Alex Johnson

Long distance interstate movers - what am I missing?

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COVID has changed my life a lot, but weirdly it's mostly been positive. I have mixed feelings about that, but the biggest change is that both my wife and I's employers have gone to 100% work from anywhere. While there are things about AZ that we've really liked, we miss our friends and family like crazy, and making friends in your late 30s when you essentially work at home all the time is difficult, especially with a pandemic going on. So, back to Madison we go. That brings me to moving, and more specifically, full service interstate moving companies. I received 4 quotes from 4 major interstate movers to move our stuff (2 bedrooms, one office, living room, dining room, kitchen, two small baths, total sq footage of our house was 1300) from AZ to WI. All were binding, not-to-exceed quotes, with $30-40 credits per 100lb under weight. We'll be packing everything ourselves. United Van Lines - 6600lbs, ~$4800 (virtual walkthrough) Mayflower - 7300lbs, ~$6300 (virtual walkthrough) Allied - 7100lbs, ~$5200 (physical walkthrough*) Atlas - 8000lbs, ~$7100 (physical walkthrough) *their walkthrough was definitely the most rigorous and their inventory was the most initially accurate. The value of the things in the move was anywhere from $38k-50k and all provided a $0 deductible insurance for those values (I ballpark everything at sub $30k, but that's fine). United also had the best arrival windows and transport times, and they included un-packing our beds and reassembling the frames. Overall, the value for money looked much better than anyone else. This feels like too good of a deal. Is there a risk here I'm not seeing? I honestly think United may have underestimated weights. I caught three things missing from their inventory ( one was 100lb inflatable hot tub we bought on Black Friday from Amazon, best $300 ever!) and even with those additions it was still a really low quote. Granted, that $4800 is still ~$1000 more than using Estes or Old Dominion freight moving plus local moving companies on both ends, but that value is worth it to us to have a single coordinator for everything and to minimize issues with load arrivals and schedule coordination. What am I missing here?

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WadeMills
I forgot who my friends last used, was it United? They moved everything but lost one box. Of course, said box all the irreplaceable heirlooms in it. :( So moral of the story, let movers pack your house but not your valuables. Also are there penalties if you exceed weights or whatnot?
BillieWenders
Sorry for the late reply, but I’d like to drop in and say that while United Van Lines offers the best value for money and convenient services, it's natural to have some concerns when a deal seems too good to be true.