insurance. They are more careful with your stuff if it’s insured, they don’t want to pay out.
Get the specialty guys for specialty stuff (piano, antiques, etc). Bring all the small valuables with you personally.

You probably know most of this stuff already.
It’s stupidly pricey, but so it goes.
Maybe it’s different now, like I said it was 1998 the last time.

Good luck with this!

Yes, @canidmajor, I did know or had intuited much of what you say, but not all of it, so thank you for the info. I had already zeroed in on “brand name” moving companies, but what I’m unclear about is that they’re represented locally by franchisees. How do i know if THOSE companies are on the up-and-up other than from online reviews.

Yes I moved to university and back. It only cost me $150 plus greyhound to move. Everything went well except they wanted an extra $100 I said no. We had an agreement.

@RedDeerGuy1, guess I should have mentioned in my question that I’m moving a two-story houseful of furniture and personal stuff. $150 won’t cover the cost of boxes. ;-)

@Pachy OK. Keep us updated.

@RedDeerGuy1 Makes a good point about the agreement. I did have a big-name company (I forgot which) add storage costs when they were already included (they stored my stuff for a month while I looked for a new place). I had to deal with their corporate office afterwards to get it fixed. It worked out in the end.

Like I said, I didn’t have online review options then, but I called the BBB and the local news stations that have a consumer helpline. Then I “by-guess-and-by-golly“d it.

We did it when I was about 9, moving from NY to California. We got rid of our couches and a lot of furniture and bought new stuff in Cali. That’s the way I’d do it if I had to do it now. Keep a few good pieces of furniture and get rid of the rest. It’s probably cheaper to buy new stuff than to move the old, for the majority of it.

I travelled from the UK to Australia – twice. I agree that it’s an opportunity to be brutal and get rid of things you’ve been hanging on to for a long time. However, be cautious too. I gave away record collections, warm coats, an excellent heater – all of which I could have used here. I know over the years I’ve wished I still had some of the things I assumed I wouldn’t need. So don’t think you need to take everything, but do some research into how much things will cost to replace, whether you will need those warm clothes after you acclimatise and the like.

And get someone else to do the packing! I hate packing (and unpacking) boxes.

@Pachy

Well even if it’s a local franchisee it’s still Mayflower (or whoever). They’re still going to adhere to certain standards, policies, etc, and they’re still going to backed by that corporate name, money, etc so you’re probably safe.

Yes, about 10 years ago, I moved from New England back to Georgia on my own dime.

I didn’t use one of the big nationwide companies. I used a moving company that concentrated on the East Coast – there’s a lot of NY or Boston to Florida traffic and they make a good business at it. It was family run, not corporate. I don’t remember the exact name of the company, but it was something like “Three Men and a Truck” or thereabouts.

My belongings took about ½ of an 18-wheeler.

I had them pack – I did the unpacking when they got here.

The only twist was that my new house wasn’t ready when they got to Atlanta – they were ahead of schedule and I didn’t have occupancy for another couple of days. So they ended up taking my stuff down to Florida (so they could unload the other half of the truck at the other shipper’s house) and then came back up here and unloaded me. All right on time.

Oh, there were no special charges – they were as good as their word. The key, I think, is having a good estimator come out. He came out about a 10 days before the move and looked at everything. His estimate was spot on.

Summary: it’s a lot of work and it isn’t cheap, but it all worked like clockwork. Of course, your experience may vary,

I just moved four hours away, but everything has to be packed whether it’s 4 hours or a 4 day drive. I called one of my contacts from a corporate move and asked them to help me. They gave me the name of the company they use near my zip code. I paid a lot of money, but probably not more than $1,000 more than if I just took a shot at it on my own and hired a crew.

If I had rented a truck from budget or Uhaul I could have done the whole thing for almost half what I paid.

Are you driving your car or transporting it. That by itself is alot. I moved from Washington State to Florida and know about the expense. In the end I sold my furniture, Fedexed the stuff I wanted to keep, packed my SUV to the ceiling and drove. Now I have a new house full of new furniture. I was lucky, though, that was able to sell my furniture up there. Someone found me who was moving into a house with nothing. He bought almost all of my furniture…................that’s living in Faith.