5 Money-Saving Tips From Professional Movers
The only thing worse than being asked to help move a friend's belongings to a new home may be if you're the one who's doing the moving.
Sure, getting into a new home is fun, but the actual act of moving out of one can be a lot of effort and drudgery -- and, of course, moving costs a small fortune. Numbers from the Worldwide ERC, a relocation trade industry group, suggest that the average cost of shipping household goods domestically, is $12,935 (this was in 2014, the most recent year available). Still, it all comes down to distance and pounds -- how much your furniture, belongings and stuff weighs and where you're taking it.
That means before you move, you'd do well to listen to the experts. U.S. News asked several professional movers to offer up their advice on how consumers can save money, or at least not spend more than necessary, on their next move.
[See: 7 Deadly Money Sins to Avoid.]
Pack before the movers come. Obvious, right? But some homeowners think they can wait until the last minute or underestimate how long it will take to pack.
Often, customers aren't fully ready to go, and it'll add an hour or two onto their move, says Ryan Carrigan, based out of Athens, Georgia, and the co-founder of moveBuddha.com, a moving company pricing comparison website.
But Carrigan says he once had a customer do no packing before her movers came.
"She assumed she could pack the house while the movers loaded," Carrigan says. "The movers explained they would come back when she was done packing, but she insisted they stay and start moving. What should have been a 10-hour move turned into a two-day extravaganza and tripled the cost of her move."
Move when it's least convenient. You don't want to hear this, but you want to save money, right? "Move during the winter and during the middle of the week," says Justin Brasington, head of marketing for Moved, a website that helps people with the logistics of moving. "Summer months and Fridays through Monday tend to be the busiest, and therefore most expensive, times to move." The lower the demand when you want to move, the better the deal you can get.
[See: 11 Money Tips for Older Adults.]
You don't have to buy boxes to pack your items. Mike Glanz, based out of San Diego, is the co-founder and CEO of HireAHelper.com, which connects homeowners to laborers to unload and load your truck. He suggests searching Craigslist for free, used boxes.
"People who have recently moved are often looking to give their boxes away. Alternatively, you can also ask your local grocer or a nearby superstore for their spare boxes," he says.
Consider getting moving insurance. Always tricky, isn't it? If nothing happens and the move goes smoothly, you've wasted money on insurance. But if something bad does happen, you'll have saved money.
In any case, Glanz recommends looking into full-value moving insurance or full-value replacement coverage, which covers the full value of every item listed in your inventory. Or you may want to inquire about only covering the most expensive items. Insurance can get extremely costly, of course, but it all comes down to how much you're covering and how far you're traveling. According to Angie's List, if you were moving across the country, you might spend anywhere from $200 to $1,000 for $25,000 worth of belongings being moved. But then again, you may want to go for something like standard repair coverage insurance, which is the most basic and common insurance and pretty cheap, according to Glanz.
"Heaven forbid the movers drop your 30-pound, $500 flat-screen TV. With standard coverage you'd only see an $18 check to cover your broken $500 TV," Glanz says.
[See: 10 Money Mistakes New Grads Make.]
Comparison shop and be wary of something that seems cheap. Yes, you want to save money, but everyone's heard some story about homeowners who have gone into a move having been quoted a low price -- only to learn later that it'll be a lot more, and until they pay up, their furniture will remain hostage in a storage unit.
Jared Beckstead, a Salt Lake City-based marketing coordinator for Bailey's Moving & Storage, which services homeowners in Utah and Colorado, says that people moving long distance should try to get a move priced in one of three ways:
-- A total price guaranteed quote. "If nothing changes with the shipping inventory or the mileage, this will be your payment exactly," Beckstead says.
-- A nonbinding quote. "This isn't a guaranteed price but more of a best estimate of what you will pay. It will depend on actual weight and mileage," he says.
-- A guaranteed rate reduction. "It's a binding quote if nothing changes, but if the weight and miles make it less than the original quote, then you pay less," he says.
If you're going for a cheap mover, research them well and look at online reviews. (Of course, do this for the expensive movers as well.)
"Cheap prices are enticing, but your belongings get broken much easier, and [the moving companies] try to recoup costs in other less professional ways," Beckstead says.
Carrigan echoes that advice. "This is a business where you get what you pay for. Cheap movers will likely end up costing you more," he says. "If you can't afford a moving company, rent a truck and hire a few guys to help you move. It'll be less seamless but can save you a decent amount of money."
More From US News & World Report
